Yesterday we joined the 7 Hills gang for a carpool up to Columbus for the Cap City race. WIth a majority of the crew doing the B and C races we left bright and early at 8am from the mall parking lot. This meant James and I had to get up a 6:30 that morning. Yikes!
James did the C race, flatted twice, then did pretty good in the B race and then sat in for the A race. He was certainly under the influence of "3 race" Dan Ramsey. Needless to say, he is also nuts about cyclocross. I have created a hurdling monster. The 7 hills crew faired well with numerous podium finishes from Susan, Jeni, Mike, etc.
The good news was that I had PLENTY of time to warm-up and to pre-ride the course. The course was at a frisbee golf park so there were was some good elevation change. I tend to have good races when there are some decent run-ups and some tight corners. The start was fine for me, I was riding exactly where I wanted to be, in the top 3. After the first hurdles I settled into second. At the run-up though I could really lay on the gas. I'm not quite sure why but for me the skill of running with the bike is something I can do exceptionally well. Too bad run-ups are often rare in CX races. Anyhow, so the rest of the race involved me and Julie Sroka going back and forth. She would catch me on the shorter rises, I'd catch her everytime on the run-up and in the corners. A late race acceleration by Julie and the second to last lap left me feeling a bit flat but I made up some good time and finished only 2-3 sec. down. Always a bridesmaid.
The course was fun, payouts for us ladies were pretty great, the veggie dog cart was a nice touch, so I'm super psyched for the next few races. Big time thanks to my pal Andy Johnson and crew for putting on another great race.
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