After last weekend's poor showing due in large part to tired legs, I havd vowed to come into future races fresher. So while I put in some good commuting miles, I did not beat the crap out of myself - too badly. I had a busines trip to DC-land and decided it was time to give my running legs a jump start. I have been running a bit but just slow and steady. My jump start was to do ½ mile intervals on the treadmill. That made sure I rested some as it took my bike commute to work the stiffness and soreness out. Anyway, I had been planning on going to Grafton on Saturday but I needed to get some stuff done around the house. I elected to go up to CamRock park instead. Jan wasnted to do a trail run and then I could scope out the course a little. It was a good move - the course was going to be fast, fast and more fast (quite a change from last year) and going thru the fast corners without overbraking was one of the things I worked on.
Come race day, it was another weekend of "not cross" weather - I think it was in the 80s - and the trails were going to be really dusty. I was thinking I might get my beloved to hand me up a bottle but there was no slow section where that would really work. So I tanked up and got on the line with the rest of the geezers. Gordy and Diane were in the field as well as the usual cast - 11 or 12 in all. Off we go and I am as usual the last person in the line and yes, it was REALLY dusty back there. Last year, I would try to keep the folks in sight as long as I could (a lap or so) but now I am pretty comfortably sitting on, thinking "I can do this" and wondering how things are going to play out, wondering what sort of a hand I am holding today. Almost immediately, things start to happen. Someone slid out on a tight corner in the woods and I took the inside line and then put the hammer down to bridge up to the next rider. The battle is joined as folks now behind me try to get back in the game while I am looking for more opportunities to move up. Wait! Did I say move up. Me? Yeah, I am quickly finding that not only are the legs decent, I am also sliding thru the fast corners faster than many of the folks. I see-sawed with Gordy and Diane for a little while (and avoided running over Diane's head when she washed out in the pine needles). Then once I got in front on the fast sections, I was able to roll up to Tom Palmer - sweet! He has been riding well and if I could stay with him, I was doing well. And we battled for the rest of the race particularly on the run-up. It was preceeded by a barricade but not so steep that many were remounting and riding up. I was not so confident of my ability to clip in and go and found that even if someone was able to get in smoothly and go, I was not losing much ground if I ran. And if they blew the remount ...... Tom and I exchanged leads a couple times there. With two laps to go, the lead elite woman caught up to Tom and I and we jockied for position. I was wondering what my best move would be when Tom made a strong move to go to the front and I had to go hard to stay in contact. I figured if I could make a move in the woods before the barricades, it would force Tom to try to pass me in the more technical places. And I am riding fast enough that I thought I might be able to outdistance him in the fast sections. So I took an inside line on an uphill turn and punched it, carrying speed over the uphill, tried to recover on the 180s in the technical section without making a mistake, went hard to the run-up, got a good remount at the top of the run-up, and then tried to take the fast section a wee bit faster. And I had to as there was someone on my wheel but was it Tom? I was sure not gonna turn around. I come to the last turn into the up-hill single track before the road and give it what I have left. Was it going be enough? It was not but it was not Tom out-sprinting me. It is the lead woman (Alyssa?) kicking my sorry ass in the final meters. But I have finished 5th! And in front of a lot of good riders - who may have been a bit tired from the Saturday race - but that is not the story I will tell!
No comments:
Post a Comment