I rode awesome today

Cross Crusade #4--PIR.

This race was the event of my first win (in the lowly Cs) last year and the course is always fast with an ample amount of mud mixed in so I was definitely looking forward to this race.



Alright, wake up and yep, it's pouring...again.  Yes, yet another day in the mud.  Throughout the day I watched the course deteriorate from ridable to chewed-up to "yeah, good luck".  The only redeeming factor was that it wasn't the typical mix of grass and sand which leaves you with a bike weighing twice what you started with.  Ok, enough description.

over the cement tabletop/barrier
(photo credit:  Soso Velo)

Good news:  this week, first number called up!  Yep, there I am right next to Steven Hunter, Erik Tonkin and two people away from Chris Sheppard.  While I have absolutely no chance of being able to complete with these guys (at this point) it's neat to 'race' with them for about 0.2 seconds.

Whistle blows and it's a complete s***-show.  People are sprinting all-out, bikes are bobbling underneath them as the tires find different lines than the riders intend and others are consciously dodging pot holes which resulted in about 30 pinch flats throughout the race.  I'd like to say that the race eventually settled in but there was always movement in the field so I really worked to pay attention as to exactly who was passing me.  One really neat aspect of this course was how wide it was.  That said, you'd have a 5 meter-wide course and I found that every time I was near another racer we were constantly throwing elbows trying to get the perfect line through the muck.  Well, to tell you the truth, there was no perfect line, only a not-as-bad line.  Nonetheless, elbows were thrown and everyone had themselves a good-ole dirty time.

Overall, this was an awesome course and at the end of the day I had an incredible ride.  I have no clue where I wound up but I do know one thing:  I finished on the lead lap.  There's always the "oh s***" thought that runs through your brain when the "dude, Sheppard is 150 meters behind you" comment finally registers.  As I crossed the finish line going into the last lap I heard the official say "oh, there he is" and promptly pulled out the checkered flag.  HA!  I snuck past just in time.  I look back and I'm the last person on the course.  Hmm, well let's see if we can go catch a few more people.  Bam, lapped Serena Bishop, one of the top women in the field yet still can't catch Doug or Joshua up the road.  Oh well, a good race either way.

Lap times:  7:18; 7:14; 7:11; 7:12; 7:15; 7:16; 7:21; 7:18; 7:23

lots and lots of mud
(photo credit:  PDX Cross)

Ok, I would be doing my teammates and support crew a HUGE dishonor if I didn't mention them.  First of all, an enormous thank-you to Stephen.  Not only did he drive me over and race in the morning he set up all my gear, listened to me whine about the mud and waited patiently in the pit while I rode in circles and got really muddy.  Oh, and then he hung around and packed everything up while I tried to peel my way out of a skinsuit while shivering.  Stephen, you're awesome.

Now on to Team O.  We started the day with 20 gallons of beer courtesy of our awesome sponsor Laurelwood Brewing.  I'm pretty sure almost all of it was gone by the end of the day.  On that note, Kevin, you were insane and it was awesome.  Every time I came by that section of the course I immediately sped up and carried it through the next few minutes.  I have no clue what got in to you (Laurelwood Golden Ale?) but you were awesome.  The rest of you:  Jim, Rob, Shawn, John, Eli(?), Stephan, Doobie, Clemens, Dennis/lady friend, (am I missing anyone?) you were incredible.  Believe me, I heard each and every one of you and it was hugely motivating.  I doubt that anyone else out there had the support I did today.  All of you:  thank you.  I know it makes a long day, especially for those of you that race in the morning, but I sincerely appreciate all your support today.

Finally, the lady entourage:  CP, CJ, CB.  Thanks for coming out.  No offense but you guys need to hang out with the aforementioned individuals and learn how to be obnoxious cyclocross fans/hecklers.  Regardless, thanks for making the trek down to watch.

how'd I even see through these?

I realize that's a lot of writing allocated to just thanking people but today was probably the best I felt about any race yet and it's in a large part due to everyone that came out and yelled at me.

THANK YOU ALL!

Headed to bed and a long, slow rain-filled spin in the morning.  Dang, looks like the rain has finally set in.  Sun, see you next June!

UPDATE:  preliminary results had me scored at 16th place!  I don't completely believe it as there was so much mud and I'm pretty sure some of the people scored around 30th place were ahead of me but with that much mud I guess we'll never really know!

UPDATE 2:  final results have me at 22nd.  Sounds about right.  Still, I know I can be top-20 if not top-15...

powering through the mud

yay mud!