CX 2010- The story so far

For the two or three of you that read this blog, you may have noticed that race updates have been all but absent this season. For one reason or another, the desire is simply not there. Between two jobs, school and a bicycle tech column over at Examiner.com, I have had little energy to relate my weekly exploits in the pain cave on this blog. However, with a month to go in CX season, I figured I might give a brief synopsis of what has happened so far and hopefully get some motivation to recount each successive race from here on out. While I have no doubt that the exploits of a middling midwest A racer are of little interest to anyone other than the middling A racer in question, I might as well lay it out there for anyone who might want to read it.

The season started great with a win in the Hermann night race. I felt amazing and everything together for what I feel was my best race ever. The training I had done beforehand was consistent and targeted and yielded positive results. I was very enthusiastic for the season ahead after a lack of mountain bike racing over the summer. Game on.

After a two week break, I got a bit sidetracked by the Burning at the Bluff where my single speed team with Dave and Christopher fought a yo-yo'ing battle with Team Seagal and GORC to ultimately take home the coveted belt buckle and my first win in the event which has brought me so much pain in years past. It was an incredibly satisfying team effort and I feel lucky to get to wear my trophy each day thereafter.

The following week was spent recovering from the physical destruction of a cumulative 65 mile of rolling Ozark singletrack and no real workouts to speak of, just rolling around trying to get the legs ready for the opening Bubba weekend double header. With the A race night starts at 10pm, I opted for the singlespeed race on Saturday, again with Dave and Christopher. We drilled the pace early on and eventually got a group of three clear with Dave, Anthony Dust and myself. It felt as if we were going extremely fast and everything felt good, even if Dave's pulls were putting the screws to me. Things were going well and I was planning an attack toward the end of the last lap when I rolled my rear tire in a corner and had to settle for third. The following day, I had a rough start but was clawing my way toward the chase group when I rolled another tire when remounting. As it was my birthday and I had rolled a tire the night before, I got a bit upset and walked off. Some good friends put a spare on my bike and after some pouting, I rolled around and finished. Closer inspection of the two rolled tires showed a strange sight of paper thin glue hovering over the rim, but not connected to the tire or rim bed. I don't know the cause, but since it was the first time this had ever happened to me or any of the wheels I glued, I'll put it down to a fluke. Lessons in composure learned, it was time to step up to the big time in Louisville.

Louisville went reasonably well, I rode the hardest course I have ever done and moved up 88 spots on day one and 87 spots on day two. I felt like I had great legs on day two and had a much better start than the first day, but a series of mishaps set me back. No one likes an excuse saturated bike racer, so I will say that I had a blast and it was a weekend to remember racing and helping the CalGiant team in the pits.

The last race I did before our annual shop mountain bike trip was a night race at Creve Couer. I decided to race the A's despite the late start and prepared well with lots of preride and a good, solid warm up. I felt strong and smooth throughout the race and had a nice battle with Scott to eventually take 7th, my first top ten in a local A race. The beach section was great and the course had flow all over the place. I still need to find a little something extra to stay with the leaders the whole race, but I know I'm not far off and feel positive and motivated to get there. This season feels much better than last and with a trip to Bend for Nationals on the way, I am putting my head down to do the best I can, plentiful obligations aside.

So there it is, maybe there will be more blow by blow recaps after this, maybe not. Either way, that is the story so far. Pictures to follow, depending on motivation levels. Thanks for reading.