When I say Hello
Waking up early and staying all day at a race is fun but after 3 months of doing it once or twice a weekend it gets old. Bridget and I decided I should upgrade to Category 3 in Cross to shorten our days, wake up later and I am hoping the stiffer competition will make me a better rider.
I have to admit that I was nervous. I remembered my first cross race where I was frightened I would make a mistake that would wipe out a bunch of other riders. So I was stupid and did the reverse hole shot where I was the last one in and I had to fight my way up.
I still had a blast. I love cross, certain parts of the course are better for certain riders. My handling has gotten better, but I found myself stuck behind a guy that was a great climber but braked into every corner. I got ahead of him and he caught up on a massive hill! I got ahead of him and was riding with Jason Reser for awhile, that guy can really handle a bike!
I was working my way up, riding the wheel of 14th place when he snapped the tape! It wrapped around my eyes, neck and handle bars! I think I lost 15 or more seconds taking it off me (I prefer to roll it up and get it out of the way so other riders don't get wrapped up — karma I hope). The riders I had passed had caught up, and that 14th place looked a long way off. But I kept riding hard and nearly clawed it back.
Why do you say Goodbye?
On a side note I am happy with my results in the cat 4s. I consistently placed within the top 10 (the Erik Zabel green jersey). I looked up my results on US Cycling and I was ranked 9th in the country in Cat 4s! Thank you computer error! I am also happy that I was placed within the top 4 in points in the OVCX. If I continued perhaps I would have achieved my season goal of top 5 in points in the OVCX.
don't forget to ask the OVCX statistician to move your 4 points to the 3's. See the ovcx website for details.
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