Cyclocross weekend

It was a busy weekend with plenty of cyclocross racing.

Saturday my bike team put on our very first race and it went unbelievably well. The vast majority of the organizing was done by a few CX fanatics and they put together something great. We have one of the largest clubs around and everyone came together to volunteer and make this race one of the best of the year.

After spending Friday afternoon setting up the course, I was up before 5AM on Saturday to go back and take care of the registration crew. By the time my race rolled around, I was beat. My morning caffeine buzz had worn off, I was running on little sleep, my back hurt, but I was happy to be at the start line. My group had over 100 racers and I had the fortune of having a 2nd row starting position. I knew I didn't have the legs to really rocket off the line and I probably let way too many people pass me in the first few hundred meters. For the first couple laps, I was actually riding pretty easy and having a ton of fun on the course. There were so many cool features on the course, and it is probably the most fun course I've raced. Eventually I got it in my head that I should start racing and passed a bunch of people. I finished somewhere in the 20's.

Sunday morning I was nice a tired feeling still, but there was a race in Fort Collins. When there's a local race, I like to go out and race to support the effort. Hopefully my entry fee helps the organizers make it happen again.

The race was at the CSU stadium and it was bumpy. It was a much smaller group than yesterday (about 25 people), and I lined up at the back knowing that my legs had nothing left from the previous day's effort. The course featured a couple curb hops, 3 barrier sections, loose corners, and lots of bumps. I have a bad curb hopping history, so I think I was the only person in the group that dismounted for the curb. Oddly enough, it never cost me any time. It was an uphill curb, and most people were going slower than I was running anyway. My bike handling skills felt pretty good in general, but I had to laugh at myself for crashing on each of the first three laps. One time I remounted and found out that my bars were 45 degrees off, so I had to dismount and straighten them. Funny stuff. The last lap or so I was riding about 20 feet behind some rider and decided to stay there and out sprint him at the line. I don't know why, it just seemed like fun. I beat him to the line, but then I felt bad later when I saw he had a bandaged leg from an earlier crash. He probably would have beat my ass otherwise. :) I finished 9th. The number sounds good, but in a field of 25 I'm not even in the top third. My shoulders are totally sore now from all the bumps on that course. I think I'll take a day off from the bike.