Bicycle Enthusiast and Professional Caffeine Abuser: Lately

I've been busy riding my bike lately. Since the WEMS at John Muir I've done quite a bit of hills. I did the last Tuesday Night Criteriums at Research Park. In the B race I was a dick and chased down the breaks for the full 30 minutes. I didn't contest the sprint so I would have something for the A race. I sat in the field for as long as I could. That turned out to be 20 minutes of the 55 minutes. I took a lap to try to recover and jumped back in and lasted another 5 minutes or so. The pace was considerably harder than the B race even if it was steady. Then there was Mt Morris. I was fully prepared to get spanked until my ass was bloody. I wasn't disappointed. I don't know how or why the officials listed me as a finisher of the Cat 1 XC (58th overall and 15th age) as I'm pretty sure I didn't do all 4 laps. The Don had too much on his hands and by the time I looked at the results they were final as far as he was concerned. TmonT suggested to me later that I "should train a bit more and earn that result." I've taken that to heart, thanks Tim. The Super-D was fun even if I was on a rigid. The Short Track was less fun only because it was 100% for the duration of nearly 3 laps before I was mercifully pulled. After Mt Morris I stopped taking days off the bike. The minimum I've ridden is an hour this last Friday running errands, but largely I've had 2-4 hours of saddle time a day. All of it has been road milage and with significant hills. No flat days if I can help it.

This weekend was the Eau Claire WORS event usually held on the 4th of July weekend. I've generally had a good time there. I think it was last year, but it might have been the year before that I broke a brake lever and DNF'd. This year the trail had several changes. New sections of trail were added and they installed large patio pavers on a few spots to cut down on trail erosion. One in the corkscrew section caught me off guard when I was on the wrong line going too fast. I went off the trail and got scraped up a bit. Nothing major, but my chin looks like I cut myself shaving.

Angie had a great race. She'd bought a slightly used Superfly earlier in the week and after one ride at the northern Kettles had decided the big 29er wheels were the right tool for the job. After me, Mark Burkholz and Mike Curtes gave the bike our blessing and fiddled with her set-up she raced it. Her two lap (15 mile) race had nice conditions (overcast and 70's) but I had water for her hand-up anyway. After the start I scurried over to the rock-drop which was the only area of the course she was worried about... crashing and scratching her new bike. Patty Kaufmann and everyone else had suggested she run it since crashing would cost more time than running. She ran it both laps and everything else worked out fine. She spanked the field and not only won her age group, but the overall by nearly 3 minutes.

Then it was my turn to race. I started out better than I thought I might. For the first lap I was at the end of the field and didn't start getting passed by other waves until 3/4 of the lap. My wave was the first wave behind the Elites so I looked forward to seeing everyone. On the second lap I settled in with a rider from Minnesota and we held a pace high enough for me to be uncomfortable but still hold a minor conversation. We started catching a few riders and even some of the Elite women. The weather improved (or worsened) as the sun came out and the temps increased. I was worried about getting lapped by the Elite men so I didn't relent in the single track and gave everything I had on the open areas. In the end of the 3rd lap only two Elite men passed me before I finished. I had thought before the race that I'd be happy if a few things happened for me.

I didn't crash at the rock drop
I could finish mid-field in my age group
I didn't get lapped by the Elite men
I didn't give up

I was so close to getting 100% of my goals. I hit points 1 &4 but I missed 3. Point 2 was better than previous events in that I was 11th of 13 and 21 minutes behind, but I still have progress to make.