Double CX weekend

Ninkrossi at Washougal MX Park and Cross Crusade #3 and Sherwood Equestrian Center.  Makes for a full weekend.

After last weekend's slog-fest out at Heiser and my subsequent skipping of Cross Crusade #2 I was looking forward to a full weekend of racing and not destroying bikes.

the Ninkassi 'N'
(photo credit:  Dave Roth)
http://www.dmroth.com

So, up at 6:30 and off to Washougal to see what this course had in store for us.  This being a brand new course we had no real idea what it would hold for us and the conflicting reports of "flat and fast" and "bumpy with two big climbs" didn't really help.  We went anyway.  Upon arrival we were greeted with this lovely scene at the right.  What this picture doesn't show is the two enormous climbs.  Well, looks like today is going to be a power day.  Overall the race went really well; we had a small field (you can see all the entire Mens' A field in the 'N') but it was a great race and an incredible venue.  There were motocross races happening on the racetrack right next door and with all the Ninkassi beer flowing it made for a great day.  And you know what's best?  A little bit of volunteering after the race paid for my entry fee.  Free race, good (workout (aka, getting stomped by Molly Cameron...again), incredible views and an awesome venue made for a great way to spend a Saturday.  (one side note:  UP teammate Mike stomped the crap out of the B field finishing 45 seconds up on 2nd place, good job Mike!).

yeeeaa, getting aero on the cross bike
(photo credit:  Soso Velo)
http://sosovelo.com/

Oh, and the long downhill section made for some pretty cool pictures.  And yes, all the roadies did get aero.

Pack up, head home, eat, clean stuff up, pack and get ready to do it all over again on Sunday.

on the run up
(photo credit:  Dave Roth)
www.dmroth.com/

And do it we did.  Cross Crusade #3 at Sherwood was enormous.  Stephen and I agreed that this was one of the most epic team pit areas we'd seen.  Team tents were packed side-to-side from the start chute all the way through the second corner and the resulting noise at the start of each race was cacophonous.

When I rolled up to the start line I noticed my number was located at the far end of the chute meaning one of two things:  (1) I start in the front with the likes of Trebon, Sheppard, Cameron and all those other super-PRO guys, OR (2) I start at the back and get a free 6-pack our of the deal, either way, I win.  I'm last, looks like free beer for me!

The gun goes off and honest-to-God I am tied for last place through the first two corners.  Looks like today is going to be another workout day...

Here's a quick recap of how this race went:  gun goes off, tied for last, ride down a dusty road--can't see anything, just follow the shadow in front of me, pass 20 people on the next two barrier sections and the hill-from-hell, learn I'm a pansy because I've been using my brakes in the corners, pass teammate Dave, throw a chain, get passed by huge pack, spend next 2 laps picking off that group, throw chain again, suffer up the evil hill and pass more people, get passed by Trebon and Sheppard (seriously, does Trebon ever look tired?), watch a guy go flying off into the trees, get passed by Babcock, busy myself and pass the last few people I can, suffer up the hill one last time and coast in to the finish.

if I've got one thing going for me it's my form;
the guy ahead of me looks like he's about to have a painful landing
(photo credit:  Chris DuBois)

Surprisingly I wound up 27th out of 59 (10 of those we DQ or DNFs).  Still, I'm pretty happy with starting dead last and taking out half the field on a course where you can only really pass on the hill (or spend 6x energy passing on the bumpy stuff--bad idea).  I'm still looking for that top-20 spot but there's plenty of races left and I still have a lot of fitness to gain.
I was kind of bad about split times this week but here's a look at what they are (obviously the 14 minute ones are two laps...):  14:19; 14:02; 7:14, 14:35, 7:09; 7:10.  Overall, I'm really happy with how evenly I've been able to hold most of my laps, now it's just time to turn up the overall speed a notch.

post-race
(photo credit:  Jose Sandoval)