here is another pic of the first lap. before the mud.
No race report for the last boulder series race. sorry... no pictures yet either. internet picture security is getting better and better.
Today I can say proudly say that no cyclist beat me. Not one. I was chewed up and spit out by the course. The course and the course alone simply ruined me. You can just refer to the report form the USGP race It was pretty much like that except with mud. Lots of mud. Now I realize that mud IS cyclocross. And for some the more mud the better. Like that race horse in that Seinfeld episode. The one that “loves the slop”! This is not me.
When things go right in a cross race they go really really well. You find the line. Swing right around the tight 180 degree turn, your feet clip in first time on your re-mounts, you can drink Champaign and hit on all the pretty ladies watching the race looking fresh and in control and the competition falls away. Caught in the malay that is a cross race. And when things go bad, your simply in disbelief that riding a bike could go so wrong.
I started to harbor serious thoughts of pulling out the race. Right before the start I saw a few Toyoda United guys riding by. Looking fit already, clean and fast on their road bikes. About half way through the race this sight popped into my head. “that’s what I should be doing” “This is stupid any way!” “I’m not a cross rider.” Amazing how you can come up with theses things when its all going wrong. Last race I was talking smack to myself during the race convinced I was a cyclocross GOD! Yeah far from, I know.
With 20’ minutes to go more and more people passing me pulling out became very real but I thought of my dad just home from surgery on his hip and I thought ahhhh, no I am finishing. I have a thing about finishing races. bike racing in all forms has a prod humiliation attached to it. If you try. If you give it your all people know. You know. There can be much pride in finishing second. Or last. I have learned a lot from the cyclocross experience. many of thought s thoughts on training and life coming soon.
Time to start training gang.
Stay tuned.
