roadcx.net

After a while, it is clear that one has been doing something for a while when you approach milestones like 100, 200, etc. I started this blog back in April 2007, which although not that long ago means that I have a built a thing that starts to look like something. Yesterday, I changed my banner image since the old one was nearly 1 year old (it was shot from the 2007-08 Tennessee state CX championships back in January).

I changed it to the following (which is still above if you are reading this post in the near future).

This photo is from the 2nd run-up at the nationals course last weekend at KC.

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Since coming back from nationals, I have pretty much had another heavy volume schedule.

• Sat. Raced Masters 30/34 (~40 minutes)
• Sun. nothing. Spectator and drove back to Memphis
• Mon. 4 hours with a good bit of tempo work.
• Tue. off (my birthday)
• Wed. lifted at lunch, 1 hr trainer ride (2×15 minute sub-threshold int)
• Thurs. 1 hr trainer ride (easy)
• Fri. lifted after work. 25 minute run (street)
• Sat. 4-1/4 hr ride (3×10 minute sub-threshold int)
• Sun. 50 min CX race. 3 hr ride (windy…ended up being a lot of tempo)

By this morning, I felt like someone had mugged me. My body was drained and sore (I have stepped up lifting now that natz is done), but I decided to go ahead with the practice race this morning at MLK park. It was a low-key event, but enough firepower showed up to make it tough.

So, here is the rundown. First of all it was cold. If it was 32F, I would be surprised. Made the course recon pretty miserable, but during the race it was fine. Got a good start (hole shot) and led the group around the first 1/3 of the course. Robbie, Cal, Chase, and I were the one in the mix. About 1/2 way though the course, the course went through a gazebo with 4-5 concrete steps in and out. The in was obvious to me…run up.

The gazebo was big enough that you could remount and then ride down the stairs… which turned out to be a bad move…on the 2nd lap, I burped out some air from my rear (tubeless) tire and was forced to ride it until I saw Andrea again (see link for why). On the 3rd lap through the gazebo (where she took this photo), I told her to get my other rear wheel out of the car… so she ran back and got it… When I got back to where the course was closest to the parking area, I had to wait 20 seconds for her to get it for me, but it allow me to continue racing (the tire went down to 10-15 psi I found out later at home when re-inflating it). By then, Robbie was way ahead, Cal/Chase were up the road, and I got passed by Chris and Jarret when I was getting my wheel changed.

[Jarret and I on the run-up (I'm on the left)]

I rolled a lot better after having a rear tire again and passed Jarret and Chris again after a hard lap of effort, but could not reach Chase or Cal. I ended up in 4th place. Not the best day of racing but a great training day.

[Cal & Chase on the run up]

[Robbie ran away with it today... Time for upgrade? ]

Next race is the Columbia double #1/#2 on January 3rd/4th. In the meantime, I need to continue training for the 2009 road season. Need to get those miles in now so I can build on it with some intensity in Feb/March.

Now that I have my Garmin 705 for a few months, I am starting to flesh out the map of places to ride in/around Shelby County. In the summer, this will fill in some more.