Cross racing trial and error.

I decided to do Woolly cross race up north toward Belingham Washington and pull a double header as I was also planning to race at Arlington the following day. I have been racing cat 3 so I decided to race in the B's (they had A, B, and C,s) and my coice was incorrect. I won the B open with 47 riders without giving 100% effort and lead the race before the end of lap 1. I didn't stay for awards but this picture proves I was there. Next time I race up north, I will do the a's race. 

The course was spread out over some abandoned buildings and grassy hills and was quite a blast!

What goes down..

Must come up!

My friend Jeff on the Starbucks team enjoying his thine on the course.

My friend Adam shot some frames of the old abandoned buildings. 

Hollow even is just a month away after all..

The next day was the cross revolution series opener with a smaller but much more competitive group of riders in the cat 3's and more excellent fall weather. Does a Sunday get better than this? I started off mid pack and fight my way though in my usual style. 

Making a pass though the run section. 

Clip in and hammer down. 

And putting the hurt on myself. My body didn't perform better than expected and I  slowed down a bit and fell of the lead 2 as the race went on and finished a solid 4th. I was pleased with that! What an action packed weekend of racing. This sunshine is nice, but into October our sunny warm days are numbered here in the northwest. I'm definitely trying to make the most of them. 

 

Camano Island century plus cross racing in full effect for Dyna Racing

My ankle problems seem to be behind me now and I'm trying to make the most of the lovely September weather here in western Washington. Some friends from the Snohomish Bicycle shop threw together a century rout around Camano Island, a ride I have always wanted to do and I simply couldn't say no to that even though I was signed up for a cross race the following day. The ride didn't disappoint! 

Camano roads were scenic and not too busy for the most part and the group kept the stops short and infrequent. Other than one flat in the group, the ride went quite smoothly. 

The wether was quite perfect. It was also my first day wearing my new kit for Dyna racing. 

What cyclist can say no to a century on new kit day? Not I!

The next day was MFG #1 at Lake Sammamish. My ankle was sore from the previous day's festivities and this race had 2 sandy running sections per lap. I was a bit worried my ankle might cut my day short but it turned out my equipment would instead. I ended up sitting in the top 20 out of 60 on the second lap when I dropped my chain and lost a good 10 seconds. I was flustered by that and pushing hard to get back toward the top 10, I crashed on a corner and my bike flailed me completely. My chain was off and my wheels would not turn due to my close clearance TRP 8.4 v-brakes. I messed with the springs to center them up and rode another 30 seconds and my front tire blew. I was done for the day. 

The following weekend was MFG #2, South Sound Supervstage at Ft. Steilacoom Park near Tacoma. I felt ready for action on this race day. I gave this race my all and threw down an average of 260 watts for 51 minutes which is the best output my little legs have produced so far this year. I had no major screwups and I cranked up to 184 beats per minute on the climb 7 time in a row. It's nice when my body does what I ask it to! 

I came in 7th out of around 50 in the open 3's feeling very satisfied with my effort and the support from the team was excellent. Fun day of racing!

So far the wether for cross season has been excellent but our luck is bound do change as the season progresses. I say, bring it on, I've been though it all before!

New Team, cross season prep, and injury recovery

A new development for my upcoming race season is that I will no longer be racing with the orange and blue of Fiscer Plumbing. I will be in pink, blue, and charcole for Dyna Racing, a race oriented spin off of the very large and somewhat casual Fischer team. I'm excited to be on a more racing oriented team which will quickly build a reputation for fierce competition across the racing disciplines in categories from 4 on up to 1. I'm not big on hot pink as a primary team color but it's in style and it's a great team so I'll embrace it. I began work re-coloring my cross bike with hot pink vinyl and bar tape to match my new kit, which will arrive around the first of September in time for cross season:

I have made some changes to prepare for cross season. I scaled back mileage slightly and began adding a lot more high intensity training and intervals to become a faster short distance rider since cross races are only 45 minutes. This is also a good change to avoid training burnout. I must say, I feel the difference and I can actually compete with the faster riders around my hood on climbs and sprints again as a result of not being highly fatigued from the mileage. 

The other change I made was to start running. My second run of 3 miles on gravel ended up causing a sprained ankle. It seemed fairly minor as I didn't even notice it for an hour or two after the run. My ankle was just a bit un comfortable the whole time. Guess now I know it that happens again it just means I just have to quit 20 strides into my workout. This running is nothing like cycling. I took some ibuprfin but preceded to train as usual on the bike. I had one missed clip in on that side starting off from a stop light and my pedal rolled under that foot under pressure with a sudden jolt. Ouch! Well, the next few days I stuck to the road thinking that would be safe enough but it was not. One week and 200 hard fast miles out, i have a very swollen and painful ankle and walking/standing is a painful chore. Looks like if off the bike completely for a while. 2 days off and I'm still in a lot of pain. Ugg, so frustrating. I hope I can still race a full cross season. At this point, I don't know how long recovery will take. Hopefully I can get back on the bike soon but high intensity training is going to be out for probably at least two weeks.