Over the barriers.photo courtesy of PF
Through the sand pit.photo courtesy of PF
I needed to have a flame lit under my ass to race this weekend in Lansing. Today was the third time that I have so much as even touched my cross bike this year. It definitely helped that Lou at the Pony spiced up my bike with some new white bar tape and a white saddle. I think the last 'cross race I did was about a month ago. I figured maybe it'd be nice to suit up for the Lansing race, seeing as how I grew up five minutes from the course and actually lived in Lansing for a short time during the dark chapter in my life known as 'The Engagement to Bob.' Sure dodged a bullet on that one.
Weather forecasts were calling for 30 degree temps and snow the past few days so I was totally on the fence until I awakened to see that the ground was dry with a morning temp of 28 degrees. No doubt it was going to be a day for Super Strength Greyhound Juice. Have I ever mentioned the fact that I intensely dislike racing in very cold weather? Yeah - hard to believe isn't it? Freezing coldness makes everything seem slower and more painful to me. I pre-rode the course very easy and then basically found someplace warm to hang out until go time and so never really warmed up, per se, prior to starting. I had to wear a bunch of layers under my skinsuit and felt like the Michelin Man.
The Lansing course is 100% pancake flat, 97% of which is grass with some very short pavement sections and a long sand pit. This year it was set up with a lot of twisty grass stuff, a few barriers and two pavement round-abouts. It didn't really suit me - I'm better on wide-open courses that don't require lots of speed changes. There were about a dozen 1/2/3 women on the start with June and I representing for Verdigris. June is leading the Chicago Cross Cup series and so my main objective was to make sure that she got as many points as possible today. I wasn't paying attention when the gun was fired so I was nowhere near getting the hole shot as we rolled off the start. I essentially settled into second position about 30 seconds into the race. My legwarmers kept falling down which was pretty annoying - they're really old and the grippers are shot.
Without a decent warm-up it took me about three laps to settle into some kind of groove where I could stay until the end. I played it cautious and ran the sand pit almost every time. It was actually faster that way. The twisty grass section was killer - it was intermittently into the wind and just seemed to suck the life out of everyone. June hung pretty close for a long time and I kept yelling at her, 'get up here!!' I was planning to literally stop before the finish line on the last lap so she could get the coveted finishing points but the cat 3 men came through us at the finish, so they ended our race on the same lap. Bummer too because I know things at the top of the standings are close. I was happy to be finished - it was a bit of a suffer fest at times as evidenced by the (simultaneously cool yet nasty/gross) copious amounts of spit and snot stuck to the various surfaces of my bike.
Thanks to Mom and Dad for coming out to spectate a bit and to everyone who shouted encouragement along the way - it definitely helped my psyche today to hear your cheers. Congrats to the Verdigris guys who all posted impressive top finishes and also to the Pony Shop boys - well done, gentlemen! Mr. Pink, you are my hero!!
Unless we have some kind of miraculous break in the weather or I have a weak moment it's likely that today was my final 'cross race for the season. But you never know - I might get a wild hair the morning of the Montrose Harbor race in a few weeks and just show up for the heck of it.
What I'm reading at the moment: 'Fraud' by David Rakoff. I just finished 'A Dog in a Hat' by Joe Parkin and before that 'When You are Engulfed in Flames' by David Sedaris - which was hysterical. Not sure what's up next - maybe some classic American literature that I've never read or some Vonnegut. Depends on what I can find at the book store.
That's the story for now - as always, thanks for reading. If any decent pictures from today find their way into my inbox I'll be sure to post them later.
Weather forecasts were calling for 30 degree temps and snow the past few days so I was totally on the fence until I awakened to see that the ground was dry with a morning temp of 28 degrees. No doubt it was going to be a day for Super Strength Greyhound Juice. Have I ever mentioned the fact that I intensely dislike racing in very cold weather? Yeah - hard to believe isn't it? Freezing coldness makes everything seem slower and more painful to me. I pre-rode the course very easy and then basically found someplace warm to hang out until go time and so never really warmed up, per se, prior to starting. I had to wear a bunch of layers under my skinsuit and felt like the Michelin Man.
The Lansing course is 100% pancake flat, 97% of which is grass with some very short pavement sections and a long sand pit. This year it was set up with a lot of twisty grass stuff, a few barriers and two pavement round-abouts. It didn't really suit me - I'm better on wide-open courses that don't require lots of speed changes. There were about a dozen 1/2/3 women on the start with June and I representing for Verdigris. June is leading the Chicago Cross Cup series and so my main objective was to make sure that she got as many points as possible today. I wasn't paying attention when the gun was fired so I was nowhere near getting the hole shot as we rolled off the start. I essentially settled into second position about 30 seconds into the race. My legwarmers kept falling down which was pretty annoying - they're really old and the grippers are shot.
Without a decent warm-up it took me about three laps to settle into some kind of groove where I could stay until the end. I played it cautious and ran the sand pit almost every time. It was actually faster that way. The twisty grass section was killer - it was intermittently into the wind and just seemed to suck the life out of everyone. June hung pretty close for a long time and I kept yelling at her, 'get up here!!' I was planning to literally stop before the finish line on the last lap so she could get the coveted finishing points but the cat 3 men came through us at the finish, so they ended our race on the same lap. Bummer too because I know things at the top of the standings are close. I was happy to be finished - it was a bit of a suffer fest at times as evidenced by the (simultaneously cool yet nasty/gross) copious amounts of spit and snot stuck to the various surfaces of my bike.
Thanks to Mom and Dad for coming out to spectate a bit and to everyone who shouted encouragement along the way - it definitely helped my psyche today to hear your cheers. Congrats to the Verdigris guys who all posted impressive top finishes and also to the Pony Shop boys - well done, gentlemen! Mr. Pink, you are my hero!!
Unless we have some kind of miraculous break in the weather or I have a weak moment it's likely that today was my final 'cross race for the season. But you never know - I might get a wild hair the morning of the Montrose Harbor race in a few weeks and just show up for the heck of it.
What I'm reading at the moment: 'Fraud' by David Rakoff. I just finished 'A Dog in a Hat' by Joe Parkin and before that 'When You are Engulfed in Flames' by David Sedaris - which was hysterical. Not sure what's up next - maybe some classic American literature that I've never read or some Vonnegut. Depends on what I can find at the book store.
That's the story for now - as always, thanks for reading. If any decent pictures from today find their way into my inbox I'll be sure to post them later.
