Great ride today, but I had to take this picture now because I was stopped with major cramps. I only had a Cherry Pop-Tart and diet Mt. Dew before the ride and bonked hard. I was very happy to average over 10mph for a 3+ hour ride and worried I wouldn’t finish after stretching. But I did!
It’s always funny to me what I think of when physically stressed, today it was Shawarma and Baby Guinness, I was able to quench both desires!
A great day of workouts. An hour in the weight room before work, a 1.5 hour ride and USAT tennis.
Race morning warmup. 34 degrees!
with the bike!
My Race: I never feel good about my fitness and this morning was the same, but I lined up against 12 or so guys in the 50+ Cat 3 field and waited for the word GO!
I got the hole shot and by the first turn in the grass I had a couple bike lengths, by the time we got to the woods I had 25 yards, after the first 1/4 mile I never saw anyone behind me again, I was lucky and rode away from the field. Soon I was catching riders from other fields and passed and dropped them.
I am happy to have won my 3rd Southern Classic Mountain Bike Race in the last 7 years (after a ton of mid pack finishes) and emailed USA Cycling to request my Category upgrade that evening, so bad to mid-pack finishes I am sure!
Pre-ride! Tires, as much as I talk about truck tires, I was debating tires for this course, pine straw, sand, and leaves…. what gives grip to that? Nothing!
Chasing my shadow and the sun home.
North Carolina Cyclocross #something. It’s been a wet season and today was! I decided not to warmup on the course at all, just too muddy, I brought the wrong tires, and I forgot my pre-race fuel. So as you might have guessed, I didn’t have a great day. I raced the 50+ Cat 1,2,3 and started at the back of the field, it is a very long straight field (and today muddy) start, I was about 5 from dead last at the first turn, and spent the next 45 minutes there. I did pass a couple of 40+ racers that started a minute in front of me, but for the first time was lapped by the leader, so I did one less lap, and I was fine with that!
It’s funny what you think about while racing, today I was remembering the mountain bike season start and the super muddy Tsali race and next week the cyclocross season might be ending in the snow and sleet!
LSD – long, slow and distance. Not sure if it’s time for base, but it was a small ring ride today!
North Carolina CX #7 – NC State Championships or my second Cat 3 race.
I had a terrible start and was dead last for almost half a lap! I finally started picking racers off and worked up to 4th and closed in on 3rd… but I couldn’t find my rhythm and kept having to dap, skateboard, and generally miss every line, so I was passed by a couple of riders. I finished 6th, but 2nd over 50 racer.
I played with off camera flash before my race.
NCCX #6 – Pinehurst…. or lots of sand!
My first Cat 3 race: There were 9 of us, after 8 call ups, I was alone on the second row. We start and I sprint to 4th and pushing third till the run up. I fell back to 5th as I had a slow dismount/remount and hit the first up/down sand pit (above picture)
The race is longer than any cyclocross race I have done, I was racing younger guys, and I had to wait all day for my start (I went early hoping for one more Cat 4 race)
To sum it up, I am very pleased with my race, I challenged 3rd for 2 of the 6 laps, finished 1 spot off the podium, I gapped 5th on the last lap and can race with these boys!
Fall rides. 40 degrees.
