the (dispencer): sunday, muddy sunday.

where is our mn cross season!?

wtf?

seriously. wtf.

it is supposed to be 80-90 degrees, and dusty.

what is this rain and mud crap!?

we can't have races in this shit. we'll have to clean our bikes, and change our brake cables.

ugh.

so, cyclocross weekend #2 came and went this saturday and sunday.
hudson and orono were on the docket, as well as my second double weekend in 2 weeks.
rock.

hudson was a stellar event, as usual. the course was tweeked a bit from last year, and although i think i liked riding last years better, this one probably suited me a bit more. there would have been mud sections anyway, but the rain that showered down randomly helped it along.

the event started on the firetruck siren, and was a blast. i am only "ok" at the tech single track stuff but i have been working at it alot more this year than in years past... and although i don't think i made up time there, but i didn't lose a bunch like i used to.

where i did gain ground was in the mud and sand sections. i just tried to hit the mud with as much speed as i could get going and power through it. (i'd have to credit the velodrome for that skill, repeated short bursts of pure power).
and kinda the same thing with the sand, give it as much gas as i could and run them at a good clip.

in the end i came out 10th in the b race. not too shabby.

i thought it was the most fun i'd had on a cx bike, and the most mud i'd probably ever deal with... until i raced orono.

orono was totally insane.
this course was great, and has seen some of my best results in the past. i think it suits me well... so with that in mind i signed up for the a race.
there's gotta be a first for everything.

we had some sopratic rain throughout the morning, and the course turn from mostly grassy, to mostly mud in about one lap of racing.

tech, but not too tech. power sections, fast road sections, and a long run up.
all really good for me. it helped that i didn't even really notice the time difference, (one hour, as opposed to the 45 min i'm used to), basically it was the same as every cross race i've ever done:
i look at the lap card, and it is a few more than i want it to say.
that part doesn't change!

i have been working hard this fall, because the rest of my season has been more-or-less a wash.
i missed a ton of races and training this summer, and my racing and speed has felt about 70% all year... but i'm trying to slavage my season with cx, and actually training for it.
in the past, i've just rolled out the season with cx and rode whatever form i had until it was gone.

i finished up the a race in 15th place overall, and 4th in the a2 class.
i was happy with that. i think i'll stick with this a race thing for a while.

a zillion photos of orono are at skinnyski, there are some seriously awesome photos in there.
check them out!

here's a sample!