Nov. 23, 2019

NCCX UCI race #1 Hendersonville

By the time my race started, it was raining, the course was muddy and I was cold. I knew this day was going to suck when I started my warmup, I headed down a hill to turn onto a bike path when I crashed, sliding across the pavement, great… road rash and I haven’t even warmed up yet!

I took my call up, and finally got a good start, as we turned from the long start on the road into the grass (mud) the rider to my right crashed in an explosion of water and mud, it was cool to see!

My race sucked, I kept falling off my bike or it was sliding out from under me. I was still in the middle of the pack-ish when we hit the small wooded section, on the long straight somehow my bike just washed out and I crashed pinning my bad knee under me, I didn’t slide due to the mud, I just stuck like a golf ball. I couldn’t figure out which way to roll to relieve the shooting pain and was worried other racers were going to hit me or my bike.

Finally everyone passed and I could get up, I slowly remounted and rode for a bit to see how I felt. Nothing was broke and I even caught a rider on the next lap.

We had a fun battle for DFL and I had a lead as we hit the woods a final time, I had caught one of the elite women racers and told her to hold her line and stay on teh gas, I was racing for a position. Unfortunately on the last turn, she turned into my line and the other racer came around, as I got around her and started my sprint, my chain sucked up, release start again, same chain suck… race over I finished DFL. I hate muddy races!

Nov. 10, 2019

Today’s NCCX race visited the sand in Pinehurst. This is not the correct line!

My day started good and I was in the lead group as we hit the sand the first time, the group split and 4, 5 & 6 started our battle on lap two, I took a bad line and fell to 6th before…

my rear wheel came out of the drop outs on one of the sand pits and took me a minute to figure out what happened and reset the wheel.

I fell to 8th and chased hard to make contact with the 2nd group, I finally closed within a couple bike lengths but had popped and quickly got dropped.

no body behind me was gaining and I couldn’t make contact, so I finished 8th. I always like racing here, it is so different and even with a tough day, it’s still better than work! (Thanks Clay for the pictures)

Nov. 9, 2019

NCCX in Sanford, a flat-ish dry fast course – as I arrive why is everyone covered in mud I wonder…

My race: I got a call up so I started on the front row and after the sprint was in 6-ish place, but a rider washed out a touch and I had to brake and fell to 10th.

I had to push hard and caught up to the 3,4,5 group but never was able to pass any of them, so finished 6th, but I am very happy with my race is 40+ Cat 3. I felt stronger and rode away from people today. Why? I lost 5 pounds this week going back to Keto. Weight to Power ratio is real! I would like to lose more this week!

Nov. 3, 2019

A busy day! Grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, oil change on the Tacoma, bottom bracket change on the cross bike (after finding it frozen after last week’s race), tennis with Sean, bike race and indoor climbing gym.

This week’s race was Winston-Salem. Because it was also the state championship, we had a bigger field

I made the decision to start more aggressively, and had a top 6 spot through the first turn

But I faded quickly to 9th, where I stayed till I had to dismount on a root (first picture)

I finished 10th!

After the race I was only 1.5 miles from the climbing gym.

 

 

 

 

Oct. 27, 2019

I finally made a start (and finish) in the 2019 North Carolina Cyclocross season.

After a lot of overnight rain, the course in Boone was muddy again!

I had fun, didn’t race well, fell a couple of times, but it was great to be back on the start line this weekend!

After the race, I explored for fall colors

The light wasn’t great, so I went for a hike

Goshen Creek is a pretty little waterway

not much color on the trees

but fun to rock hop

a just enjoy the silence

then I tried another HDR of the sunset

 

Sept. 15, 2019

‘crossiscoming is now ‘cross is here!

First race of the year, an open Cat 2-3 on a very bumpy course, including this multi line minefield.

I started on the front row, and stayed with the lead group for a while, it’s a training series and no matter how hard I want to train, I can’t duplicate the effort racing takes. There were over 20 racers and I finished top 10 – I think. When I finished, one of the experts yelled nice job keeping the young guys honest…. umm fuck you! ; )

Dec. 2, 2018

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!

Nov. 10, 2018

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.

Nov. 4, 2018

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!

Oct. 28, 2018

NCCX #6 Boonetown Throw Down

 

The course was very wet. in fact in spots I was a cartoon character, turning teh cranks over, wheel spinning, but not moving forward at all. On one hill climb, I was pedalling and going backwards.

5th second place this season, but today I was disappointed, the guy that has won every race was “cat-ed” up and no one in field has beat me this year… I got a horrible start, missed my pedal and fell to about 7th off the line. I sprinted my way and by the first time over the barriers I had a lead of about 10 yards, but as soon as we hit the real slop, a guy on a mountain bike was on my tail. We traded the lead over the first lap until I crashed on a railroad tie, and he rode away… I never caught him! I was first on a cyclocross bike!