cross race #3

Last weekend's race at Theo Wirth sucked so much ass that it did not warrant an entry. sorry. just wasn't going to happen.

Back to today...

Ham Lake. It's just north of Blaine, just south of Manitoba. I'd heard good things about this course and was eager to redeem myself (if only to myself) after last weekend's performance (or total lack thereof). Things went pretty well. The course was really really flat, and had a long-ish paved section. There was one triplet barrier section and one mud pit that looked way more threatening than it actually was. Otherwise the course was almost entirely contained within the bounds of a pine forest with a few deciduous trees mixed for good measure.

The C race was first, so the ground was pretty soft and the dirt was loose. I understand that pine tree leavenings leach a fair amount of acid into the ground and this makes the soil rather sandy. This made for a lot of really fun floating in corners and also claimed a few riders' positions during the race. One such rider, playing the role of total amateur, decided he was going to remove his full finger gloves at speed and mid course in the middle of a terribly bumpy single-track section. I suspected this would end poorly and numb-nuts did not disappoint. I had backed off a bit from riding his wheel and sure enough a rut or root or something turned his bars sideways and the dude was down. I considered riding him over for a moment but instead worked to get around his flailing form without loosing too much momentum.

After the race I saw the guy and suggested it hadn't been the smartest thing to do and next time keep the gloves on or not put 'em on in the first place. This is a 30 minute race. It is not the grand tour. There is no need to add or to remove layers of any sort. Dude just replied insipidly, "yea, sorry about that." Don't be sorry dude! Just don't be an idiot. Next time I will run over his chest or something.


Anyway, back to the racing. Lap 1 was ok. It is always a mad scramble/dash/sprint -- whatever you want to call it. I tried my best to keep myself in the top third of the pack without going hog-wild and over-exerting myself. Going by a friend 3/4 of the way up the course, I held 16th position. It turned out pretty well as on the second lap I made up four or five spots and was leading a small chase group going into the barriers at the end of the circuit. Lap 3 went less well and I gave up a couple spots from my effort in the previous go-around. Lap 4 featured the kid eating dirt, and from there on in, I think we maybe rode six or seven laps total in the allotted time.

I found that I felt good recovering on the long-ish paved section, though I was surprised that even at recovery speed, I was still generally overcoming at least 2 or 3 dudes on that stretch. My goal there was to bring my HR down 5-10 bpm's before reentering the forest. Generally, my aim was to go as hard as possible without blowing up. I was only close to feeling wrecked once about 22 minutes in, but at that point I realized there was only going to be a lap and a half left and it was no time to slow down. I am glad to report that I managed to keep it at the same intensity and finish reasonably strong.

In the end, I finished 14th overall -- probably in the top 25%. I felt pretty good about this race, especially as compared to last weekend's debacle at Wirth. I again have hopes and maybe a wee bit of expectation that I can break top 10 consistently before the season's over and perhaps even score myself a top 5 finish before the end of state's in mid-November. I've got four more weekends to make it happen.

Good times.