Saturday morning I packed up my mom's minivan and we took a little family vacation up to Kingsport, TN for my first weekend of 'cross and the second weekend of Mud, Sweat and Gears.
It was kind of weird packing the bike, plus six wheels. I'm happy to say that the money I spent on a second set of 'cross tires was worth it, as I rode the Grifo XS Open Tubulars on Saturday.
The course was dry, mostly flat, and fast. The front half had some cyclo-cross elements, twisty turns up and down short hills, a single set of barriers, a fallen tree, and most importantly, the flyover of doom. The back half (after the barriers) was all about putting your head down and pedaling. The u-turn under the I-26 overpass was treacherous, but outside of that, nothing exciting.
Picking through the carnage on the first lapDay 1: Started on the far left, knowing that would give me the outside line heading into the first turn. Didn't have a great start and ended up somewhere around tenth?
After the u-turn at the end of the start stretch, the first technical piece we came to was the flyover. I don't know how it happened, but the shit hit the fan here. There was a pile up heading up the ramp. I dismounted rolling up to it and ran, both up and down the thing. I figured my chance at a top ten was over right there, but apparently I was still somewhere between 9th-11th, not shabby.
Rode the first lap smoothly. Made it through the twisty sections and all of the 'cross sections (the single run up, log and barriers) quite well, I'd say. Then came the half lap crit. I wasn't making any ground up here. Plus, I had already given up hope on finishing in the top ten. I was hoping for top 20 at this point, but in my head I thought that would be difficult.
The flyover was the bane of my existence today. On lap two, a rider came flying from behind me and made contact with my bars, pushing me into the rail on the top. Instead of hitting the rail and tumbling down the other side, I got off and ran down. On lap three, I lost just enough momentum on the transition to the top to have to put a foot down. On lap four, I pulled my brain out of my ass and rode the thing.
On the last lap I was riding in a group of five. I was sort of dangling off of the back coming into the barriers. I hit the barriers hard to make up the gap that way I could get around them in the flat section and try to make a race of it. I had no idea that it was a potential 14th place finish on the line, I just knew I was racing down to the last inch.
Well, hit the barriers hard I did. And the ground. I caught my foot on the first barrier and tripped. I've never tripped on a barrier. In fact, I consider myself quite skilled at 'cross specific skills. But, looks like there's a first time for everything. I wasn't far off of the back of the group after the fall, but my twisted handlebars and I just limped to the finish. 18th place in my first race of the season. Not terrible, but I thought I had more in me.
Day 2:
The flyover claims another victim
I didn't line up late today, everyone else lined up early. I was in the pits drinking some water and passing off my jacket when everyone lined up. I was on the second row today, and thought that I was just making my life harder than I should.
Course was exactly the same, EXCEPT that they moved the start line right behind the pits after the barriers. We were going to do a half lap (of the grass crit) before hitting the start/finish and doing four full laps.
It wasn't exactly wet out today, but the early morning dew and two previous morning races rutted up the course a little bit. Instead of fast twisties, they were slick(ish) twisties today. Grifo 32 tubulars today, in case you were wondering. You weren't.
Started off about 9th. I didn't want to completely smash the start since there wasn't any decisive feature until the flyover. I was in the front group and apparently the guys behind me were forcing an early selection. I heard a cacophony of brakes, bikes and course tape about 30 seconds in. Glad to hear that behind me for once.
We got to the flyover, no problem today. We got to the first section of twisties (technical term) and, OH ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! The dude in front of me took a foot out at the top of every hill to make the turn. What a momentum killer. This created a bit of a gap from the leaders of the lead group. Coming around to ride under the flyover, the same dude went down, pretty much cutting off the whole course. I was irritated.
I smashed everything after this happened. Ended up about 7th and rode around with one other dude for the majority of the race. On the last lap he brake checked me going into one of the turns to head up a hill. After slowing down like that, I was in the totally wrong gear to make it up the hill, he simply hammered away. I was dangling off of his wheel when some sneaky junior just blew by me and bridged up to him. My original riding partner gapped me more by bunny hopping the downed tree, and the junior continued his crusade on everyone who could buy alcohol. Those guys rode away from me, and I just looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was coming behind me.
Finished 9th. I'm happy with a top ten. However, I think that I had the legs to finish better, but I made the decision not to do that by lining up on the second row.
I felt faster today. I was super smooth in the corners, but as the race went on my remounts felt a little sloppy. It didn't help that everytime I put my bike down, it was bouncing all over the place. Since it was such a fast course I was trying to stay hidden a little bit more today and not do so much work. However, if I would have tried a little bit harder to get pass the guy I was riding with, I may have finished 7th, or better even. If it means anything, we did a half a lap more than yesterday, but my heart rate monitor said the race was two minutes shorter. Fast.
The way my schedule looks right now, I don't know if I should still be planning to upgrade before November. I only have three races left in October, then three weekends off before the state championships. I don't know if having states as my first CX3 race is a good idea, but we'll figure it out. Just nine points to go...
I didn't crash, but I'm still bleeding. What's the deal?
After the u-turn at the end of the start stretch, the first technical piece we came to was the flyover. I don't know how it happened, but the shit hit the fan here. There was a pile up heading up the ramp. I dismounted rolling up to it and ran, both up and down the thing. I figured my chance at a top ten was over right there, but apparently I was still somewhere between 9th-11th, not shabby.
Rode the first lap smoothly. Made it through the twisty sections and all of the 'cross sections (the single run up, log and barriers) quite well, I'd say. Then came the half lap crit. I wasn't making any ground up here. Plus, I had already given up hope on finishing in the top ten. I was hoping for top 20 at this point, but in my head I thought that would be difficult.
The flyover was the bane of my existence today. On lap two, a rider came flying from behind me and made contact with my bars, pushing me into the rail on the top. Instead of hitting the rail and tumbling down the other side, I got off and ran down. On lap three, I lost just enough momentum on the transition to the top to have to put a foot down. On lap four, I pulled my brain out of my ass and rode the thing.
On the last lap I was riding in a group of five. I was sort of dangling off of the back coming into the barriers. I hit the barriers hard to make up the gap that way I could get around them in the flat section and try to make a race of it. I had no idea that it was a potential 14th place finish on the line, I just knew I was racing down to the last inch.
Well, hit the barriers hard I did. And the ground. I caught my foot on the first barrier and tripped. I've never tripped on a barrier. In fact, I consider myself quite skilled at 'cross specific skills. But, looks like there's a first time for everything. I wasn't far off of the back of the group after the fall, but my twisted handlebars and I just limped to the finish. 18th place in my first race of the season. Not terrible, but I thought I had more in me.
Day 2:
The flyover claims another victimI didn't line up late today, everyone else lined up early. I was in the pits drinking some water and passing off my jacket when everyone lined up. I was on the second row today, and thought that I was just making my life harder than I should.
Course was exactly the same, EXCEPT that they moved the start line right behind the pits after the barriers. We were going to do a half lap (of the grass crit) before hitting the start/finish and doing four full laps.
It wasn't exactly wet out today, but the early morning dew and two previous morning races rutted up the course a little bit. Instead of fast twisties, they were slick(ish) twisties today. Grifo 32 tubulars today, in case you were wondering. You weren't.
Started off about 9th. I didn't want to completely smash the start since there wasn't any decisive feature until the flyover. I was in the front group and apparently the guys behind me were forcing an early selection. I heard a cacophony of brakes, bikes and course tape about 30 seconds in. Glad to hear that behind me for once.
We got to the flyover, no problem today. We got to the first section of twisties (technical term) and, OH ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! The dude in front of me took a foot out at the top of every hill to make the turn. What a momentum killer. This created a bit of a gap from the leaders of the lead group. Coming around to ride under the flyover, the same dude went down, pretty much cutting off the whole course. I was irritated.
I smashed everything after this happened. Ended up about 7th and rode around with one other dude for the majority of the race. On the last lap he brake checked me going into one of the turns to head up a hill. After slowing down like that, I was in the totally wrong gear to make it up the hill, he simply hammered away. I was dangling off of his wheel when some sneaky junior just blew by me and bridged up to him. My original riding partner gapped me more by bunny hopping the downed tree, and the junior continued his crusade on everyone who could buy alcohol. Those guys rode away from me, and I just looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was coming behind me.
Finished 9th. I'm happy with a top ten. However, I think that I had the legs to finish better, but I made the decision not to do that by lining up on the second row.
I felt faster today. I was super smooth in the corners, but as the race went on my remounts felt a little sloppy. It didn't help that everytime I put my bike down, it was bouncing all over the place. Since it was such a fast course I was trying to stay hidden a little bit more today and not do so much work. However, if I would have tried a little bit harder to get pass the guy I was riding with, I may have finished 7th, or better even. If it means anything, we did a half a lap more than yesterday, but my heart rate monitor said the race was two minutes shorter. Fast.
The way my schedule looks right now, I don't know if I should still be planning to upgrade before November. I only have three races left in October, then three weekends off before the state championships. I don't know if having states as my first CX3 race is a good idea, but we'll figure it out. Just nine points to go...
I didn't crash, but I'm still bleeding. What's the deal?
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