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!
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!
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