Lake Rebecca CX race report
From: Lee Penn
Date: Oct 8, 2007 11:28 AM
this was my very first cx race, and i had a blast! i loved this race!
it all started off saturday, when my friend kerry asked me if i was
racing. i said - nope. she asked why. i had to work on saturday, and
it’s not fair to the other parent for me to be absent both days of the
weekend for work and racing… i said. she said - oh, well carl (her
husband - also my friend) is going to race, so why don’t i take kira
(her daughter) and tre (my son) swimming and marathon watching while
you guys race…. uhhhhh…. duhh.hhh…reallY??? yeah - you betcha
i said YES!
so, suddenly, i was racing. sunday morning, i attached tre’s bike to
my cx bike - rode to their place, dropped off tag-a-long bike and
child - switched to racing saddle - loaded bike into van… it took
us awhile to get out of the cities because of the marathon… i had
time for just one lap warmup after registerring….
things learned.
everyone says the start is super important, and they are right. i
started further back than i should have (this was based on my boom
island experience), and i allowed some of the more aggressive riders
to pass me (they made me a bit nervous, you see) during that first
hundred meters or so (i spent a lot of time working to pass them back
later in the race). two start-mistakes i hope to avoid in the future.
after that, i made only one more significant mistake - that is, one
time after hopping the barrier leading to the grassy hill, i had
trouble getting on to my bike and into my pedals due to the tight
packing of people and so on around me. i just didn’t manage it. so,
i ran up the grassy hill - ended up able to pass several people - and
then hopped on the bike. actually, maybe this was a fortuitous
mistake becuase i was able to get around people more easily with bike
shouldered instead of attempting to ride.
first lap - i was passing people - this takes a lot of work and was
the consequence of not starting as i should have. it was crowded and
difficult for me to work my way past people - partly because i was
nervous about other people’s bike handling skills as well as my own.
subsequent laps - i was gaining major position each time running up
the dirt hill. that was fun…. i need more practice on single track
and riding aggressively in crowded conditions. i need more practice
on remounts - i’m reasonably fast, but i need to get faster yet.
overall, i just had loads fun through out the entire race.
right - and i have not seen the results (sherry - would you happen to
know if they have been posted), but my friend karl thinks i finished
third for the women in the c race. so, i might have won a prize or
something - that’d be kinda cool!
so, there you have it. my first cx race. a total blast - no crashing
- hard racing - fun!
totally-addicted-and-thanks-for-reading — lee
ps - does anyone know the condition of the spectators hit at the end
of the b race?