Nov. 14, 2020

I do like Roanoke, a great downtown and plenty to do… hike, mountain bike and at least once a year, race cyclocross….

Saturday’s race: I was racing in the Pro, 1, 2, 3 and 3,4 field that included a former national champion (he lapped me every two laps) but I had a good start and settled in the middle of my field till the first mud section, my bike slide sideways and as I yanked to stay upright I felt a pop in my shoulder and my bicep really hurt. I tried to stretch while racing but every time I had to lift the bike or use my right arm to control the bike I was in pain. Now that I am a Cat 3 I have longer races and this one was 50 mins, I had to debate quitting or riding through the pain… I could tell racing Sunday with this pain was doubtful and was still in the middle of my field, so I rode on. I finished 13th of 19 finishers and once off the bike noticed it looks like I am “flexing” my bicep all the time. I think it is a partial tear of the bicep tendon based on the ball of something in my arm (hopefully I can see an ortho on Monday) or maybe it will go away overnight.

Oct. 31, 2020

Bristol, TN and Tornado Cross at Kings University. This might be the long stair run I have ever done in a race.

This creek crossing was fun, even if I had to skateboard it twice.

My race: I got the hole shot and built a large gap through the woods. I led for over half the race before getting caught, I did crash twice which didn’t help. I tried to stay with him, but he pulled away, so I finished the last lap.

I was a little frustrated by being caught and decided maybe I needed a little training, so I jumped on the Virginia Creeper in Abingdon and rode to Damascus and back. The last 6 miles or I started doubting it was a good idea, I bonked pretty hard.

But is a pretty ride!

Oct. 24, 2020

I love riding my ‘cross bike. Fun day of skills and trails.

Oct. 13, 2020

There is no better season than fall for bikes.

Oct. 12, 2020

I have always loved the way my cyclocross bike looked, today I realized I have a Taco that matches it!

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