So its been a long while since I've posted. Too long. A lot has happened. A lot hasn't happened. So here's the skinny...
Road season wrapped in Nebraska in July. Yay another year of little to no fall road races (note sarcasm). That said the Omaha weekend was a target for me this year. My quest for upgrade points got me a little over half way to the necessary mark for a Cat 3 upgrade. I had a consistent but not stellar performance at the Norfolk Weekend landing a 5th place in the RR and 4th place in the crit. Just off the podiums both times, in the money both times, and nabbing a few upgrade points.
Then Mike and I headed to one of the twilight crits the week before the Omaha weekend and picked up a 3rd place result, my entry fee back, and a couple more points.
Finally at the Omaha weekend my legs were feeling fast. My main objective was the road race. I entered the crit in near 100 degree heat and high humidity. Its a tough course, with little recovery. I took one too many warm up laps and then ended up lining up in the back of the pack...which was a fail. I couldnt' move up and by about mid-race was feeling overheated and bailed from the race. It was a smart decision as the next day temps would be just as bad if not worse. I did some work early in the race with the objective of sitting in for the mid-point and weight for the inevitable attacks at the end. It was a smart move, Noah Marcus attacked on the final climb of the penultimate lap. I saw his move from around mid-pack and hit the accelerator hitting the top of the climb in 4th place and starting a pursuit. Our chase group grew to 8 strong with Noah about 30 seconds up the road. At the base of the final climb I was feeling worked but we had Noah in our sights. Guys who hand't been working much attacked from our group of 8 at the base of the final climb up deer ridge road. I struggled and started to blow. Crossed the line in 6th overall and 5th in the RR. More points, more money. Season done.
MTB season on the other hand was up and down and never consistent. The C'dale Taurine gone it got replaced with a Trek Paragon which I stripped and rebuilt to be much lighter than stock. My equipment woes didn't end there. My first race with it was at the Kansas State Champs during a road trip with the RF's. I raced cat 1 for the first time that weekend and felt really good. Unfortunately a rock slashed the sidewall of my Schwalbe Rocket Ron on lap 2. I forgot my air can to fix it and dnf'd. Fail.
Raced tranquility with it in cat 1. Felt good again. But the heat slowed me a bit mid race. Ended up only a minute down on the money at the end of the race riding pretty well and smooth in the final half. One note on that, I've noticed that I tend to overheat early on hot days but seem to cool just enough to maintain threshold after some recovery and can get back on it at the end of the race. So all in all a good learning experience.
Swanson take 2. Different bike (now on a 29er) and the course backwards. Again racing cat 1. Felt good on the start. Road within myself. Didn't make a fool of myself. So yeah a good result to build on. At this point I'm also finally feeling more comforatable on the 29er.
Maskentine uh yeah...a late night cassette and chain swap went awry pre-race. On race day the cassette was just not working. RF helped me try and get it working but I was forced to use either the big or middle ring only and was limited to my 3 biggest cogs. Too much gap in shifitng and a new 29er which i'm still getting used to resulted in being over or under-geared. I managed another 2 laps and pulled the plug in frustration over the poor shifting.
Dakota 50...yeah baby...what a race. It is a fun course and perfect for the 29er. Last year I was frustrated with a late race asthma attack and also feeling slow compared to the f/s and 29ers on descents. This year that all changed. I new the course. I had asthma and allergy meds in hand (and used them). So the only hiccup was a mid-race detour I took with another that had me end up with 4 extra miles just prior to aid 2. My goal of sub-5 was squashed but even then i was 4 minutes faster than last year even with the extra 20ish minutes I added on. All in all I'm happy with how it went and will post more on it with another post later, plus some pics.
So with that road and mtb season are over. Now I'm trying to get enthused for CX season. After a full year of road and mtbs though I feel the urge for mtns calling me to go ride them rather than race CX. We will see what happens. CX season is right around the corner.
Later
JC
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