Tuesday, December 19, 2006

The long overdue weekend report

I think I've finally gotten my head back on straight enough to sum up the weekend of craziness at cross nationals. The sad thing is that I think it was more hectic being a "home race" than it will be if I get permission to go to KC next year, but I'm getting ahead of myself. So here goes...

Friday: Woke up way too early for work so I could get as many work hours in by 11 and then leave for the race. I was anxious as hell so it was hard to be productive the whole time I was here. The real snag I hit was lunch. The caf opens at 11:30 and there is nothing that I could easily drive by, park, swing in, and swing out on my way out of town. I figured I'd either get something on the road or immediately when I got there. Well, long story short, my lunch ended up being multiple mini Clif bars and a slice of banana bread because the only food I could find for sale at the race was BBQ sandwiches which were not a good plan <2 hours before the race. Jumped on the course immediately when I got there and got in 2 laps. The course seemed crazy long and definitely a collection of challenges. It's hard to say it was hard, but it sure wasn't easy. There was a little of everything you could imagine complete with a few greasy corners and a minimum of 4 dismounts per lap for mortals who can't bunny hop barriers or ride up stairs (I saw both over the course of the 3 days). I felt kinda ok, but wasn't sure since my chest cold had kicked in a little. For a while did some number pinning, waiting around, and then warming up on the roads and trainer. Saw a bunch of the guys standing around the pits before the M35+ ended because their days ended early. Got lined up for the race DFL as I knew I would be and then the whistle blew. Now I expected to be hanging on when we took off, but this was freaking insane. By the time we hit the barriers I was solidly in last with no sign of gaining ground. I found out later that the first two rows of my field contained guys who ride local elite races and do well. The true low point of the race was coming through after 2 laps and seeing 4 to go when I was sure there was no way we could do more than 5 total. To cut the agony short, I got lapped 2/3 of the way through lap 4 and just rode into the pits and pulled myself. I rode terrible and was just stunned by how fast those guys were. For the record, it was the fastest Masters race of the event. Picked myself up a little with way too much food and some tasty adult bevs at Fire and Ice with some of the guys and went home to crash.

Saturday: Boys had karate from 8:30 to 10 so we did that and then headed to pick up Jeff and get down there in time for the U23 and elite mens races. Timed it perfect and even had time to swing by the Kona team tent and try to convince Treefarm to sell me one of his bikes. No luck there, but it was fun anyways. BTW, I don't know what the stink was about with $5 parking... I never saw anyone charging all weekend so I never paid. Fine spot all three days. The summary of the Saturday races was just simply fast. You cannot fathom how fast those guys are and the way Trebon just rode away from everyone was sick. It helped those guys that the course was dry and packed so there were no conditions to contend with. Probably the only downer of the day was having to constantly remind myself that while it's exciting for me to be 1 foot away from some of the world's best cyclists, the boys think I'm one of the world's greatest so to them it doesn't matter. Trying to explain something that's exciting to you in a way that it will be interesting to your children while realizing that they probably aren't 1/10 as interested as you is one of the many challenges of parenthood. They got to throw leaves at each other and some other kid they latched onto so they had an equal amount of fun :)

Sunday: Up early again and back in the car for another trip to Provo. Course opened at 7:30 and I wanted a good number of laps so I could feel out the course better and figure out how stiff I was. That was a huge advantage because I figured out that this one power hill that I couldn't ride Friday (I was the only tool running) was completely rideable if I set it up. I think Friday also had to do with how crummy I felt. Got in 3 laps before the women's B started and then had time to snack a little and get in some time on the trainer. A trainer with a single speed is kinda of strange because all you can do is spin faster which isn't without value, but it's limited. Got ready and headed down for the lineup slug fest. Started in 140th spot out of 172 (reportedly) which was really funny to see. Really cool thing was that I lined up next to another SS'er who was riding a gigantic gear. Now even funnier than the lineup was the pileup we had on the off-camber which had frosted over at night and then thawed during the women's race. We get there and it's just a wall of humanity and I can hear the announcer yelling "Oh my goodness it's total mayhem". Once everyone sorted themselves out, I realized I was pretty far back in the field (painfully close to last), but that was ok because I could tell it wasn't as fast a race. The rest of the time I just rode hard, had a boat load of fun, and would constantly latch on with a guy for a bit and then lose him. Even though I hurt when I was done, I had enough left to be making faces at Gewilli when he was yelling stuff at me. It was a total blast and I finished 126th without getting lapped so it was a success. The day did end on a sour note with Coley breaking his leg after riding around 5th spot for a chunk of lap one of the other B race.

Ok, that's way too much work time wasted. Till next time...

2 comments:

gewilli said...

Ya Looked like you were having fun out there on sunday...

kinda funny, but not really hard to believe... sunday was the better day racing...

Great to see ya out there this weekend and keep hounding the Kona towers...

maybe they'll eventually sell off a bike...

trackrich said...

Making faces at screaming spectators is a sure sign that it's fun. Good to see you out there. Keep up the commuting... only 39 weeks until cross season.

I'll work on them to each sell one and we'll both be stylin...