Big Weekend... Boss Cross x 2 and a Roller Derby teaser

Today is Tuesday but last weekend X and i raced Cyclocross on Saturday and Sunday. Boss Cross, baby!

One thing i love about Boss Cross is that the men cat 3's race for one hour. Pow. It's intense and a great workout. I feel like i'm close to, if not living in, the best cycling fitness of my life... so cyclocross has been really fun lately.

The nutshell version of Saturdays race...

The starts of cross races are the bomb, for the first minute or two it's like being in a video game. I think i have a quick start but i usually show up to the line late and slot in behind people. Saturdays start was descent and after a lap or two i was riding in 4th, 4th!!! Then i got too cute on a couple sections and dropped my chain a few times, the last of which was the worst. It fell underneath my K-Edge chain catcher so i spent maybe 30 seconds getting it out. That was enough to put me into 6th at the finish. It would have been 7th but Boulevard dude rolled his tire with about 100 meters to go. I hate the fact that i dropped my chain but i love that i'm getting faster and there is less room for error during these races

. It's exciting.

Once i got home i adjusted the K-Edge chain catcher... spoiler alert, i did not drop my chain once on Sunday!!!

We raced for one hour and 8 minutes on Saturday. Pow!

X doubled up on Saturday. Pow!

Sunday

Once again i got there plenty early since X raced way before me. I like doing this. I get to chill out and check out the course, no pressure, move at your own speed.

The start of the race was totally awesome, i lined up at the very back after a poorly timed pee stop. Then noticed some space and moved up a little before the whistle blew. then, when it did blow, the seas parted and i had a perfect hole to ride thru. The race was not even 10 seconds old and i had gone from dead last to 6th!

Things stayed good the whole race, well, expect for the fact that i could not ride that rooty / slanting up-hill. I was so disappointed in myself. I actually rode it once, but barely made it to the top, then i botched it two more times, then i just accepted my ineptitude and ran it from then on out.

Once again i was sitting in 4th for much of the race, then Brett, whose turning out to be my arch enemy (in terms of fitness, not friendship, he's a good guy) comes flying by me with about 3 to go. As soon as this happened i told myself i would stay on his wheel, but that lasted 1 second and he was gone.

In hindsight i should have tried harder to hang on. I think when someone passes you fast late in a race it means they're really punching it and can only hold that pace for a bit, if you can survive the initial onslaught then things should calm down a little. But i really dont know what i'm talking about.

So... I finished 5th. One spot away from the money!

Something else i thought about after the race, when pre-riding it's beneficial to ride it fast. It took me three laps on Sunday to realize you could totally rail some of those corners.

Anyway.... great weekend.

But wait... It's not over. Sunday evening we headed downtown to watch Roller Derby!!!

*Editors note: it's 11:08 pm and i've just decided that the roller derby section of this post will have to wait till later this week. It's so good it deserves it's own post. Be prepared for a love fest. bye for now.