CBC Cyclocross Race#2

After getting home late from a seminar at BarCamp the previous day, I had very little motivation to get up early and race my butt off.  Surprisingly, I was up around 7am and feeling almost awake by 8.  That must have meant I was still a little hungover from last nights fun...  I made myself some coffee, got suited up, loaded up the bike & gear and headed over for race #2 of the CBC Cyclocross series...I was certainly not expecting to be able to perform today like I did last week, but curious to see if my hectic week really does play a factor on my performance level.  In other words, I was experimenting on myself.  I already knew the expected outcome, I just wanted to verify it.  Verification complete.  Without an proper night's sleep and a generous amount of mental and physical preparation, I am a sluggish toad.

The weather was perfect.  No extra layers were needed...The course was tough and very different from last week.  It would have definitely been in a mountain bikers favor if I had selected the proper gear and had enough strength to turn the pedals...I ran a 42x12 and really suffered right from the start: Mental preparation error: make sure you can race with the gear you chose...There was inclined forest loam singletrack, layered hillclimbs and sandpit turn traps.  It was gonna be a tough day for sure.

Starting line: the man said go and I couldn't.  The entire pack took off and I sat there trying to get my pedals turning for what seemed like forever.  As I finally got things moving, I snapped into position in the back of the lead pack.  Knowing after only 1-2 laps that I would not be able to hold this pace, I totally backed off and just let people fly by for a while just pedaling along deciding if I should just quit.  I found my body really fighting me to stay moving and my legs were like two slabs of rock.  I kept pedaling along waiting to get past this wall and hope the blast came back soon.  It came back, but a little too late.  35 minutes in, I finally started to pick things up and felt a little better flowing along, but still hating my gear selection.  I dealt with the slow pedaling and started being more efficient in use of my brake as I only had a front brake on the bike because my rear one was at home in pieces.  I then picked up the riders I had targeted to let slip by and placed decent gap between us and I started trying to level my pace to survive the remaining 10 minutes.  Then my chain flew off and I had to stop and fix it.  4 riders flew by again and once again I jumped on and took off after them.  I don't know how I was able to chase them down, but I picked off 3 of them once again and just could not catch the remaining rider in a "Trek" jersey riding just ahead of me...defeated, spent, hungover.

I went out there today to really test myself against the factors of life.  I realized that just because life hands you a hectic week, you shouldn't hide inside on the weekends as a result.  Challenge yourself to the fullest everytime you can.  I may have lost this race on several levels, but I gained some valuable keys to winning races in my future where I stand a better chance.

Good stuff CBC!  Thanks for the fun!

Congratulations to Nathan Smith and David Hall for placing top 2 in Cat 1 Mens!