Ride On CX

This Sunday's race was in Orrville at the Stark campus of the University of Akron. I must say it was a great course. Luckily the rain held off and we were rewarded with a dry and extremely fast course. Add on to that we had a beautiful day, 70 degrees but with high winds, which made a few headwinds straight but also added a bit of rest area on the backstretch with a nice tailwind. You were able to catch a good bit of speed going into a blind corner at the end of the straight which led to many a rider going to wide on the exit and straight into a corn field. Myself included.

Now on to the race. Each week I'm gaining fitness. After a summer of not being able to race nonetheless ride my bike, I knew coming into the season I wouldn't be in my perfect fitness. So I've been working hard and my fitness has somewhat been getting better each week as you can see from my power chart for the year. Each week I get stronger, but it's not showing at races yet.

So on to the race. I've learned from my mistakes of past and didn't go crazy off the line. I slotted nicely into about third wheel. Got held up a little as two people went down in front of me. The first went down around the pavement turn around. The second went down on a off camber turn shortly after. Didn't get crash but each of these slowed me down a second, which let my competitors get further ahead.

I did slot nicely into a nice chase group of 4-5 people including some people I need to be around for the overall. Coming around to finish the first lap my teammate Zac yells at me that his wheel has burped and he needs a tire. Luckily, I'm slightly ahead of him and I'm able to call out to Mike and hopefully make his wheel change a little quicker. I start to lost the wheel of my group as we climb up the hill. I hate to say this but this is my first year racing cross with a double chainring and I'm slowly learning what gear to be in. So for the first couple laps I'm pushing myself way to hard in my big chain ring up the hill. I guess I'm in the mood for some self flagellation since I'm also going to say I suck at J-hopping anything! I can do it in practice but race day just can't do it.

The one good thing I did do was my tire choice. At the last minute I decided to bring my file treads and with the dry grass and pavement it was a great choice. The one or two corners it may have slowed me down I made up for in the straights. So after I losing touch with my group I was in no man's land with no one in sight behind me and no one with in reach in front of me. I did catch one person but we didn't stay together long as he looked dead.

So I rode the rest of the race completely alone and talking to the spectators as I went by. Well nest week I have states so hopefully things will finally come together.