Short ¡V ¡§almost¡¨ 4 laps (32:30 min, race is 30mins) and not DFL and since first cyclocross race, a PR 
Bfast ¡V you don¡¦t wanna know, not race food. Buffet w/ the boys. But race was 3pm and I had no lunch except munching on fruit.
Long ¡V My first Cyclocross race. I¡¦d been on my new bike a total of 3x. I felt confident enough to survive and since the goal was ¡§have a good time¡¨, I figured I could pull that off.
30min race ¡V do as many laps as you can, in the Noob division.
So, the idea here was purely to do something different and something that seemed like fun, get in an active day too. Well, it was 75degrees and huge winds ¡V 20-30mph gusting all over. So, it could have been worse I guess ¡V no rain, it was sunny. I don¡¦t do well in heat. Oh well, the wind would help right?
Race number, upside down. D¡¦OH, but I wasn¡¦t alone. The announcer commented on that, told us noobs to look at our neighbor and see if we could read their number. Next time, he said, TELL THEM BEFORE THE RACE cuz we¡¦re starting in 30seconds!
Each lap consisted of about 300m of grass, tiny bit of asphalt, and a boatload of turns. Never could get any speed going. Then 2 barriers you had to hop off, toss bike over shoulder ¡V or in my case I just lifted up ¡V and then run. Followed by what seemed like a 60 degree grade of a hill, about 25ft but still insane steep. So ran that, not enough room to get any momentum. Need I mention what HR is going at that point? Whatever, 30min I can handle anything for 30min. So Fly down it, more turns, mild grades, more turns, tiny asphalt and then another barrier followed by tiny creek. More grass, more turns, another barrier and creek! Finally a section with just turns and grass followed by a 25ft SAND PIT. Yeah, that was a treat, not! Off I go, decided to push my bike ¡V next time I think I will carry. I hate sand. Legs screaming by end of that. Several hairpin turns on grass, followed by a straight away with huge divots¡K then the other side of that hill. I flew up it, since I was able to get a little speed prior, and up and over. Then a reasonable section of mild turns.
Repeat, 3 more times. Each time, harder to breath and legs hurting more
Notable Moments¡K although hard to remember since I was Z5 the whole freakin time.
#1 ¡V first lap, first barrier the guy I was neck and neck with got there first and about wiped us both out dismounting. He said sorry, I said no worries, next time it¡¦s my turn to f it up He asked if I was first timer, I said yeah, his too. We stayed together until the next dismounts where he lost me.
#2 - Third lap, (2) middle aged women were chatting (real loud) in the middle of a section of hairpins and I heard one say ¡§blah blah¡K main reason I come to these things is to gawks at these awesome legs¡K.¡¨ ROFL. I snorted.
#3 - In the final lap, I saw mr #2 from last (I was last 95% of the race
) and he was slacking. So I just went redline and pulled a final effort for the last 60 seconds and just hammered it. Finally we were on reasonable grass and straightish, so I caught and passed him in the final 5feet. Maybe bad form, but ya know what¡K Never Give Up!! 
So, a PR because I finished, I¡¦ll take it. And not DFL as a bonus.
That was a lot of fun. I¡¦m going to be sore in so many areas tomorrow I know. This is really going to improve my bike handling skills a million fold. I really need to learn better mount/dismount because I lost SO much time there. Also this whole carrying your bike thing I don¡¦t think I have down, I need to figure out how to better leverage my upper body strength. Most of these guys are scrawny! ?º too bad I¡¦m so slow as a runner, but that¡¦s not going to change quickly so I think working on tactics and form will be where I move up the rankings. I was CONSISTANTLY catching up to the back of pack guys whenever we got a section where I could actually RIDE ¡V I didn¡¦t care if it was straight, turns, up, down, whatever ¡V clearly my biking was superior, but I lost all that time on everything else. Not upset about it, of course, seeing as it was my first freakin race and 4th time on that bike with those cleats (lost too much time clipping in/out that¡¦s for sure).
Anyway, it was fun. There are 2 more races nearby, I think I want to do them both (next 2 Sundays) and then I¡¦ll probably call it quits for the season as everything else is way far away.
Sure wish it was 40 degrees like I thought it would be!! I¡¦m sure the heat hurt me too. I sucked down an entire bottle in that 30min and another soon as I got done, and I was still thirsty. HRM said I burned 600cals in 30min WOOT!
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Bfast ¡V you don¡¦t wanna know, not race food. Buffet w/ the boys. But race was 3pm and I had no lunch except munching on fruit.
Long ¡V My first Cyclocross race. I¡¦d been on my new bike a total of 3x. I felt confident enough to survive and since the goal was ¡§have a good time¡¨, I figured I could pull that off.
30min race ¡V do as many laps as you can, in the Noob division.
So, the idea here was purely to do something different and something that seemed like fun, get in an active day too. Well, it was 75degrees and huge winds ¡V 20-30mph gusting all over. So, it could have been worse I guess ¡V no rain, it was sunny. I don¡¦t do well in heat. Oh well, the wind would help right?
Race number, upside down. D¡¦OH, but I wasn¡¦t alone. The announcer commented on that, told us noobs to look at our neighbor and see if we could read their number. Next time, he said, TELL THEM BEFORE THE RACE cuz we¡¦re starting in 30seconds!
Each lap consisted of about 300m of grass, tiny bit of asphalt, and a boatload of turns. Never could get any speed going. Then 2 barriers you had to hop off, toss bike over shoulder ¡V or in my case I just lifted up ¡V and then run. Followed by what seemed like a 60 degree grade of a hill, about 25ft but still insane steep. So ran that, not enough room to get any momentum. Need I mention what HR is going at that point? Whatever, 30min I can handle anything for 30min. So Fly down it, more turns, mild grades, more turns, tiny asphalt and then another barrier followed by tiny creek. More grass, more turns, another barrier and creek! Finally a section with just turns and grass followed by a 25ft SAND PIT. Yeah, that was a treat, not! Off I go, decided to push my bike ¡V next time I think I will carry. I hate sand. Legs screaming by end of that. Several hairpin turns on grass, followed by a straight away with huge divots¡K then the other side of that hill. I flew up it, since I was able to get a little speed prior, and up and over. Then a reasonable section of mild turns.
Repeat, 3 more times. Each time, harder to breath and legs hurting more
Notable Moments¡K although hard to remember since I was Z5 the whole freakin time.
#1 ¡V first lap, first barrier the guy I was neck and neck with got there first and about wiped us both out dismounting. He said sorry, I said no worries, next time it¡¦s my turn to f it up
He asked if I was first timer, I said yeah, his too. We stayed together until the next dismounts where he lost me. #2 - Third lap, (2) middle aged women were chatting (real loud) in the middle of a section of hairpins and I heard one say ¡§blah blah¡K main reason I come to these things is to gawks at these awesome legs¡K.¡¨ ROFL. I snorted.
#3 - In the final lap, I saw mr #2 from last (I was last 95% of the race
) and he was slacking. So I just went redline and pulled a final effort for the last 60 seconds and just hammered it. Finally we were on reasonable grass and straightish, so I caught and passed him in the final 5feet. Maybe bad form, but ya know what¡K Never Give Up!! So, a PR because I finished, I¡¦ll take it. And not DFL as a bonus.
That was a lot of fun. I¡¦m going to be sore in so many areas tomorrow I know. This is really going to improve my bike handling skills a million fold. I really need to learn better mount/dismount because I lost SO much time there. Also this whole carrying your bike thing I don¡¦t think I have down, I need to figure out how to better leverage my upper body strength. Most of these guys are scrawny! ?º too bad I¡¦m so slow as a runner, but that¡¦s not going to change quickly so I think working on tactics and form will be where I move up the rankings. I was CONSISTANTLY catching up to the back of pack guys whenever we got a section where I could actually RIDE ¡V I didn¡¦t care if it was straight, turns, up, down, whatever ¡V clearly my biking was superior, but I lost all that time on everything else. Not upset about it, of course, seeing as it was my first freakin race and 4th time on that bike with those cleats (lost too much time clipping in/out that¡¦s for sure).
Anyway, it was fun. There are 2 more races nearby, I think I want to do them both (next 2 Sundays) and then I¡¦ll probably call it quits for the season as everything else is way far away.
Sure wish it was 40 degrees like I thought it would be!! I¡¦m sure the heat hurt me too. I sucked down an entire bottle in that 30min and another soon as I got done, and I was still thirsty. HRM said I burned 600cals in 30min WOOT!
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Yup That's me[/URL" target="_blank">
