The cyclocross season started a month later than I originally anticipated but it is rolling now.
My road season sucked eggs so I started riding the 'cross bike earlier than normal. Then, late September brought on a bad cold and set me back a few weeks. The last few weeks have been about getting some base back and my intensity was lacking. I went into yesterday's race at JB completely unsure how my body would react to the effort of a full-length 'cross race.
With 24 hrs to mull things over in my mind, I am satisfied. My third row starting spot was fair. Frankly, I didn't want to be front row with my doubts about fitness. My start was decent. A few places were lost but I didn't drop like a rock through the field. After a couple laps I started to find a groove. I was good on the long gradual uphills and did whatever damage I did on those sections.
Throughout the race I probably moved up 5-6 places. There were a couple people toward the end that I wasn't sure if they were lapped or just fading fast. My hunch is they were lapped so I'm not counting them. The last 4-5 laps saw me get in a good back and forth with another rider. I had caught and passed him on the long uphill but he eventually worked his way back and returned the favor about a lap later. He led for a while as I studied him. With two to go I passed him again on the long uphill. As I passed, he said to keep a good steady pace. I wasn't ready to attack at that point anyway. From then on, he followed my wheel. On the last lap, I lifted the tempo a tiny bit. He hung pretty close, but I had a gap that go wiped out just before the gravel road. I caught Lewis and should have made myself more known. As it was, I caught him right at the U-turn and had to take the wide route through. He was right on my wheel coming out of the turn and he made the jump first. I stuck to his wheel and was moving up but got pinched a bit as we turned onto the grass and he held me off the rest of the way. It was a fun way to end the race. He got 11th and I got 12th out of 38 finishers.
Looking back, I probably should have gone harder on the long uphill on the final lap. That was my biggest advantage over him and it would have hurt him as much as it would have hurt me. Still, without that little bit of bad luck in the final hairpin I think I would have held on for 11th. That's racing though.
My road season sucked eggs so I started riding the 'cross bike earlier than normal. Then, late September brought on a bad cold and set me back a few weeks. The last few weeks have been about getting some base back and my intensity was lacking. I went into yesterday's race at JB completely unsure how my body would react to the effort of a full-length 'cross race.
With 24 hrs to mull things over in my mind, I am satisfied. My third row starting spot was fair. Frankly, I didn't want to be front row with my doubts about fitness. My start was decent. A few places were lost but I didn't drop like a rock through the field. After a couple laps I started to find a groove. I was good on the long gradual uphills and did whatever damage I did on those sections.
Throughout the race I probably moved up 5-6 places. There were a couple people toward the end that I wasn't sure if they were lapped or just fading fast. My hunch is they were lapped so I'm not counting them. The last 4-5 laps saw me get in a good back and forth with another rider. I had caught and passed him on the long uphill but he eventually worked his way back and returned the favor about a lap later. He led for a while as I studied him. With two to go I passed him again on the long uphill. As I passed, he said to keep a good steady pace. I wasn't ready to attack at that point anyway. From then on, he followed my wheel. On the last lap, I lifted the tempo a tiny bit. He hung pretty close, but I had a gap that go wiped out just before the gravel road. I caught Lewis and should have made myself more known. As it was, I caught him right at the U-turn and had to take the wide route through. He was right on my wheel coming out of the turn and he made the jump first. I stuck to his wheel and was moving up but got pinched a bit as we turned onto the grass and he held me off the rest of the way. It was a fun way to end the race. He got 11th and I got 12th out of 38 finishers.
Looking back, I probably should have gone harder on the long uphill on the final lap. That was my biggest advantage over him and it would have hurt him as much as it would have hurt me. Still, without that little bit of bad luck in the final hairpin I think I would have held on for 11th. That's racing though.
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