HippoCross RACE RECAP!
TLDR:
-I stayed upright and was in no danger of falling at any point.
-I stayed upright and went slow and was really really sucky
-Way happier with Town Hall as that race I at least feel like I raced 4/5 of a race unlike this one.
For whatever reason they didn't do call-ups based on registration, they just told the whole group to move forward. This hardly made any sense both for the 40+ that went off before me nor the Cat5 I was in. Their quick excuse was first race of the year. I didn't really care too much but both me and
@StayHydrated were completely confused as we were expecting on being in the front row. My other concern was starting off shivering. Damn low body temperature.
I started 3/4ish of the way back in a huge mess. The start was not a typical properly lined up race like I'm used to. After the whistle it was a big tight group and being that I want to do whatever I can not to crash I more or less let the group move around me. Which within 30 seconds I realized I was 2nd to last! Ok, Mistake #1. There wasn't a big bottleneck or crash which I found really surprising in this race. Town Hall last week which was much drier had much more of a messy start.
The good thing with being pretty much last is it's slightly moralizing to pass a ton of people. The course was not super muddy but muddy and tight enough that there weren't a lot of clean opportunities to pass people. At town hall it was dry and wide so I was able to pass people with their horrible line choices. Today not so much. I kept the pace low, only a few sections of straight where I could power anyway, all turns were slipper and was taking it easy. At some point I passed
@StayHydrated because he slipped out due to having tires from 2004 on his bike with no tread. Past a few other people I know. I was way behind but slowly creeping up. Had a few people pass me that I would re-pass, I don't think I lost any real spots.
Eventually the the 40+ leaders passes, along with
@MadisonDan and Harry who were flying. Dan got 3rd which is completely awesome. I stayed on his tail after he passed me until he really started digging through traffic. That was specifically what I was trying not to do in this race and where I can see myself going overboard and landing on the ground so I let him go.
I realized around then I was just way too far behind and the race seemed way too short. Got lapped but I don't believe by any Cat5 people. Course was super short unlike Town Hall, completely didn't know how to pace for it and started off way too far back. Went and road a lap after the race, I don't think I even really broke much of a sweat.
At least it was a good practice, just didn't feel like much of a race. Mission accomplished with not crashing, should have pushed it a bit more. Hung out with
@StayHydrated and his posse for a bit, I think he was pretty happy after his first race of the year. Considering he had road tires on he killed it even if those top notch USAC officials just decided not to score him. (They were too busy arguing about the gap in the barriers...)
After the race I went to the massage therapist there, she went to town on my shoulder and that was awesome. I didn't realize how much I needed PT on the shoulder, glad I went as I need to pay more attention to that.
TOMORROW - CAFFEINATED CROSS -
But not for me... I screwed up and didn't register, plus I logistically need to pee in a 1 gallon bottle for some weird drug test my doctor gave me to see how much calcium I dispose of in a normal day and since I'm flying out to Iowa this week so I don't have another day I can realistically do that. Leaving the house at 5:30am and driving 2 hours to a race isn't the worst thing to skip out on. I can actually enjoy riding my bike tomorrow close by.
This week - No biking. I fly to Iowa for work which completely sucks. I'd normally take my travel bike but realistically I only have Tuesday/Wednesday to ride under ideal conditions. Not worth taking the bike as biking in that section of Iowa mostly sucks. Kind of annoying as I got no riding in since last Sunday up until today. (I don't count the 1 mile of cross practice)
After that - Jungle Jam - Goal is to stay upright and have fun.
Oct 15/16 - There's the MTBNJ 6 Mile ride and also Emmaus CX and West Chester CX. 6 Mile I'd like to do but the ride itself last year was...slow. I like the social aspect but part of me wants to ride. Up in the air.
Oct 23rd - Marty Cross - I'll probably have to do this. That's not a course I really like.
Oct 29/30 - HPCX/Mountain Man. Joy just informed me Mountain Man is now on the 29th, I was going to register for HPCX that day. Now I don't know what to do.
Nov 5/6 - Bubble Cross. Registered. Best course ever.
Nov 13 - SCCX? Will I be interested by then? Will I care to wake up early in the dark and ride my bike in the cold?
Dec 10 - Solstice Cross. See SCCX above.
Shoutouts to:
@MadisonDan for kicking ass in his class. I was quite happy when he passed me.
@MissJR for dragging my pit bike around, holding spare clothes, looking all over for me while I'm out riding after my race and talking to Tim.
@StayHydrated for riding a cross bike with road tires on a muddy course and bringing handouts to this race and making it fun no matter how much USAC officials try to stop that.
@Dominos who will hopefully lend
@MissJR a bike to ride at cross races.
