Today's CX race was at Faust Park today. Faust is probably my favorite location to race and not because I do particularly well there. The terrain is mostly rolling but with some flattish areas and even has a small little wooded area. Typically you have to be strong and have a clean race technically. This year was no exception and even had a section that made you decide whether to just run or try and ride.
I went into the this weekend feeling pretty confident and was going to try and get a good starting position and make try and tussle with the top guys. But, the day just never went very well. I woke up feeling a little off but got better as the morning progressed. Then, I started my warmup a little later than I would have liked. After five minutes on the trainer I noticed that my shoe was slopping around in the pedal but everything looked normal. Eventually I realized my left crank was loose. I stopped and tightened it up. A couple minutes later it was loose again. This routine was repeated about four times before I decided to go to the pits and see if they had a wrench that would allow for more leverage. They did not, so I just did the best I could.
By now, my heart and mind were not in the race. I felt certain the crank would be loose again after a lap or two so I only lined up mid-pack so I would not interfere with the race too much if things should go wrong.
My start was sub-par and the field had not thinned out much by the time we reached the tight and twisty wooded section. There were at least two crashes and we creeped through the section. The pack eventually began to thin out after about a lap. Remarkably, my crank seemed to be holding up and it was time to get down to racing. I did okay after that and passed at least twelve people that I can think of off the top of my head. The total was probably closer to 20 if not more for the whole race.
In the end I finished 14th. Not bad but I wish that I had more faith in the crank at the start of the race and not gotten mixed up with argy bargy in the first lap. Still, it was a beautiful, albeit a bit warm, day. It is hard to complain too much.
I went into the this weekend feeling pretty confident and was going to try and get a good starting position and make try and tussle with the top guys. But, the day just never went very well. I woke up feeling a little off but got better as the morning progressed. Then, I started my warmup a little later than I would have liked. After five minutes on the trainer I noticed that my shoe was slopping around in the pedal but everything looked normal. Eventually I realized my left crank was loose. I stopped and tightened it up. A couple minutes later it was loose again. This routine was repeated about four times before I decided to go to the pits and see if they had a wrench that would allow for more leverage. They did not, so I just did the best I could.
By now, my heart and mind were not in the race. I felt certain the crank would be loose again after a lap or two so I only lined up mid-pack so I would not interfere with the race too much if things should go wrong.
My start was sub-par and the field had not thinned out much by the time we reached the tight and twisty wooded section. There were at least two crashes and we creeped through the section. The pack eventually began to thin out after about a lap. Remarkably, my crank seemed to be holding up and it was time to get down to racing. I did okay after that and passed at least twelve people that I can think of off the top of my head. The total was probably closer to 20 if not more for the whole race.
In the end I finished 14th. Not bad but I wish that I had more faith in the crank at the start of the race and not gotten mixed up with argy bargy in the first lap. Still, it was a beautiful, albeit a bit warm, day. It is hard to complain too much.
1 Comments:
Good race in spite of the bad kharma with the equipment. The start was certainly interesting. I should have pressed harder coming out of there, but I'm still learning this whole cx racing strategy.
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