Another weekend, another road trip . . . this time it was for Boss Cross and the Missouri State CX championships in KC. Cory and I had the pleasure of having the Sass as our travelling companion. After a quick S'bux stop, we headed west. Sass was out cold by the time we went Wentzville. Cor & I kept ourselves entertained with great stories and Twitter pics from Jim. I was able to add two new Coryisms to my list . . . that blog post will come out post Madison--be warned it is not for the faint of heart. We hit KC about nine. After unloading and grabbing Jim, we headed to North to meet G and Trent. Dinner was great and Patrick joined us after he got settled.
Saturday morning I could hear the rain pouring down outside my window. It was going to be a nasty race. We actually found a freestanding Starbucks, with no u-turns, and made it to the race course without incident. Not so for Jim. I'm not really sure what happened, but between Patrick and Cory they guided him in.
At the start of our race, it was wet and soggy with temps in the high 40s, low 50s. The rain had briefly stopped, although it spit on us intermittantly through the race. The race was held at a BMX park, but we weren't actually using any of the course. Most of the course was held in two large open fields--the upper section was flat with some easy corners, the lower section had a nice grade to it. In addition, the north part of the course went near the BMX track. It was the technical, muddy section with two down and backs, a muddy run up over a log, off camber mud and a sloshy mud pit that led out to a long slow uphill grinder. Fun times! There were ten women in the open field and we were on course with the Master's 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 riders. We got the whistle and I was fourth off the line. We hit the back section and I was able to pass the third place girl on an uphill. I could hear someone behind me but was able to hold her off until we got to the muddy run up. She passed me there. I rode the muddy off camber well the first lap. I dismounted and ran the second mud pit and headed up the hill. I was able to catch the girl who passed me at that point. I added gear as I passed her and started looking for Karen. I think I got within about 10 seconds of her during lap two. I hit the muddy off camber and it just went all to hell. I let Patrick and John distract me (they were heckling and I was laughing) and I went straight off the course, at Patrick, into a tree. I jumped off, untangled myself and went back at it. I lost time on Karen through that whole fiasco. I have to admit that the other passes through the muddy off camber were no better. While I didn't run into the tree or go off course anymore, I was never able to completely ride it. I should have been smart and shouldered the bike and run. Lesson learned! The rest of the race was great for me. I talked myself through any muddy sections with "pick a line and pedal. pick a line and pedal." It seemed to work. I must have looked like I was having fun because I got multiple comments during and after the race about smiling. In the last lap, I came up on Guillarmo, he didn't seem to be having as much fun as me, so I gave him a little butt smack as I passed . . . almost taking myself down as well. I ended up holding onto third without a problem. My highlight for the race was not freaking out in the mud. I worked on spinning and finesse. Even through the off camber mess, I didn't get uptight. My point of improvement is recognizing my strengths. I should have improvised and run instead of thinking I needed to try to ride it each time.
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| Up and over the log on the run up. *Photo cred: Jon Peck |
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| Off camber, downhill and mud. -Yikes!- *photo credit: Jon Peck |
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| Podium -- Congrats to Sarah and Karen. *photo credit: Jon Peck |
Our St. Louis contigent caravaned to the car wash to rinse off the bikes. It was a sight to see. The rest of the day was filled with washing kits and shoes, great food, laughs and shopping. A perfect day in my mind. Our evening plans took us back to La Bodega--we had dinner there our first KC road trip. The boys all joined us, including Peter and Travis who had just gotten in, and Cory's teammate Chris. The food and sangria were outstanding and the laughs were never ending. Although I do think we made Trent shake his head at us quite a few times.
By Sunday morning, the rain had stopped. It was still muddy and was cold...34 degrees with a wind chill of 29. The course was almost identical to Saturday with the exception of it being run backwards and the muddy off camber was taken out. Instead of climbing the grinder out of the mud, we went downhill into the mud and circled around to the run up and log. The course conditions had also deteriorated quite a bit. There was very little solid grass left, and was what there was saturated. I made a costly clothing mistake for Sunday. I let the cold scare me and I decided to wear my knickers instead of my skinsuit. With the weight I've lost this season, the chamois in the knickers is a bit saggy. I also almost let my head get in the way of me racing well. I saw one of the ladies I had yet to beat this season and I started to get nervous. I literally banged my head on the dashboard telling myself to get my head in the race.
We again had 10 ladies at the line. Sunday we only had Masters 50, 55, and 60 on course with us. The whistle blew and we took off. As I raised out of the saddle, my chamois caught on it. EFF ME! I was immediately sitting 6th wheel. I kept telling myself to calm down and to just stay in contact with the lead five. Within two turns I was able to pass the girl sitting in 5th. We were all together through the barriers and down the hill to a muddy 180. The lead women, as did I, tried to ride it. (So were some of the men we caught). Everyone got bogged down and had to do an unplanned dismounted creating a bit of a jam. Karen and Sarah were able to take advantage of that and get away from us. We climbed up out of there and headed down to the mud. As soon as I hit the deep stuff, I dismounted and shouldered the bike. I sloshed through and decided to keep running. There were two short sections I may have been able to ride, but I didn't know if it was worth it. After the log I got on and went after Britta. I was able to pass her in the upper section of the field and caught up and grabbed Cory's wheel. I know Cory is a good handler through the mud, so I stayed on her wheel and watched her line. As we turned out of the mud and down the hill, Cory went into the tape and off the course. I was able to go around her. At that point, I didn't know where Sarah and Karen were and who was sitting in what place. I crossed through start finish and saw we had four to go. That lap I tried to ride the muddy 180 again and only got halfway through. Two guys standing there told me that everyone was having better luck running it so I made up my mind that was my plan the next lap. I headed off towards the mud pit. A bunch of the Big Shark guys were there and told me that Sarah wasn't that far ahead and that I could go after her. I again ran the bike the whole way, ignoring John who told me it was a bike race, not a run. I tried to remount after the log and again caught my chamois. I finally got going and headed after Sara. I saw her when I got into the upper field. She had about 30 seconds on me at that point. I put my head down and rode my bike. I tried to keep a high cadence, but stay relaxed through the mud. By the time I saw the boys again, they were telling me I was closing the gap. I asked them to count time for me. I was close enough to Sara at the point that I could see she was trying to ride part of muddy section where I ran. I told myself to stick with my strengths and I slogged through. The boys had moved to the top section by this point and told me the gap was at 15 seconds. When I rounded the corner, Guillarmo was there telling me it was at 13 seconds. We headed back through the lower section, down to the mud and out in the open field again. The gap was around ten at this point. When we wound towards the start/finish, I made my move. I added gear and pushed. I passed and didn't look back. The cool part of it was the play by play from the announcer as I did it. We had two to go and the boys were telling me that Karen was catchable, so I kept pushing. They gave me a gap of 15 seconds and I could see her through most of the lap. As we headed through the upper half of the field, the men's leader passed me. It meant that I was now on the last lap. Try as I may, I couldn't close it down on Karen and ended up with second. I was pretty happy with my decisions on the course. I played more to my strengths and stayed relaxed even when my line choice wasn't the best. I've also learned my lesson about clothing.
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| Nothin' but muddy goodness. *Photo credit: Jon Peck |
Yesterday was the second state medal I earned. This one, although the same place, means much more to me than the crit medal I have. CX is not my strongest discipline. I've really worked to improve. I analyze my races, think through where I need to improve, and then go out and practice those skills. Sure I do the same thing with road races, but that just seems to come easier. Some day, some how, I'd really like to win the state jersey. For now I'm happy with the silver medal. It is what it is.
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