Yesterday’s race was a mixed bag for me. I for the most part am happy with my race. Legs were good but I made a rookie mistake that ended up costing me a lot. When it is that wet wearing anything on your legs is about the worst thing you can do. Your tights get soaked and then hold all that cold water right up against your skin. This ends up making you colder than a well diggers ass. The key is to apply a heated balm and then seal it in with a waterproof grease. Nothing fancy, vaseline works just fine. Anyway I went to my race bag after my warm up on the trainer and the leg grease was not there. Damn, guess I am wearing leg warmers. So I got a good start an after half a lap my drivetrain was already starting to skip but mt tires were hooking up great so I stuck with it. After a few laps my drivetrain was really slowing me and Rico was breathing down my neck so I switched bikes. My bike change was pretty slow and Rico got a good gap I had some work to do now. My 2nd bike had DrX’s tubulars on it and damn they were sweet. I didn’t start with them because last week in the snow my narrow clinchers were rocking and the did well yesterday too but the tubbies were the bomb yesterday. Another lesson learned. The other thing I learned it that 10 speed is pretty much useless in the slop, like I said 1/2 a lap and 10 speed was already having problems. My 2nd bike is 9 speed and I rode the majority of the race on it with no problems. So don’t believe the hype 10 speed sucks for cross. Anyway once I switched bike my lap times started to drop. I caught Rico who had caught Gallagher and Bart. Rico went down right after the barriers and I got on Barts wheel. By this time I had pitched my glasses which made following anyone a blinding proposition so I went around Bart and then Gallagher. Pretty soon after that Bart found the watts he had been missing and passed me. I tried to go with him but my legs were now numb and my calves were starting to cramp from the cold tights. Going into the last lap I still had a good gap on Gallagher and Rico but my legs were really starting to have problems. Coming into the last set of barriers I step off and both calves cramped like I have never cramped before and I went down like Rosie O’Donnell on a free buffet. I jumped up and tried to get going when I noticed I had broken my shifter, my seat was turned at a 45 degree angle. I rode for a ways as best I could my chain was now jumping all over the place (bent derailleur hanger I would later find out). Since I now effectively had no seat I had to stand but my legs were completely locked now so I got off and tried to run. That did not work either so I ended up walking the last K and could only watch as my placing dropped like Mitt Romney’s presidential hopes. So, another race and more lessons learned. You would think I would have this stuff figured out by now huh? That is the beauty of cross though, every race is different and you never stop learning. The Sport of Kings for sure.
Rachel once again threw down in the womens B race and got the win. Right after the B race she lined up with the big girls in the womens A field where she got a strong 5th place. Last night we were talking about the race and she was telling me that she felt pretty comfortable in the slop. She told me that she just left the bike slide around until the tires hooked up. Damn, sounds like the tri-geek may be a cross-geek after all.
I talked to The Rammstein Rider after her race today. Yeah she has cross fever bad. She had the biggest grin on her face you have ever seen and told me that cross is the greatest thing she has ever discovered! Yup, I know the feeling. Rock on girl.
