Fading Fast

Today was my first 'cross race of the season. Good thing this sport so is so much damn fun because I apparently forgot how painful it is. And this race was only 30 min long! God help me when I start upping the torture to 45 min in a few weeks.

We flew back from Hawaii Friday night/Saturday morning. Thankfully, we were able to use miles to upgrade to first class. This meant I didn't have to be mashed into a middle seat with some random snoring and drooling on me. Thanks to a glass of red wine, one Sominex, and lots of legroom, I was actually able to get about 4 hrs of sleep on our LAX -> BOS flight. Saturday was a contest to see who could stay awake the longest - I did a bunch of errands (picked up my new skin suit so now I'm one of the "cool kids" - now if only I could ride like one!) and S mowed/raked/trimmed/pruned the yard so well it looked as if we had a team of 20 landscapers working the whole weekend out there. Anyway, we both managed to stay awake until 10pm or so. Pretty amazing. When the alarm went off to get ready for the race, I felt like I was getting up in the middle of the night and that's because I was. It was 2am Hawaii time but dammit, I was going to race.

Here's the race report I threw together for my team:

Since I had been on vacation and off my bike for two weeks along with being totally jet lagged from taking a red-eye the day before, my first goal for the race was simply to get to the start on time and be somewhat awake. ;-) Second goal was to finish and enjoy my first 'cross race of the season on my brand new 'cross bike. Did a pre-ride of the course after hearing about how it was sort of technical and difficult. Score one for mt biking - I thought the course was a piece of cake and way more suited to me than those long, boring grassy courses. Also did the pre-ride with too much air in my tires (50 lbs in Maxxis Larsen Mimos). Took that down to 40 for the race which eliminated some of the bouncing over all the roots. Got a nice place at the start line, first row and good line for the first corner. Decided that one thing I really learned and worked on during mtb season was starts and I wanted to really go for the hole shot. Adjusted my gearing for the slight downhill start (46 front/25 rear) and punched it at the whistle. And yes, got the hole shot! My first ever in a 'cross race! Wahoo! I led for about 1/2 lap then was passed by Roz (Luna and eventual race winner) and then passed by tons and tons of people over the rest of the race. During the second lap when I was still in the top ten I decided to ride the steep short hill after the 180 turn (had seen lots of guys ride in the previous race). Almost made it to the top....thought i was going to break my chain as I basically did a track stand right before the top, couldn't turn over the pedals and basically did a reverse endo (flipped over backwards, bike fell on me, skid backwards down the hill...a 9.8 from the Checkoslovakian judge) ;-) Three women passed me during that bright maneuver. Anyway, fun race. Looking forward to improving over the season. Hoping to see a bunch of you at Casco Bay Saturday.

What I didn't mention was how I thought my lungs were going to explode. I don't need a HRM to tell me when I've redlined, I just listen for when I start making the WHEEZING noise. I didn't start the WHEEZING until 3.5 laps into a 4 lap race. Obviously, I didn't ride hard enough. 17th out of 32 starters. But wow, I had a great start. Now if I can just hold that pace longer and not start riding backwards maybe I'll do better. Blech.