2010 racing in review

So, my "rookie year," looking back on it I accomplished a lot.  57 races in 44 weeks!

photo credit:  Jose Sandoval

OBRA CCX Champs

Photo credit:  Nita Galambos

Overall, good race.  Not my best place but snot nearly as bad as last week.  This course was super hard (at least for me).  Lots of peanut-buttery mud, lots of elevation, a ton of off-camber sections and parts that you almost couldn't even run.  I finished 18/24 on the day--again, not the best day out there.

Cross Crusade-Barton Park: Bad day on the bike

Instead of a race report this post is more of an open letter to my teammates, friends and everyone else supports me both on and off the bike.

Why we wear helmets

One of my rides takes me down a steep little hill then dumps me into a wide, open left hand turn.  Monday that was covered with wet leaves.  No big deal, my tires always unhook on the corner and I usually just take it wide and slide both wheels through.  That wasn't the case on Monday.  Down the hill, tires started to slide like normal, bike leaned a little more than normal but was able to correct it, something happens and I'm kind of tangled in the bike going down.  On the way down I thought, "hey this isn't going to be that bad, I'll slide a little and continue my ride."  And that's pretty much exactly what happened.  I remember hitting the back of my head on the ground and hearing a noise but hey, we all hear stuff when we crash right?  I laid there for about 5 seconds, thought, "hmm, well that sucked."  Got up, put my glasses back together and continued my ride.

I didn't realize how "bad" the crash was until I caught a glimpse of my helmet laying on the floor that afternoon.  I counted 3 major cracks in the back, one in the main body and another in the front, all completely through the material.

Well, I guess helmets are worth it after all.  I was able to ride away without a headache or any injury whatsoever.  Had I not been wearing it circumstances would be a little different.

WEAR YOUR DAMN HELMET WHENEVER YOU'RE ON A BIKE!!!

Sunday: Cross Crusade-Hillsboro

After the half-race Saturday my legs were feeling a little off.  I couldn't really pinpoint it but there was *something* going on.  Meh, let's race anyway.

A look at one of the shallower mud pits
Photo credit:  David Mackintosh

Saturday: EZ Orchards

photo:  Matt H

Saturday didn't go too poorly.  M and I headed down to volunteer so we spent 3 hours what we'd normally do at a cross race:  walking around, picking up cones, heckling people and trying to get people to crash on slick corners.  Oh, and we got to race for free, can't complain about that.

This course was, well, boring.  Here's about the rundown:  200m straight stretch, 90 degree turn, 400m straight gravel road, turn down row of apple orchard, etc.  Long, straight and flat.  Definitely more of a road course than a cross race.

M took the hole shot and led for about 1/2 a lap.  I attacked on the gravel stretch and blew up the race from there.  I wound up second on the day.  M took third.  Ok, I'll give you the rest of the information.  There were 4 starters in the A race and one of them dropped out.  Either way, it was a free "race" and we were able to support a new venue.

Astoria Sunday

So I've decided some stories are better left untold.  Let's just say Astoria Sunday was everything I expected it to be, and then some.

photo credit:  Dave Roth

Astoria weekend (aka Halloween s***-show)

As with the best plans, this one was devised at the very last minute.  My original plan was to head to Astoria Friday evening after a test which is supposed to cover every engineering topic I learned sophomore year.  Thursday morning I learned that plan wasn’t going to happen.  After a huge flurry of emails and phone calls the perfect plan worked out:  I would skip work, bio class and that huge test and head out to Astoria Friday morning, giving me the chance to hang out, pre-ride in the gorgeous weather and just generally enjoy not being in school.  I never really took a fall break so this was going to be it for me.  And that it was. 

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