Homestyle 'cross

I haven't been terribly useful since getting home from today's cyclocross race, but in a good, warm, fuzzy, endorphin-induced way. But first, let's go back a bit...

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I did no physical activity whatsoever. It's great for reducing the laundry load, not so good as a training regimen. Work and finding work have been my preoccupations, and combined with a disinclination towards waking up early and severely curtailed evening daylight, rides and runs have not been happening. To compensate, when going to bed Friday night, I set myself to going on a long road ride on Saturday. I haven't been doing those in favor of either riding my 'cross bike on the trails to train, or just to "save my legs" for Sunday's races. After three days of inactivity and general deadleggedness on my bike commutes, a 60-mile ride seemed like a recipe for disaster.

It was fantastic. This was a beautiful November weekend, even for California: the sun was shining, the winds were calm. I hadn't been on the roads up to Woodside and Palo Alto in months, but they're still familiar. I kept looking down to find to my surprise that I was ticking over the big ring pretty much all the time, without strain. Around the Stanford campus, I ran into two friends from my masters swimming days for some chatting, then was on my way home. Without dehydrating, without bonking, without straining: 3 1/2 hrs continuous riding, 60 miles. It can be so relaxing to not have to worry about cavernous bumps underneath your wheels.

I was a bit scared to get up this morning to find out what my legs felt like--and things were a bit stiff, but maybe I'm just getting older. I did sleep in, but still had plenty of time to drive down to Watsonville for the race and get some practice in. I hadn't done a Peak Season race before, though I watched one race last year post-eye surgery and noticed the smaller, more local crowd. When I lined up for the B race, well, it was a field of 15, tops.

The course was fun. Swirly descending down to the lakeside, and a steep-but-rideable return; a nifty chicane; some nice singletrack; a good run-up on a log staircase; uphill and off-camber corners. Two negatives: first, the boardwalk/pier over the lake was gimmicky and sorta even dangerous, and I hope the course designers don't use it again; and second, oh, the bumpty bumps.

First I limp to the side like my leg was broken
Shakin' and twitchin' kinda like I was smokin'
Crazy wack funky
People say ya look like M.C. Hammer on crack, [B]umpty
That's all right 'cause my body's in motion
It's supposed to look like a fit or a convulsion
Anyone can play this game
This is my dance, y'all, [B]umpty [B]ump's my name
No two people will do it the same
Ya got it down when ya appear to be in pain
[B]umpin', funkin', jumpin',
jig around, shakin' ya rump,
and when the dude a chump pump points a finger like a stump
tell him step off, I'm doin' the [B]ump.

I sorta doubt that anyone in Digital Underground ever raced 'cross, but there are some striking parallels. There were some looong transition sections over some very bumpy ground today, and not even a few hundred bike-crossings flattened them out. It's totally legit for 'cross, but wow, I was hankerin' for some suspension.

The race (Men B) was fun. Before the start, we were all anti-trash talking about how we all sucked, but there was some good racing goin' on. Self-Trasher #1 even got the hole shot, but when he looked around to see where everyone had gone, he sorta missed the first hairpin turn...He was up and bouncing, if a bit startled, by the time the field passed him, but more importantly, he had a glorious moment. After a lap or two, I was trying to catch two guys who kept 5-10 sec ahead of me: Red Jersey and Belgium Jersey. If the race had been a lap shorter, I may not have caught them, but with 2 to go, Red Jersey blew and fell back. On the last lap, I screwed up riding up from the lake, but was fresh/adrenaline-accelerated enough to sprint up the hill and keep the gas on. Good thing, because Belgium Jersey was soon ready to blow too--the bumps sucked out his soul. I wanted to be in front coming off the pavement into the last section of grassy turns (and bumps) because passing there would've been difficult, but Belgium let me by on the big swooping 180 on the back before the run up and didn't keep up. The race-within-the-race was mine! I have no idea of the bigger picture, but I ended up 5th out of 13 finishers. Top 1/2 of the field!

The singlespeeder was left at home today--and this course would've hurt on a SS--so I was free to eat and socialize and take pictures, in some beautiful fall sunshine. I was trying out a new digital camera, so I'm still unsure on best settings for action shots, and there's a noticeable soft-lens effect in most of the photos, hmmm. I had the most fun with the rapid-shoot feature. I'm sure professionals use something like it a lot, rather than try to guess exactly when the exciting moment will happen. I just like the sequence of events that you capture, for instance:


(My apologies if it's completely tasteless to post pictures of someone crashing--anyone objects, and it's gone. The guy was fine--I asked--and raced on.)

Anyway: why "homestyle" 'cross? Well, could be 'cuz it's Thanksgiving week, and everyone's feeling all family-like. I think having a field of only 13 racers makes you feel more a part of things compared to 70+. The sheer number of racers I could recognize and cheer for when my race was done. Having a barbeque with footlongs after the race. Soccer games in the background. Well done, Peak Season, and I'm looking forward to your next race.