Day 1: Well, I was fortunate enough to even race this weekend, due to breaking my rear derailleur and hanger Wednesday night at Night Weasels Commeth race. I was one of many needing to repair their bike before the weekend of racing. The course was a disaster. Mud and grass covered every drive train. Luckily, I had a derailleur on my road bike and picked up a hanger. The weekend was far from Wednesday night's conditions. Not your typical weather for Cross season. 80 degrees was pretty warm to be racing in, but better than 20 degrees and snowing. Ryan and I arrived early both days to do some marshaling and helped re-route the course for Sunday and take down the course. At the start of the race I was on the last row again. I got in a bottle neck at the start and had to un-clip and run my bike. I had to fight my way back up. The beginning cost me, and I stayed pretty consistent in my placement for the remainder of the race. I did not feel like I was at 100% a few times, and I tried to make some moves to get into the top 15, but my timing was off and I did not execute them properly. This is something to work on for the remainder of the season. I got a sharp side stitch before lap 4, but then I was able to take a feed and for the last lap I was fine. I did not know there was a feed until call up, so we were unprepared for that. I ended up taking a random feed from some nice lady! I was riding with 15th-16th place on the last lap, but did not move ahead of them before the final winding section and small stair run ups. I ended up 17th. My hands were blistered from wearing full finger gloves and sweating. I had a fun time and raced the best I could on that given day!
Day 2: My body felt good in the morning. The course was super fast today. I got to line up on the 4th row instead of the 5th row. Yipee! I had a much better start and was able to get clear of any mishaps and avoided as much bottle necking as possible. I was between 15th and 13th place for the entire race. I was on the 12th place riders wheel, but she opened up a small gap from three of us with one lap to go. It was a battle for 13th-15th place, and I lost 13th by 3 seconds, due to the fast barrier section that I slowed down way to much for and I did not carry my speed through efficiently. I at least sprinted it out at the finish and I did not give up my 14th place to the other rider. Only my hands were a bit sore where the blisters had formed from yesterday, but the short finger gloves made them sweat less and there was not as much bunching.
Overall, it was a great weekend! I look forward to this coming weekend racing my mountain bike before Canton Cup and Orchard Cross.
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