Race Day

Last weekend, the team (Dru , Mike and I) loaded up in the car and headed up to the Chicago cross cup race in Hawthorne woods. We had to leave at 5 am in order to make the masters' race at 10. I did my best not to fall asleep on the drive up. I was already worried about the race, being so tired and finding out the night before that my rear tire was coming unglued from the rim in a spot. I had to stay up a little later than I had planned, mounting some clincher tires and a cassette on a set of wheels. I am pretty spoiled, but clinchers just don't handle the way that tubies do, especially when it comes to 'cross racing. We got to the race with no problems, got the bikes out and set up, and went for a quick lap around the course just to check it out. That's when I realized I was out of breath and here's a picture of the reason why:

No, not the rider, the imposing mountain behind him. They called it a "tobaggin hill" on the course description, and we got to climb and descend it not once, but twice per lap. I saw two people crash on the descent just warming up, so it was gonna be fun....

I spent the entire race in a oxygen- debt- induced haze, but managed to finish. I think I even beat at least one person. I guess you know it's a good course when you contemplate whether you'll live through another lap or if your heart will finally beat itself out of your chest cavity and flop onto the grass that makes up most of the hardest parts of the course. I managed to take a few shots of the next race following ours, and then we got on the road and headed home. Driving eight hours to race for just under an hour is not usually a good thing, but in this case, i was not wishing it were a longer race.

Flickr

More Cowbell

Well, I'm back in buisness with the internet connection. So now I can post (easily) again. This week, I have a three- day weekend off work. I took Katie to her friends' house at three o'clock this morning, so they could drive to St. Louis to catch a flight to Las Vegas for the friends' birthday. What I'm trying to say is, I'm all alone with nothing much to do this weekend. Sounds like a good chance to get some time in on the bike! So I met Mike at the Koke mill trails this morning. I had a hard time getting out of bed for the second time, so I was a little late. He was too, so it worked out fine. We rode the trails for a while and then headed out on the road to Lincoln Park, where we rode the cross- country course around the outskirts of the park. After one lap and a stair run- up, I was pretty tired, so we rode back to the trails. This is my second ride on the new Alpha Q fork, and I have to say that I am very impressed. The problem I had with the stock fork was that it dove so much under braking that it was almost impossible to control. I found myself unable to use the brakes heavily into corners, causing me to enter corners very slowly or risk crashing or running off the trails due to excessive speed. I swapped it out for my brothers Specialized tricross fork, which was much stiffer, but it had too much rake and handled poorly on my bike. It was also fairly heavy, which was why it didn't stay on his bike. I think he weighed his bike with carbon wheels on and it was around sixteen pounds! My bike won't get that light, but it got a lot lighter with the new fork on it. Plus it's got this curved, weapon- like look to it that makes it scare other riders off the start line. At least that's what I'm hoping for. Now I'm debating weather I should put the dura- ace crank and shifters on it to lighten the bike even further, but I might be too worried about crashing it, then. Which happens a lot in 'cross. To other people, not me.
Sunday, Dru, Mike and I are heading up to Chicago for the ChiCrossCup race. I know I'm out of shape and practice so I'm hoping for a little luck and a lot more cowbell.

No Internet

I don't have internet access this week. This is difficult for me. I want you to see my pictures from Jonathan Pages' Planet Bike Cup in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin 2 weekends ago. They are on my Flickr page here I actually raced- check out the results page if you don't belive me. I had more fun up there than should be allowed, and now I'm all pumped for 'cross season. Who's with me?