Then when I woke up and felt pretty OK, telling myself, "I'll head down there and if I feel lousy I won't ride."
Then "I'll start my warm up and if I feel bad I won't race."
Finally, "I'll start the race and if I feel bad I won't finish."
No pressure. Stay healthy. It's too early in the season to get laid out with some stupid cold.
As it turned out I felt pretty good the whole time, maybe a little sluggish after the unplanned time off during the preceding week, but not a hacking, snotty mess as I'd feared.
How Not to Race Cross
#1: I had the start of my life. I was third wheel behind Mo and Ellen Noble. And what did I do? I panicked. "Oh shit, I shouldn't be here, I'm going to slow someone down and ruin their race and I should just let them go by me." Seriously. A split second of meekness immediately followed by, "D'oh! The whole damn field just passed me! Move up! Move up!" Yeah.... I'm now working on "visualizing riding at the front." Seriously, that was just ridiculous. That
Anyway, I made some good passes and caught up to my teammate and was pretty happy to be on her wheel. On the fast fireroad descent I was sitting near the back of the saddle powering in my big ring when, after hitting a bump, the nose of my saddle was pointing skyward. Yes, my seat clamp was torqued to spec, it still slipped. This was not my error, but it brings us to-
#2: I had a pit bike, but it wasn't in the pit. Sigh... In all the happy NECX reunion gibber gabber I was like, "oh, pit bike? It's fine right where it is." On my car. As I rode by the pit with my saddle in a most uncomfortable position I hollered at my teammate who had raced earlier, "CAN YOU GET MY PIT BIKE OFF MY CAR FOR ME?!" What a doll, she not only had to run back to the parking area, but had to figure out which car was mine. And she made it back with my bike within half lap so I could get it the next time through the pit. Gold star.
Armed with my wonderfully flat-saddled bike, I started trying to make up the time I'd lost. Unfortuantely . . .
#3: I didn't check the tire pressure in my pit bike. Right? Right? I think I had 20 PSI in there. In clinchers. For those not in the know, that's not enough. Not only was I hitting the rim over ever root, I washed out in two corners. I actually thought I had a flat, my tires were so soft. Fortunately, the next time I went through the pit they had my A bike for me. With the saddle leveled out, bless them. I think I said something like, "Cool, 'cause I have a flat. Fun day!" I was informed the next time through that I didn't have a flat, I'm just a bonehead.
Anywho.
With much encouragement from the ECV/Seaside/LadiesFirst crews, I worked my way back up to the spot behind my teammate, albeit 30 seconds back or so.
#4: On the last lap, I pinch flatted. Pretty darn far from the pits. I was trying to maintain my position and I got sloppy over the roots. I had to run/ride super slow around to the pit, get a wheel, and finish in not-quite-last (which is pretty remarkable given how slowly I was riding/running).
C'est la course.
The good news? I am so jazzed on racing cyclocross. I'm fit, and lean, and so totally in love with NECX. It's going to be a fantastic season.
Here's a picture of my awesome start:
http://spokenshutter.smugmug.com/2012Cyclocross/2012-Quad-Cross-Women-Elite/25293442_QS3bCt#!i=2078246864&k=tj5v6DV
And here's one of my saddle-nose pointing heavenward:
http://spokenshutter.smugmug.com/2012Cyclocross/2012-Quad-Cross-Women-Elite/25293442_QS3bCt#!i=2078248358&k=R7cMJbm
And here's one of my dog telling me that flexibility is overrated.
Why is my yoga mat always so gritty?
No comments:
Post a Comment