Bail Out…

This week and next are my final "hard" weeks before I start to taper.  In these weeks I’m really focusing on getting as much quality mileage as I can.  Cycling is the only part of my game I’m worried about because of the day light savings.  Most of my rides I have to save for the weekend where I have all day to play.

I’ve joined my fourth swim group since moving to Ottawa and we are in full flight or submersion.  Amanda and I go 3 times a week getting instruction from a former Olympian (2004 Atlanta).  The group has a wide variety of skill levels.  There was a guy who can swim fly @ 1:15 pace for 100ms, pretty fast.

Today I went in my second cyclocross event located in Almonte which is West of Ottawa.  A quaint little town taken over by about 150 cyclists.  There only park will have tire scars for the next little while!

My goal today was to ride from the rear and see how far I could go through the field.  The course was much different than my last attempt, the skill level of the course was turned up a few notches!  There were many more sharp turns combined with obstacles and loads of climbing! 

The weather was perfect though, a balmy 20 degrees as I raced in shorts with a normal jersey.  In cross though, you can’t have water bottle cages on your bike so I did get thirsty from the sun!  More about that later!

So yes, the plan.  Gun went off and our pack did 2 loops of a track before crashing through the woods.  I realize why you don’t want to be at the back as there are a lot of slow ups, riders falling down, too many going into a turn and all round jamming up.  The stresses of being in last!

For the first lap I rode pretty hard, moving up quite a few spots.  Each lap took about 12 minutes to complete @ ~20km/h so….  something like 2K?  This wasn’t as spectator friendly as the other race as we were hidden by forest.  There was one great open spot next to a large hill which we had to go down and then right back up, over an obstacle and then back down again!  Gotta love cross.

Second lap I felt great.  I had settled into a good rythem and was picking off people in singles (instead of groups) as everyone was really spread out. Third lap the wheels fell off, literally.

I had just passed a guy and was powering through a tough section turning hard right on that down hill in front of all the spectators went I biffed.  No worries, I remounted kept pedaling and got a good standing ovation from the rowdy observers.  I lost my place however and now had to chase this guy down.  It took me another 5mins to work my way into a passing lane.  As we were coming up a hill into an obstacle when I dismounted causing my chain came to off.  No biggie but it took more time to get it on as I was getting tired.

I told myself to smarten up and race better.  You see my goal for these races is to 1) Not get hurt 2) Have fun 3) Kick ass and chew bubble gum (and I’m all out gum).  So for the next 2 laps no wipe outs!

Last lap though was the doozy.  I was basically in no mans land until all of sudden, I had a few people within striking distance.  Since it was the last lap I punched it around a corner and got ahead of one and had a slight lead.  We went through a series of bends into a wooded section when my tires slipped and I went down hard on my left side (see pics below).  I knew it was going to be nice as I had a small hole in my shorts.

I recovered but gave up my spot.  It took me till the final sprint to recapture the position.  Small victory!

Afterwards was another run, a 16K tempo run through the hills.  The race had really made me dehydrated so taking fluids in was crucial.  I made it through and when I returned to the parking low, Rickey was the only one left!  Take that crossers!

Anywho, I’m going to try and help Amanda to cook a turkey.  I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving with your f!amily  I think it’s going to be just us and the cats dining! 

Happy (Turkey Day) Tranin!

Cliff

 PS - Amanda ran a PB in the 1/2 Marathon today taking 6 minutes off her time!  And she gets to clean my cut for her victory!  Yeah!