CX Nationals wrap-up
Last year's trip to Nationals was cut short because of threatening weather. This year I took an extra day off on Monday to allow for a better chance of seeing the Pro's on Sunday in case the weather was questionable again. As a whole, the conditions for all four days turned out to be good. A little dirty, but good.
Jay and I left at noon on Wednesday so that we could pre-ride the course in advance of Thursday's races. We missed our exit off I-70 in KC and took an unexpected excursion through the north side of town. After some twists and turns, we managed to locate a road that was on our not-so-detailed map and proceeded on to the park.
There were quite a few others at the park checking the course out, too. We were not allowed to ride the course because of the small snowstorm a couple days earlier had not fully melted and organizers did not want the course getting any more torn up than it would during the four days of racing. The first thing that we noticed when we arrived was the elevation change. The course was built on a hillside and looked to be tougher than last year.
We walked around the course and got a general feel for it while looking for potential difficulties.
Thursday
Jay's race was at 11am so we arrived early for the 8am open course time to actually ride the course. Temperatures were still hovering around freezing and the ground was very firm.
Three hours of riding and racing with big fields took its toll on the ground. By 11 o'clock, the small racing lines in the morning had become slippery, sloppy mud from one side of the course to the other in many places, particularly on the mostly downhill second half of the course that was littered with plenty of off camber turns. A couple laps left your bike with a coating of grass and mud.
The course opened up again at noon and I took the opportunity to see just how much different the course had become before my race at 3pm. The course was twice as hard. The sun was out, though, and I was hoping it would help dry the course a little.
My hopes did not come true. The ground was only slightly drier and the biggest difference was that the "good" line through a couple of the off camber downhills had changed from the outside of the turn to the inside where only about half the riders could stay on their bike earlier in the day.
Three o'clock came and I was staged in 52nd position about 120 riders.
My race was uneventful. The legs did not feel great but I held my own and passed some riders and got passed by about the same amount.
The downhill turns were my downfall. I managed to get through the turns without taking a swim in the mud but had a terrible time getting traction on the little uphills exiting the turns.
I stayed on the lead lap and finished 60th. Very average.
Last year's trip to Nationals was cut short because of threatening weather. This year I took an extra day off on Monday to allow for a better chance of seeing the Pro's on Sunday in case the weather was questionable again. As a whole, the conditions for all four days turned out to be good. A little dirty, but good.
Jay and I left at noon on Wednesday so that we could pre-ride the course in advance of Thursday's races. We missed our exit off I-70 in KC and took an unexpected excursion through the north side of town. After some twists and turns, we managed to locate a road that was on our not-so-detailed map and proceeded on to the park.
There were quite a few others at the park checking the course out, too. We were not allowed to ride the course because of the small snowstorm a couple days earlier had not fully melted and organizers did not want the course getting any more torn up than it would during the four days of racing. The first thing that we noticed when we arrived was the elevation change. The course was built on a hillside and looked to be tougher than last year.
We walked around the course and got a general feel for it while looking for potential difficulties.
Thursday
Jay's race was at 11am so we arrived early for the 8am open course time to actually ride the course. Temperatures were still hovering around freezing and the ground was very firm.
Three hours of riding and racing with big fields took its toll on the ground. By 11 o'clock, the small racing lines in the morning had become slippery, sloppy mud from one side of the course to the other in many places, particularly on the mostly downhill second half of the course that was littered with plenty of off camber turns. A couple laps left your bike with a coating of grass and mud.
The course opened up again at noon and I took the opportunity to see just how much different the course had become before my race at 3pm. The course was twice as hard. The sun was out, though, and I was hoping it would help dry the course a little.
My hopes did not come true. The ground was only slightly drier and the biggest difference was that the "good" line through a couple of the off camber downhills had changed from the outside of the turn to the inside where only about half the riders could stay on their bike earlier in the day.
Three o'clock came and I was staged in 52nd position about 120 riders.
My race was uneventful. The legs did not feel great but I held my own and passed some riders and got passed by about the same amount.
The downhill turns were my downfall. I managed to get through the turns without taking a swim in the mud but had a terrible time getting traction on the little uphills exiting the turns.
I stayed on the lead lap and finished 60th. Very average.
1 Comments:
Hi
I think bike riding is so difficult task in our life.
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