roadcx.net

Saturday (CX3):  (6 laps, 8.2 miles, 11.9 mph)

Generally a pretty good course, but a little bit too much single track… (You ask: What is the correct amount of single-track???  answer: zero).  At least my trail riding at Shelby Farms came to some benefit…there were three sections of single track per lap…one of which was pretty long.  About 7-8 started the CX3 race…  after the start, I was probably in 5-6th place into the single track the first time.  I was able to moved up into 3rd after coming out of the woods in the twisty clover-leaf section (lots of barrier taped turns in a field).    At this point, after a while, I managed to move up into 1st after passing Cal Hill and Barret Krei.  Once I was in first slot, I was able to ride the single track as I wanted, and started to build a lead.  The course featured a bowl with a small pond in the middle.  Riding up and through took me a few laps to figure out but once I did, I was able to do it for 2 of the last 3 laps.  In the end, I was up by about 40 seconds and finally took my first CX3 race.  I don’t have any photos, but I hope to get some posted from the various people that were taking photos.

Saturday (Hoss of Cross)

This race was a handicapped winner take all type race.  The CX3 group started behind the Masters (~45 seconds) and the CX4’s (~25 seconds) on this two lap race.  Short races don’t play to my strengths, but I wanted to give it a go.  By the 2nd lap, we were passing the CX4’s but were having trouble passing them in the single track.  Barret Krei did a better job of it, but neither of us caught the eventual winner, Chris Irwin (Masters) who took home an iPod Touch for his efforts.

Saturday night:

Cal, Chris, and I ate at this interesting Mexican restaurant in Hurricane Mills, just off I-40.  We were hungry so we basically stopped at the first place we knew of.  Warning #1 should have been that there was not a Mexican in sight on staff, but we decided to go with it.  The thing that made it interesting is that apparently half the staff had walked out due to some disagreement leaving the a skeleton crew to man the ship.  This somewhat reduced the menu, but a few beers and some serviceable steak fajitas hit the spot.   Is this a recommendation?…  not exactly.  I would say it is one of the better restaurants in Hurricane Mills… although there is not much competition.

On Saturday night, we stayed at one of Cal’s friend’s 2nd house down by Linden, Tennessee.  The house was pretty interesting with a corrugated metal front and almost 100% glass back side.  I felt like I was in an Ikea catalog.   This house had a lot of design features that I have seen in Nordic (Estonia, Finland, Swedish) architecture.  Very cool.

Sunday (CX3) - 3rd place (6 laps, 8.5 miles, 10.5 mph)

The Sunday race was essentially the Saturday run in reverse, but included bit more single-track and a steep run-up.  Boomer came up from Memphis today, so I knew it would a tall order to win again, but I thought I would try…  After the first lap, I was in 3rd place with Boomer riding away from Cal (2nd) and I.  After coming out of the long single track section the course loops down fast by the pits and turns sharply back up.  I had practiced the line a few times, but this time I was going too fast or maybe bounced in a rut and ended up losing my front wheel and crashing.  Brent Mahan passed me as I was getting up.  I chased and chased (going by Cal who had a mechanical issue…seat flipped up), but just couldn’t close the gap.

Chasing…. I rocked the right arm warmer down look for more than a few laps after it slipped down (photo by Dustin Greer, off his blog)

I know my big weakness today was the single track (see my thoughts above), so I am not surprised.  I finished out the last couple laps holding onto 3rd place.  All in all, not a bad weekend.  I felt like my fitness was good, but had trouble in the woods keeping the pressure on (on both days really).  I know my barrier technique is also a bit rough… What I did this weekend worked, but it was not a fluid as it will need to be next weekend at the State Championships down on Mud Island.

Another milestone over 5 years in the making: