Sweet Victory

After 8ish weeks of diligent cycling and four(!) skills practices, there was no denying it on Saturday morning: it was time for my first cyclocross race. I arrived at the venue early and looked out at the beautiful course, trying to determine how technical the turns would be. "They don't look bad at all," I thought. "This might go OK." I went to the registration booth, where the process was flawless. They were expecting me, given that I'd already given them money. I had to give them a bit more for my one day license, but that was expected, too. There was still a ton of time left but I decided to kit up and ride the course to get a feel for it. And that's when the panic set in. Despite how the course looked to me from the outside, it turned out that when I see a turn off of my bike, I don't know, yet, how bad I am on the bike. Negotiating the turns, for me, was tricky. Incredibly tricky. Other guys doing warmups flew by me, while I went thro...

So seeking a break from running, I now find myself two days from my first cyclocross race. In the past eight weeks, I've been mostly loyal to riding. I've only run 4-5 times, including picking up 2nd place in my AG at a 5k race. I've been riding over most of my lunch hours, and have gone longish on most weekends. For the past 4 weeks, I've attended a cyclocross skills practice, along with 5-8 other riders, all of whom have more experience than I. On one hand, I've gotten a lot better and I've learned a ton. On the other hand, it's a tricky sport and I am still very bad at it. I haven't fallen in about 2 weeks, but every technical turn puts me further behind the other riders. Add this to the fact that running fitness isn't cycling fitness and you come up with the reality that on every test race I've done with the weekly pack, I've finished last, and not by a little. Though bruising on the ego, I love these "scrimmages" because ...