“It never gets easier, you just go faster.”

 “It never gets easier, you just go faster.” Greg LeMond. In my case it’s “they” who go faster.

I didn’t know if I was going to race until the end of my pre-ride; two days previous I couldn't put weight on my left foot. My foot is Injured – not sure how – maybe I just over did it? In the previous few weeks I rode the Ididaride and the ADK 80K, banged my head on a tree (not that this has anything to do with my foot), participated in a cyclocross clinic, rode the Mohawk-Hudson Century, and then helped a friend load hay into his barn -- all along with a few training rides sprinkled in between. I've read that the first step to recovery is getting past the denial that you’re injured. At the end of my pre-ride, my foot felt fine; evidently I’m not injured (or still in denial).

The race started about normal; the hole-shot could have been mine if I wanted risk life and limb (the

photo of the first turn tells a different story) – I chose to go wide and avoid the gravel, exiting the first curve in third. No problem, just maintain contact with the leaders – cook book. That seemed to work in Cat 5. I quickly discovered that Cat 4-5 was a whole new recipe (for disaster).  It rained the day before and the course was soft. Things slowed down as soon as the race went off-road. By things, I mean me. Racers started passing me like sedans passing long-haulers in the Pennsylvania hills. These Cat 4-5 guys have a much higher power to weight ratio than I’m used to.

I consider myself skilled with the technical parts of cyclocross racing, so I cannot explain why, on the first lap, I dismounted a full three strides early at the barriers. I sort of redeemed myself in the shallow hollow taped to kind of mimic a half-pipe feature – shift, shift and shift – you could accelerate all the way through that feature. Beyond the “half-pipe”, there were a couple reversed banked curves. I caught riders every lap in these two sections of technical riding.

Things that worked well:  My nutrition. A bowl of oatmeal loaded nuts and berries, and sweetened with pure Vermont maple syrup two hours before go time and then a GU Roctane at T – 15 for the excellent start; and my new Colnago World Cup.  I didn’t seem to have any problems on the short punchy climbs – the World Cup geometry is kick; and shouldering the Colnago was a very natural motion – balanced and always falling right into position.

 

Things that didn't work so well: My legs. In the end power to weight ratio trumped technical riding

skills. My race warm-up; it was less than half the length it should have been. That’s a lesson I learned last year and then ignored by doing just one lap to qualify my foot.  My foot; it blew up. Turns out I do have an injured foot.

All in all, things went pretty well. I lost to many more than I want to–but beat a few racers that I didn't think I could beat. I’ll take it.

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