Definitely not crazy for running women separate from men. We run women-only races and then mixed fields after that. Most of the time, mixed means only men, but every once in a while women jump in for a stiffer competition.
We also run all junior races with the women, which I think is maybe a bit unfair, but the women’s fields are small, so there is room to squeeze them in. Still, I hear regularly that women would appreciate not having to always be saddled with that responsibility.
I felt fantastic at our latest race. I didn’t bonk, finished higher than I ever have before (Cat 3, 12 of 40), and recovered well afterwards. I didn’t feel as drained as I normally do. Been hitting the potassium and magnesium supplements hard (yet safe doses). I also wore my lucky Jingle Cross socks, since I couldn’t make it down there this year.
It was my first time racing in Waterford, and though I did well, the course was a little dull, but that was partly due to the rains which absolutely flooded the area. Half the parking lot was under water. I’m honestly surprised it wasn’t a super muddy race, but they must’ve used every dry spot they could find.
The two main features were a solid hill, of which they used all four sides and a giant pinwheel, which, I’ll enjoy one a year, but no more. The pinwheel was kinda nice because you could tear around the hills, and then recover in the twirl. There was also supposed to be a double-sided sand pit, but that was flooded out - again, a little disappointing, but my brand new chain thanked me.
Also, did y’all watch Jingle Cross? I love our CX supermen and how they’re completely up-ending the MTB and road scene, but damn those were a pair of fun races to watch.
I noticed that getting on my ss just feels better. I had thought that my fit was the same, but on a whim I measured my saddle heights…my the saddle on my ss was at least a half inch higher than the geared bike. Holy crap, did it make a difference.
That’s what you would think. What you don’t see is the million gopher holes, hoof prints from cows, horses, and wild burros, or all the rocks. SO, SO BUMPY. I would like it a little smoother, but it’s a free venue.
Also, picture from Wednesday night practice. I set up a short, punchy course that was pretty fun. We had a guy who works for the city come out and they are doing a special on us and the series. gave my interview, at night, wearing pitvipers. haha.
Made an executive decision to not race today. I like the course well enough, but a few things compounded to make me not so stoked. It’s really wet and this course gets very muddy in spots. I didn’t do well in the mud last week. I didn’t have time to do some bike maintenance that I wanted to do this week (I dropped my chain last weekend and I haven’t been able to mess with the EBB to keep that from happening again). I also have a ton of school work to do. I could probably do it after racing, but it would make for a very long day.
Bonus of not racing: watching the Waterloo world cup live (or almost live). Holy shit this course and the mud. Happy that we’re giving the euros something to write home about.
I got to race the full UCI Waterloo course when it was dry on Saturday and a clipped course when it was drenched with mud on Sunday and both races were just so rad.
Every year Trek adds in a couple extra features to keep things interesting. This year they added a bumpy high line in one of the corners (before the log stairs) and it seems like they heightened the rock wall. It wasn’t a lot, but I love seeing the further transformation. The rock wall was a gathering place for spectators because everyone was trying to figure out if it was rideable and, if indeed it was, was it faster to ride or run.
On the dry day there was an off camber section after the first flyover that had a line burned in at the top. When everyone hit that area they got in line like lemmings, I was the only one to drop into the grassy low line (maybe literally ever) and was able to pass 10 people just like that. Then there was a downhill turn that I clipped aggressively and passed another two people. So much fun!
I raced against Zach Schuster (of CX Mag) and we both had a blast battling each other, trading places and trying to drop each other. Disappointingly we didn’t get a bell lap and I didn’t realize it until too late, so I basically gave him the win over me because I wasn’t “contesting” him at that point. Lesson learned, you gotta make your moves while you can at the end, cuz you never know when you’ll get pulled.
On Sunday it was a slop fest and it was so difficult know where the best line was. Sometimes it was the mud. Sometimes it was the grass. Sometimes it was completely underwater. My front brake pads melted away and I lost most of my stopping power. I’m so glad we didn’t have to deal with the steep downhills at that point. I had to slow down by skidding into the ruts.
Overall I’ve been trying this tactic of not going out so fast and hard. This has kept my heart rate down and had me placing a little bit higher; I’m not burned out, and I’m not so deep that I can still control my bike at the end. Now I just gotta figure out the timing of when to burn my last match.
We got a nice dry spot in between two pretty wet days yesterday (so wet today) so Humboldt Park was pretty great. Wetness from the night before caused some early slip-and-slide action, but the course was pretty dry after a couple of races.
Since getting a computer, I’ve been focusing on setting up my race based on my heart rate and yesterday I accomplished my range goals. It’s a good start in understanding my efforts, but I think I can still push it a little more.
It wasn’t a super technical course, and I wish there were a few more obstacles to make it more exciting, but I was a still bit tentative around the switchbacks. In the first lap I got caught up in the tape around one of the corners and lost 4 or 5 spots. With 2 to go I lit the match paper and tried to claw back as much as I could, and at 1 to go, I tried to be super aggressive where I could dump it all out.
3rd to last @ socalcross season opener in SS As. I was having a really good race when half a lap to go I decided fo take a shitty line that I corrected mid-turn and burped all the air out of my front tire. The course suited me well, but going from shade to sunny fucked me up. I wear glasses regularly, but don’t have prescription sunglasses, and in the shade I really couldn’t make out the right lines. It was a good test to my fitness.
Racing felt good today. The course was about 1/5 straight and bumpy and 4/5 twisty and bumpy with baby head rocks hiding in sandy soil. The folks to put this race on do a lot with a really small plot of land. It has very little elevation, but it goes through a dry rain retention pond and has one ~10 ft high mound that they run the course up and down from every angle. They used all of the undulations in the retention pond really well, making you deal with at least 10 off camber 180s, usually doubled up into chicanes. There was also a fun downhill sand pit that wasn’t bad, but always a little sketchy.
The cat4 race went ok except for a fall on a sharp left onto a loose sand downhill where I snapped some stakes. I ended up mid pack on my single speed.
The single speed race was about the same. For the first time in a while, I finished on the lead lap. I guess tight corners slow everyone down, even the leaders. Finished 27 out of about 45. I’m happy with that.
The race yesterday was a similar situation. Not a lot of a space, but they made use of most of it. Helps it was on a hill so there was plenty of elevation. Also rained heavily which made it even more interesting because my race was last.
Ended up 6th/7th. Was making my way up, but the run ups on the last lap brought my momentum to a halt and ended up losing a spot to someone at the end because of it. Because of the mud the edges of the course were the only spots that weren’t pure mud so there was a lot of going from edge to edge. My strength was the downhills, passed two people on one of the hills early in the race. Nobr aked most of them because the mud worked pretty well as brakes. The highlight was a 90* turn at the bottom of the biggest hill by some spectators where you could get really loose and still make the corner.
