and the season is upon us: David Douglas #1

And just like that the season is here.  Instead of taking my typical "race from February through December" approach I decided to try something a little different this year.  If you've been "following" (what little there's been) I stopped racing mid-May and never really started back up.  Until cyclocross!

the start
photo credit:  Matt Haughey

Yesterday's race at David Douglas was your typical season opener:  smaller but lots of enthusiasm.  Except for the fact that Ryan Trebon and Carl Decker showed up.  Here's a sample of a conversation between a friend and myself on the starting line:
Nat:  "so how do you think this race is going to play out?"
me:  "well, he's [pointing to Trebon] going to ride really fast, he [pointing to Decker] is going to ride almost as fast, and he [pointing to Shannon Skerritt] will be right there.  The rest of us are just going to finish"


And that's exactly what happened.  Well, with one small hiccup.  As you'll see below Shannon Skerritt decided to take a little detour.  The first lap cut out a small gravel section in favor of a wide straight away in an effort to let the racers string out and avoid any major first-lap pileups.  Skerritt decided to follow the "normal" course adding maybe 30 seconds to his race.  Regardless, he powered past me about three laps in and I never saw him again.

oops, wrong way
photo credit:  Matt Haughey

wait, we're going the right way, right?
photo credit:  Matt Haughey

Apart from that it was a typical September cyclocross race.  Hot, dusty and painful.  My handling skills have continued to improve but I definitely need to work on power more.  With that said, Race Into Shape Cyclocross 2012 is in place.

One last story.  Most of you are familiar with beer hand ups or dollar bill grabs but you only see that at pro races and some Cross Crusade races.  That said, some child must be awfully persuasive because he managed to convince his dad to pony up about $10 in ones.  I saw the dollars stuffed in cones at least two of the laps and made one attempt, the result which you will see below.

yesterday's winnings

In short, this race was exactly what I needed to show me where I need to be at this season.  Funny thing, I placed better in this year's race with more people and a stronger field in substantially less training.  No one ever ask me for training advice because I sure don't know what I'm doing.