photo by gavin5th '07(cat 4b), 23rd '08(cat 3)
Racing at Jackson Park for the third time I had a lot of mixed emotions. I no longer felt like a noob. With two seasons of CX under my belt, expections to not ride like one were high on my brain.
The race started with the traditional "shitty start" at the back of the pack. With the largest 3's field that I have ever raced in (5o-something?) the first lap was a cluster-fuck. The finish/start straightaway turned left into the corner of a baseball field. On the first lap riders bottlenecked and crashed. I was off the bike and running. The sand was not really sand but a heavy packed dirt that looked exactly like sand. Unfortunately on subsequent laps I would ride this section as if it were a difficult stretch of sand and rode through it successfully only twice.
The first third of the race I spent trying to move around and through the heavy traffic. The legs and lungs felt great. The cornering skills however were horrible. For the life of me I just couldn't hit the corners cleanly. On the off camber corners my foot kept coming off the pedals to stablize. It didn't help that the air pressure on my front tire was way too low, on several occasions I almost rolled the tire and lost traction. I crashed into the tape countless times as a I kept overshooting the corners. Coming around hot in a tight turn after the baseball field I hit a rut in a turn that took many a riders down that day. I hit the ground pretty hard as my bike slid out from underneath me.
My right brake lever was turned inward because of the crash. It took me about 15 seconds to bend it back into place, but in cross 15 seconds is an eternity. I got back on my bike but had lost all rhythm. Some more 3s passed me and then the masters started coming around. I definitely slowed down after that. The second third of the race I spent being passed by masters and a few of the leading women, and trying to regain a rhythm. On the very few flat sections and on the barriers I would sprint to attempt to make up some time. But it was to no avail as any advantage I would quickly lose it on the turns that I was taking like a 4b. The drive to push it slowly waned as I packed it in mentally and shut down my brain.
More embarrassed than anything about my bike handling skills I was lapped on the last lap and managed to finish a lap down on the field. Mentally zapped and upset, my body was feeling great. I barely felt like I had burned any matches and after the race I concluded that outside of the horrible turning I felt great. Knowing exactly what I have to work on (cornering) I am feeling confident for Dekalb. In conclusion, CX '09(so far)= legs there,brain not
2 comments:
Practice them turns - I gained a lot of ground without fitness last year based on technical riding.
First find your ideal pressure for your tires where you don't feel the 'squirm'. Then push that pressure to the limit leaning into your turns without hitting the brakes while in the turn.
You'll see improvements pretty quickly if you devote a short amount of concentrated effort to these tasks!
Good on ya!
figure 8s! I find two trees and do figure turns until I get dizzy
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