WTB: Velociraptor claws

As I looked out the window Saturday morning, I was glad I had swapped the Clement file treads for my Specialized mud tires the night before. This was gonna be fun. And cold. But mostly fun.

After a small detour, we arrived at Fulton Ravine in NW Edmonton with plenty of time to sign on and get dressed for a chilly, snowy Velocicross. Not enough time for a pre-ride, but  I don't think it would have helped anyway. Racing a smaller field than I'd seen a week earlier, it was a fairly sketchy start with a few guys going hard off the front but most of us sitting back.I was hesitant to push the bike too hard given the slick conditions, and it didn't take me long before I was making my first snow angel. I went down another 4 or 5 times in those first two laps. I quickly realized three things: (1) I was running  the wrong tire pressure,  (2) My back tire is worn out and needs replaced, and (3) I need to stop blaming equipment and learn to ride more technically sound. The course itself was awesome and would have been pretty well suited to me had it been dry. But much like last weekend, it wasn't dry. There was one long section I could really open it up, and that's exactly where I took advantage. After settling into a rhythm, it must have worked alright. I was disappointed after my race, but was pleasantly surprised to find out I'd finished 10th, so at least I was in the points. Thanks to Dezz and Domino for keeping me going fast up that hill! (For the record, Domino LOVES the snow. Dezz, not so much).

Sunday I lined up at the start line with a practice lap under my belt. The clothing choice on Saturday was perfect, so nothing changed for Sunday. Again, poor start near the back. But I kept the rubber down all race, and half way through was feeling much more confident of a result than I had 22 hours previously. My last two laps were a good back and forth battle with another rider, and on the last lap we took a little escapade into the forest just before hitting the muddiest hill around. I came out the better of the two, with no dropped chain and just a clogged up cleat. The weather conditions made clipping into my pedals  an issue all weekend, so no surprise  my efforts to clip back in while trying to ride a straight line on a muddy uphill was (to quote TLC) damn unpretty. But when you're battling for position on the last lap, you find a way. I was happy to hold my position to the line for 6th place.

So overall? Yeah, neither performance will end up on a YouTube how to video, but fitness continued to be my ally. Learning what line to ride? Well, that's coming along slowly.  The weekend goal was to steal a few upgrade points... mission accomplished. And I was stoked to get the email today with my upgrade. With that in mind, the goal for the last couple of races of the season has changed. Don't be DFL.

Waffles and Wobbles.

Disclaimer: No waffles were consumed within the timeframe of  this blog post. It's merely a reference to belgian waffles and Belgian cyclocross racers both being the best in their respective categories. I am better at eating belgian waffles than I am at racing cross.

The Dark Knight cyclocross race.  It's one of those races I put on the calendar for next year the day after the race.   It's more about having a good time while trying to avoid serious injury to self or bike than winning.  Well, at least that's MY race plan. We lucked out with some dry and pleasantly warm enough weather, but rain earlier in the day led to fairly slick conditions. The course at Winsport's Canada Olympic Park is already the most technical on the calendar, so throw in some mud and soggy grass along side the flaming jump and narrow pump track and you had an interesting night. As I was kindly informed last year (thanks John Santos), I have pretty good bike handling skills for a triathlete. However, I have mediocre bike handling skills for a 'crosser?. A congested 60-person field means there are gonna be some bumps early on.  After avoiding a crash in the first 250m, I wasn't quite so lucky on lap two with an off-camber spill leading to 12 people passing me as I dealt with a minor mechanical. And that was it for any serious thoughts of a top 10. I moved up a few spots but too many mistakes on technical sections kept me from gaining anymore lost time back.  I did at one time (lap 5 I think) shout at Ed, the race director, that he was trying to kill us with this course design. He shouted back "I hope so. But you're still smiling".  I finished 20/60. An improvement over last years 38th place.

Finishing the night off with a big dose of chaos, I jumped into the Arkham race - shortcuts, beer shots, and costumes and chaos! Nuff said.

After 5 hours of sleep, I was up washing the bike before heading back to Winsport for the Cadence Classic Cross race. Good thing I'm full of youthful exuberance.  A muddy course from all the Saturday racing and some early morning frost made for an even trickier course Sunday. I probably hit the ground more at Cadence than I have in my last two years of racing combined. No serious falls, just some off camber slips and slides, with mucky shorts and some grass stuck in the pedals to prove it. But fortunately I wasn't the only one finding it a tough go. (The sun came out and dried up the course for the later races, but I guess that was payback for us having the best conditions on Saturday night). Again some silly mistakes knocked me back a few spots that I couldn't recover from. End result: 19/50. And a whole lotta fun.

Off season goal? Practice off-camber in wet conditions. And take those aero bars off my cyclocross bike!