passed out

that's what i did when I got home after both races this weekend... basically passed out on the couch... saturday I had to get up and get out to a party, nothing like the sweet sound of a TDI pulling up in front of the house as an alarm clock.

i'm still in the zombie state, body is pretty solidly wrecked from the weekend. Not from crashing but the general over all me trying really hard not to suck to badly and race my ass off for what ever spot I could muster. I managed to stay upright which was a dramatic change from last year.

Heck I even rode in this morning in the 17°F temps into a freaking monster headwind. Well riding into a 20mph wind when it is that cold out, well that is cold. And yes I did have a few more layers on than during either race saturday or sunday. And nope, i wasn't cold at all. Okay my face was a bit cold for a while until my core started to overheat. My feet were fine and hands were a bit cool in the lobster gloves but they weren't cold.

Zombie state is a good descriptor for how i'm feeling now. Pretty well cooked. The two weekends w/o racing cross preceding this, likely final, weekend of the cyclocross season for me probably hurt me more on saturday than sunday. I did manage to have a much better race on Sunday. But Saturday's course really did suit me much better. I basically was dead freaking last on the first sandy run up after the start saturday. Maybe not THE last person but the difference wasn't huge. Most of the others jumped off and had a great start. Me? Not so much.

I suppose i should drop the days into separate posts. do it all "pro" style and have a unique race report for each day, but I might just say screw it and get it all out of my head in an impressionistic style. Maybe go as far as to make it a bit of an abstraction of the weekend.

The 10:30 starts just totally messed up any regular sense of routine I developed over the season. Normally I go by a X:00 start. And prep based on what the minute's say on the little clock in the car. Sure transposing the numbers by 1/2 hour isn't hard but it was too much for me to deal with. Coupled with the registration being a mile from the parking lot, well. That sucked up more time than normal. And despite a concerted effort on sunday to do a better job at prep'n, neither days saw me dig out the trainer and actually warm up. Heck I barely got a pre-ride lap in on Saturday, and didn't see the whole course on Sunday, just the intestinal track.

So the total relaxed attitude before the race just saw me hitting the line with a mellow feeling. I lined up behind Carl on the stupid side (outside) of the first turn and essentially coasted a bit around the pavement and into the sand. Still relaxed. Hit the single track area above the sand relaxed, slowly pedaled around. Then Foley came steaming by at somepoint. And I thought, "Don't let solobreak ride away from you." And I didn't. He kind of lit a big ass fire under me. But it was lap 2 before I'd really managed to start racing and well, there was a big split and people were way up there. But. I was reeling them in. Person by person. Bit by bit. Pounding the 46x12 on the pavement up to the bathroom turn around, and sprinting out of every turn. It was awesome. Another lap or two and I'd have caught Jerry and C-Smith. It was also frustrating that I didn't attack the sprint and get myself racing on a course that really suited me earlier than I did. Despite finishing 10-15 places further back than I know I could have if I'd put the race together from the whistle, it was fun. I got the clothing perfect, tire pressure was absolutely stellar, it was good. It was a great day of racing. Made even better with the gang of friends to hang out with afterwards. It was truly a kick ass day. And I beat Solobreak. Finally. But I was also the last of the 4 of us on the team to finish. C-Burk G-ride and of course Skinny kicked my ass that day. I think it was the minute or two that I spotted them at the start of the race and the first lap or two.

Both days I pre-rode in the orange suit. It seemed that the photogs out there who were just walking around would turn and snap off a few shots of me on the course. Not what i expected, but amusing. It made me chuckle.

My best races were at Plymouth this year. Definitely the South course was the peak of my season. This weekend was the icing, or more specifically the cream filling. The icing was day 2 at Gloucester.

It was the people though that really make this sport what it is.

The highlight I guess in a way was the words from a guy who finished just behind me racing on a Speedvagen. Dan Werle from Nashville. His words after we crossed the line were awesome to hear. And racing him on that last lap was what it is all about.

I'd wish my running had been more consistent as the season went on. My best intentions of keeping with it fell to the wayside. And that hurt me a bit on the run up. Guys like Chris Smith were freaking FLYING up the hill and through the sand on sunday. The last two laps on Sunday I managed to will my legs to take some big steps and fly through the sections, and if i'd done that the whole race maybe I'd have had a chance to stick with Smith. I was much slower this weekend relative to where I'd been. But I'm okay with that. As little work as I've put into it and as much as I've put into everything else around me, I'm happy with the results.

Waking up to the snow in the morning. Tired and feeling out of it was a little bit of a lift. The parking lot at NBX seems to feel about 10-20 degrees warmer and has no wind compared to the race course. It made it interesting.

I'm really getting pretty scattered. far more than I normally am it seems.

i'll get to more on sunday later...

heddwch
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