state cx, from the sideline. part two.

the (dis)pencer presents:

"the review of super rookie's race",

or,

"uuf dah! that was tough, eh?".


lets begin.



the first, and most important aspect of having a good cx race, is the start.
let's look at the line up;

hmmm, no rookie. where is he?



ah, there he goes!
not the best start... but there are at least 7 of the 90 starters behind him.
and as an added bonus he is not starting his race from a seated postion, as some lsc members seem to have... now that's a start!

ok, well i think rookie can still recover from this poor start.
first, we need to know whats coming on the course, and plan ahead a bit. the first major element of the course we will hit is the hill climb, and off-camber decent.
knowing what kind of decender rookie is, i am hoping to see him think through the pain and plan ahead, hitting the climb in a reasonable gearing, cuz if he can get a ton of time on the climb he may come off the decent a few seconds up from where he was...



...or he can try it in the big ring...

ugh.

ok, well we ain't making up any time yet... so let's just focus on keeping the pace steady and staying relaxed, so we can really make a charge on the second major element of the course; the stairs.

a clean dismount, and a solid run should help rookie make back some places.

let's observe.



oh dear god!
rookie! how can you even walk with that chainring's tab a searching for your slot b?!

yowzers. well, hopefully the driveside dismount got you a gap when it made everyone think you were about to crash spectacularly, and freaked out some of your competitors.

i hope it just looks painful. at least the grease should darken up the skinsuit a bit.

well, at this point we are a few laps in and it is going to be really tough to move up without really turning it up and applying some pressure to those pedals.
this is the point where the splits have happened and the weak get shelled. anyone who wants to do well at cross racing will have to make the decision at this point in the race to get in the drops, and really reach into that suitcase of courage.
it is make it, or break it.

in other words; time to get your game face on.

here's a photo sequence from skinnyski.com (b2 race #169-173).
let's see rookie's face of determination, and compare.







oh. ...maybe the big ring is starting to wear him down?

well, that's fine. it is totally ok to have an off day.
in fact, an off day can be really a useful thing. you can use it to work on your skills on a sweet course without the pressure of being absolutely anywhere near the front of the race.

try some new lines, maybe figure out what gear you want to be in...



or, you could keep it in the big ring... i guess there may be a tt coming up that needs a little extra training for. in that case, "elbows in rookie"!

well thats it for rookie race. the towel is thrown.
fuck it, it's about the fun anyway.

...

in other style awards news, two more winners!



jay never seems to miss a photo-op.
much respect. totally antm.



and paula, always styling, looks like she brought out the prada glasses for the big event.
kudos.
red and white is a fine combo, but they would have looked better with red and silver kit...
you should work on that.

...

thanks to skinnyski for taking all the photos, and to super rookie for being a good sport and teammate!
of course it's all in jest, sr had a great race for being so late in a long season!

i really enjoy slamming rookie on the net, but we have an understanding.
just fyi, if you think you can rip on him (or anyone in lgr) in a spiteful manner, you are sadly mistaken.