Cross

I did the local cyclocross race yesterday. It was so much fun, even though Carl beat me. I hate to admit that but he is getting pretty fast so I gotta give him credit for that. Last year he was trying to not get lapped in the B race and now he is placing in the top 3 at every race! I wanted to stay with him but I didn't preride the course and I didn't know where the barriers were so I was sorta off guard when the first set came up. I dismounted good but my bike slipped out of my hand when I was running over and I dropped my bike on the barrier. Then it bobbled around a little and I almost fell down but I managed to stay upright and get my bike back under control. Then my heart rate was way up there so I had to settle in and ride a fast tempo to try and catch back on. I caught a few guys and passed them and I was on my own for two laps. I saw my nemesis Charles M up the road so I pushed super hard and finally caught him. Once I got on he said "what took you so long?" So he and I traded pulls in the wind for the rest of race and held off the chasers behind us but we weren't able to catch the lead group of 7 or so riders up ahead. So I pulled the last windy section and, as usual, Charles jumped hard and out sprinted me at the end. But I won the women's race by more that half a lap and I was prolly 8th in the men's. It was a good race and I got a good workout. I coughed for hours after the race so I know I went hard. Plus my buddy Kurt E was there from Austin. It was good to see him again. After the race I went to Lake Overholser to ride with the devo womens team. They were doing some rotating paceline practice drills so I rode with them and helped them out a little. There were like 16 women there. I was pretty surprised at how many women have an interest in racing next season. Usually there are like 5 chics at races so the more the merrier. We rode 2 laps at an easy pace so I was happy to spin my legs out a bit after my hard effort in the race. Now I have to do the rest of the cross races in order to win both of the overall series. That means one trip to Bartlesville and one trip to Tulsa. Next weekend there are some races in Texas that I would like to go to but Charles tells me we have to dig up the sewer line in our back yard and fix up the rent house. So I may be busy doing some good ole manual labor next weekend. He tells me it is good training and I can work on my upper body strength and my core strength. I think it just sounds painful and not very much fun. But it is better tha paying someone thousands of dollars to do it for us.