Category: Various
Result: Various

Two Days Three Races - Part 1 That's right, two days three races. I guess you could consider it attempt at the overload training principle but with racing! I'm also jealous of you Master Roadie riders...I love being able to race twice a day.

the short:
Ione:
C's 2nd
B's 4th to last
CCCX 2
15th of 25.....
Ione report:

spent a good chunk of the day in IONE, just a bit southeast of Sacramento. about 1hr:20 drive.

C's: I ended up making this an entertaining race for those that watched. I opted to use the C race was a warm up. So hence all I did was ride the course a few times and went to the start line. I've been needing to work a bit on my technical skills and getting to be one with the bike. I figure simply racing a lot more will help. Coarse was somewhat flatish, a nice big ditch, weave through a park, over a BMX jump, zig zag through a small but deep stream. The stream was about a foot wide and about 2 feet deep. This meant MUD :) More on that later. Funny looking at it seemed like nothing but damn did the front wheel sink. Then after the stream, head back towards the start where we had some logs as natural barriers. Only one set of man made barriers.

My whole game plan was to just stay with the pack. I wanted to be at the back and just basically do my best to "sit in". I decided I'd just spin the whole race. Keep it in my 38x17/15. We had a small field of like 10. We were sent on our way. I am dead last going into the first ditch. Hit the path towards the park. Zip our way through and onto the 2nd lap. I've moved up one spot. Decide to move up another few spots. On a straight away I simply increase my cadence and pass 2 guys. Going by the finish line the ref says "man you've made up some time".

Okay....Starting to feel a bit more comfy with the handling skills. Catch a few more riders. Again, pass them by simply increasing the cadence. At this point I've moved up to 4th. In this race I didn't ride through the stream section. No paths were worn in yet and rather than attempt, screw up and loose time, I simply just ran the section.. I didn't gain anytime but I didn't loose anytime either. It kept me smooth.

Lap three, catch the guy that was leading at first. His first cross race, he'll be good. I pass the two other guys and actually can't believe I'm in 2nd. The crowd is cheering me on, it's kinda fun. The leader has about 45 seconds up on me. Bell lap, I debate about putting it in the big ring, I convince myself, why not, enjoy the moment.

To my advantage the leader had let up. He was cruising. So I just kept hunting, stalking my prey and figure I'd surprise him. We get to the stream section, he's at mid point when I get there. The small crowd yells at him to move. He picks it up (damn it!) I keep hunting. I get to the last barrier which I had been nailing all race, and to my dismay a rock goes out from under my wheel, I almost go down, recover, go sloppy through the barrier. It was enough for the leader to get away. I keep jamming away and finish 2nd by 10 seconds. In fact I surprised the guy as he expected I'd be a bit longer...if I only had one more lap.....5 laps, about 6:30 a lap. HR Avg was 186 Max 193. My two fasted were the last two laps. I spun the 38 for 4 1/2 of the five laps...I got a Cliff bar and a bike patch kit!

B's. My ego was quickly brought back to earth. Another small field. We launch, my legs quickly said. "You didn't cool down or warm up or sit down long enough, we are going to hurt now". So my punch was gone. I could tell I was a bit tired and opted to just ride my own race. The cool part was the stream section had become all mud! The second cross point was a blast. I went full steam, sunk about 4 feet and blasted back out with mud flying everywhere! It was awesome. Even though I was tired, I had a faster lap times. I averaged about 5:40 a lap. Hr was 186 max 177 avg. I reached my modified goal of not getting lapped. Had to promptly wash my bike off :)

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