Well, last Saturday was the season opener for NorCal cyclocross. It was a lovely day at about 85 degrees and the course layout was fun. It was a very twisty course on grass and hardpacked dirt with only one section of barriers, and one very small hill. More like a large lump. Anywho, it was a great layout, especially considering what Shane, the dude who runs the LARPD series, had to work with.
I started out the day prepping for departure at about 6am. Planning on eating, dressing, showering, shaving the legs, and washing my bike. All before picking up my girlfriend and heading to the race.
Running late, I head out, skip washing the bike, pick up the cutie, and head to Livermore, about an hour away. Get there, check out the course, get warmed up, chat with some buddies I haven't seen since a year, maybe even two years ago when I last raced CX in NorCal, and step to the line.
At this point, I've only had one recovery day between the race and three hard days of riding in a row. I'm not fully recovered. So I figure, what the heck, I'll line up second row, and see what happens. The whistle blows and we're off. I find myself around 12th position out of 45 or so riders in the mixed category of Men's A's and Master A's (35+ yrs old). Feeling pretty good, I bridge up to the main chase group of four guys, who are down from the leader, who is rolling solo, and a pair of guys behind him. I'm feeling pretty happy about that because I've never been in such a good spot at this point in the season. But I can feel the fatigue of doing four hard hours on Tuesday, three hard hours on Wednesday, and two more hard hours on Thursday.
I'll sit in! Perfect! I figure if I suck wheel until about 20 minutes to go I can then try to make my big move up to the first chase group of two guys. So I'm drafting, staying on, thinking, good, Ben, keep this up and you'll be ready to make your move later. Then, at 30 minutes in, I flatted my front tire. I had to ride half a lap to the pit, lost probably ten places, and had to swap my front wheel from my light weight race wheel, to my tanker training wheel.
Well, I jumped back in, and fought as much as I could. I think I brought back about five guys in the last half of the race. I finished 8th out of 12. Overall, I was pretty happy with what that race indicates about my form and fitness at this point in the season. I'll be posting more race reports next week as I plan on doing two races this coming weekend. Wish me luck! And happy riding!
Photos Courtesy: Jennifer Smith. First pic is Shane Huntoon, then the start of the Men's/Master's A's group, and finally of me bridging to the chase group of four.
Way to go Ben! F-ing Tire! This sounds really awesome. Congrats on starting so strong...even coming off of hard training days. Hope everything else is going great. Gene and I are doing well. He's working hard, or hardly working depending on the day, and I'm trying to get through school. Hope to see you all around the new year.
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