Another Cross Race - this one slippery and wet!

Another cross race – this one was for real! It was on Saturday and the day dawned sunny and warmer than the day before (thank God – or so I though). I quickly realized (by looking out my window) that the temp had gone up enough to melt most of the snow and thaw the ground – which mean it was going to be MUDDY!!!! Oh yeah – and slippery :o)

So I headed down to the race with my friend, both of us having learned lessons from the race the day before – he brought a spare bike, I brought a spare set of wheels, and we both left them in the pit area in case we had flats :o) We also got the best warmup I’ve had yet – riding the course twice and also some sprints along a side street. My legs didn’t feel that great though and they had very little pep, and I think the week of partying in Chamonix and my cold were finally catching up to me (sign of things to come).

So the race started fine, and I felt I was working my way through the pack OK. As per usual we had started on the back row – it’s incredible how important it is to have points in this kind of series!!! I think I was sitting in about 20th place out of 40+, so I was doing alright. The first few laps were pretty uneventful as I tried to pass when I could and just keep things under control – it was REALLY slippery out there.

The course was super cool too – in the middle of Eindhoven (a large city) it wound through a park: around a lake; over the playground sandpits (3 times :o); through some pretty dense woods; and of course the wet cobblestones at the start/finish area! There was still snow on the course at the start of the race, but it was melting pretty fast. Couple that with some showers during the race and it was crazy! We managed to pack it down pretty well, and every corner had different degrees of slipperyness – and it changed with every lap! Needless to say we had to be on the ball the whole time!

Fortunately I was able to keep it upright for the entire race, although I spent quite a few turns in the tri-pod stance :o)) About 25 minutes into it I ‘hit the wall’ – my legs hadn’t had any pep all day, and they just up and quit on me! I soft pedaled for a few hundred meters to keep going, then settled into a slower pace for the 2nd half of the race (but my day was over, so I was just out enjoying it!).

I don’t know how I place. They didn’t have me in the top 20, but I think that’s about where I should have been. Oh well – still a super fun ride! So we stuck around and watched the juniors, womens, and pro’s races too – really great to see them riding the same course! The pro’s were awesome – check out some of the photos.