The very best, most excellent part of today's 'cross race in Carpentersville was the DRY course - no mud!! That made me verrrrry happy. I've done the Carpenter Park race twice in the past with reasonable success so I was cautiously optimistic that I could have a decent finish, depending on who decided to show up and what the course would be like. Temp at start time was probably in the mid to upper 50s and the dewy grass had dried out nicely after the masters races - my kind of cross weather. We had a fair amount of wind and it seemed to get stronger as the day progressed.
The new Carpenter Park course absolutely does not suit me. It was nice that laps took longer as they'd added a lot of new elements using the same park but many of those 'elements' were u-turns, not good for my current level (read: absence) of technical skill proficiency. There was a barrier/gully combination that forced a dismount and a pair of barriers at the bottom of a short run-up but the remainder was totally rideable - even the sandpit was completely tame this year. New this year also was a short pavement stretch (with a u-turn) and a small off-camber section before a longish grass stretch.
Since I've decided to race 'cross for fun this season I have to admit that my devotion to the tasks associated with warming up and pre-race preparation has been lacking. I was able to take two slow course inspection laps before applying embrocation and spinning around a bit while watching the guys. Oh yeah - I was really ready to go when Marek blew the whistle. June and I were representing for Verdigris today with maybe a dozen others who came out for what was sure to be great fun. Standing on the line with us was the perpetually strong current national champion Rebecca Much who I found out has been added to the development program for the 2012 Olympic team - this is a fantastic thing as she is a true talent and a genuinely good and nice person.
I knew I was in for a battle when I missed my clip in and ended up sitting too far back in the very beginning stages of the 45min race. Rebecca got the hole shot and was accelerating hard out of all the early u-turns. This sort of hosed me - I had to work through a bunch of riders before finally getting clear of everyone somewhere on the second lap. From there things seemed to settle in nicely. I was able to keep the gap to Rebecca pretty reasonable (typically 10-15sec per the guys on the course) and not really torch myself to do it until I dropped my chain on the run up with about 2 laps to go. I lost a fair amount of time when that happened and the gap grew to a degree that I wouldn't be able to close in time for the finish.
So I was first loser on the day. An acceptable finish because really, I worked hard but I didn't bury myself too horribly, suffer that badly and I didn't break a nail or fall off my bike a single time (yay!!). June rode strong and stayed steady, passing Holly, finishing a solid third on the day and holding onto the lead in the series - another fine showing for the Verdigris women. I didn't linger after things were over so I don't know how all the Verdigris guys did today but I'm pretty sure the Pony Shop boys scored some impressive results in the masters races - well done gentlemen!!
I know there were a bunch of cameras out there so check back later in the week for updates, photos and links to the good stuff.
The new Carpenter Park course absolutely does not suit me. It was nice that laps took longer as they'd added a lot of new elements using the same park but many of those 'elements' were u-turns, not good for my current level (read: absence) of technical skill proficiency. There was a barrier/gully combination that forced a dismount and a pair of barriers at the bottom of a short run-up but the remainder was totally rideable - even the sandpit was completely tame this year. New this year also was a short pavement stretch (with a u-turn) and a small off-camber section before a longish grass stretch.
Since I've decided to race 'cross for fun this season I have to admit that my devotion to the tasks associated with warming up and pre-race preparation has been lacking. I was able to take two slow course inspection laps before applying embrocation and spinning around a bit while watching the guys. Oh yeah - I was really ready to go when Marek blew the whistle. June and I were representing for Verdigris today with maybe a dozen others who came out for what was sure to be great fun. Standing on the line with us was the perpetually strong current national champion Rebecca Much who I found out has been added to the development program for the 2012 Olympic team - this is a fantastic thing as she is a true talent and a genuinely good and nice person.
I knew I was in for a battle when I missed my clip in and ended up sitting too far back in the very beginning stages of the 45min race. Rebecca got the hole shot and was accelerating hard out of all the early u-turns. This sort of hosed me - I had to work through a bunch of riders before finally getting clear of everyone somewhere on the second lap. From there things seemed to settle in nicely. I was able to keep the gap to Rebecca pretty reasonable (typically 10-15sec per the guys on the course) and not really torch myself to do it until I dropped my chain on the run up with about 2 laps to go. I lost a fair amount of time when that happened and the gap grew to a degree that I wouldn't be able to close in time for the finish.
So I was first loser on the day. An acceptable finish because really, I worked hard but I didn't bury myself too horribly, suffer that badly and I didn't break a nail or fall off my bike a single time (yay!!). June rode strong and stayed steady, passing Holly, finishing a solid third on the day and holding onto the lead in the series - another fine showing for the Verdigris women. I didn't linger after things were over so I don't know how all the Verdigris guys did today but I'm pretty sure the Pony Shop boys scored some impressive results in the masters races - well done gentlemen!!
I know there were a bunch of cameras out there so check back later in the week for updates, photos and links to the good stuff.
