I knew going into Saturday night's race it would be hard. I did the trail run in the morning and had fun, but I haven't really asked that much of my legs since GEO in July. It also didn't help that I realized at Tesson Ferry that I had left my number at home and had to turn around to get it. By the time we got there I didn't have a chance to pre-ride the course and I effed around and didn't warm up. All my fault, I own it. Just like I own my poor performance. I was quick off the line at the whistle, but Sunny just rode away from us all. I was quickly passed by the rest of the A field and that's where I stayed--DFL. I even got passed by some of the B racers. That really helped my ego. The only thing that kept me going were the lewd comments from the crowd about my costume. I did get quicker every lap, as my legs got warm and I got familiar with it. But I never got quick enough to catch anyone. The big lesson for me was when I downloaded my data. I obviously played bad mind games with myself because my average HR was only 168 . . . a good 20BPM slower than typical. I let my "perceived" fatigue and overall poor attitude get in the way of having a good race.
Sunday morning didn't start off much better. Saturday night's sleep was about three hours due to issues to remain unnamed and my problems sleeping past 5AM any day. So I began crabby and my legs were still a little tender. I emailed Coach and asked him if I could just go for a long road ride instead. In typical Chuck form, he gave me permission but made me really think. Here's part of his message:
if you are not looking forward to the cx race today, don't do it. there is physical and mental fatigue. staying 'in the game' yesterday was likely similar to a very tactical road race of a couple hours or more duration or a 60-70k tt. if you decide to go for an easy ride, be able to say (if it's true) 'my muscles are sore, i've had enough.'
Of course after reading that I decided to race. Because truly, above all else, I'm a horrible bike handler and anytime spent riding and working on those skills is good for me. I made sure I got to the park early enough to get on the course. It was basically the same as last night, with an added side section through the trees. It was about 1.5 miles and at least I could see the ruts and avoid hitting them in the daylight.
It was windy and overcast at the start, about 58 degrees. We got the whistle and I jumped but was third off the line. Courtney immediately took the lead and Gina followed. I tried to stay with them but didn't have the power today. Kerry was right on my wheel. We stayed that way until after the tree section when Kerry passed me. I pushed to stay on her wheel through the rest of that lap. A few times I thought about going around her, but knew I didn't have the gas to put a gap on her and didn't want to continue to go back and forth with her. On lap two we were heading to the path and I felt good. I went around her and added gear and kept going. I concentrated on seeing how much room I could put between us. I was able to extend my lead on her through the next three laps. In the final lap, she made some ground, but when I saw that she had come closer, I went harder. I ended up with 3rd.
The hardest part of the day's race for me was the barriers. I tried to run and jump but my legs told me no. I made sure my dismounts and remounts were clean so that I didn't lose too much ground there. I also worked on pedaling through my corners and taking clean lines. The handling is definitely getting better. And I say that knowing I haven't faced anything truly technical yet.
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