As the title implies, yesterday was the first Wisconsin cross race of the year. Brian and I stuffed the car full of wheels, Gatorade, and trainers for the arduous, 20 minute journey to Verona. It was a beautiful indian summer day with highs in the mid 70's. We registered and watched the start of the beginner's race. We got the bikes ready, pooped, and rode 2 laps of the course.
The course started on a long paved road with a tight right-hand turn onto grass with a set of 3 barriers and a hairpin turn around a tree, all within a couple hundred meters from the start, so start line position was cruical. The course narrowed into a double-track, gravel climb, and descended with some good tight turns to a beach volleyball court with very soft, deep sand, and a 180 degree turn directly after the sand that required a dismount and a run back through the sand. The bike did not like the sand in the drivetrain, and shifted poorly for a while. After the sand pit, the couse meandered around and came to a fairly short, not too steep run-up. This section very closely mimicked the run-up at Brian's practice course, so did not pose too big a problem. After the run-up there was a short paved road section and a fast double-track descent with a tricky, loose left-hander at the bottom. The rest of the lap consisted of short, straight, grass sections with tight corners between them. The lap ended with the long gradual uphill paved road where we started, and ended after the 90 degree right hander, before the barriers.
We warmed-up on the trainers and Heather, Mary, and the Spectating World Champion (Mary's Mom) found us. My warm-up felt a little short, but I was able to get in some good efforts none the less. Brian and I lingered around the start line and both snagged front row spots.
The start went well, and I found myself second wheel coming into the barrier section. A guy passed me around the hairpin, and Brian was right behind me in 4th. On the gravel climb, Brian drilled it and bridged up to the leaders. I was suffering pretty hard, and dangled off the back. I got into a rhythm near the end of the first lap, and started feeling (relatively) comfortable. The two leaders had again gapped us again. I pulled through, in front of Brian, through the sweepy descent to the sand pit. After the run-up I looked back and saw no one, so I just rode my own race. I never saw the 2 leaders, and found myself in a 4 man group. I was able to ride the sweepy corners much faster then my companions, but they would catch me on the road sections, or the gravel climb. I fell once in the sand pit, but somehow it was faster then everyone else in the group, so no matter. A guy riding a cannondale with an SRM and Mavic carbone pros passed me on the run up and gapped me immediately. A lap later at the bottom of a hill, I saw the same guy pulling his bike out of the tall grass, way far from the course, like he totally missed the corner. His bike was f'ed up and I'm not sure what happened to him after that. Somewhere 2 guys snuck away, and I ended up 5th. Not too shabby.
The winner was a 35+ singlespeeder, and second place was also 35+. So third place in Cat 3, 35 and under, which means I won some cash and who knows what else. I wasn't around for the awards ceremony so maybe they'll send it to me. WCA only recognizes Cat 3, and not age groups, so I got 5th place points for the series. It's too bad since 3rd place is worth 20 points, and 5th is worth 14.
A big thanks to my wife for being my water girl. My mouth was like the sahara for a while. Thanks to Karen for coming up for the weekend to spectate. The bike worked flawlessly. I used a 42 tooth ring up front, and a 12-25 cassette and was never in the 25. I was thinking I wanted a 12-27 cassette for cyclocross, but now I don't think I do. The Challenge Grifos were awesome, and I never lost traction at 40 psi.
Here are the stats from the HRM:
Excercise Time: 46:02
Average Heart Rate: 197
Max Heart Rate: 203
Calories Burned: 1048
Brian should have a recap of the race on his blog shortly.
Before the start.
Yours truly over the barriers.
Brian on the run-up.
Hey Deb, could you take a photo of me on the horse real quick?
7 comments:
Excellent race and excellent recap!
Good job guys!
Nice race homies!
Is that average HR for real? If so, consider me simultaneously impressed in a jealous sort of way. I wish I could maintain an average HR greater than my theoretical max for 1 minute, let alone 45. I guess that's what makes you guys cyclists, though.
i originally said simultaneously impressed and jealous, but by the time i typed the 's' in jealous i thought that was pretty lame, so i meant to change it to impressed in a jealous sort of way, but obviously i forgot to erase the simult... and now it just looks stupid
Brooks those numbers are exceptionally high, good work keeping your heart in your chest. Thats what I am most impressed with.
Yowza! 197 average HR would kill me. Congrats on the 3rd, and thanks for adding a link to my site ;)
Post a Comment