At Edgefield, I talked about the guy who said, “I can’t hold you off any more.” He sat up, and I pounced. After a day or so, I remembered that someone said that to me AGAIN going into the last little bit of the race at PIR. It was in the twisty-turny tree section, and the guy basically pulled over to the side to let me pass. I don’t remember what he said, but it was something like, “you go ahead.”

Nice, right? No. Dumb. Because I crashed right after that and the guy passed me. He sits up, feels lame, and then sees me crash. Do his competitive juices kick back in, or does he feel some sort of pity? It shouldn’t matter. In the last part of the race, never quit. It’s cyclocross. Anything can happen.

Last lap, I follow this guy up through some heavy-ish mud and gravel. We turn onto this paved slightly uphill drag that’s maybe 100 yards. During the previous two laps, he’d gapped me here. But it’s the last lap, and there’s maybe 200 yards from the top to the finish line. On the pavement, he turned up the speed. He stayed seated and accelerated a bit. I got out of the saddle and just stared at his back wheel. Locked onto it. “Rest when you’re dead,” I thought.

Gasping, I still had his wheel as we crested the “hill” and turned into this narrow muddy section that flattened out. I pulled up next to him trying to find a line. I felt like if I could establish inside position coming into the last turn, I’d have a chance.

As I pull up next to him, he says, “I can’t hold you off any more. I’m done.”

I punched it. I mean, I jumped out of the saddle and sprinted, because I was absolutely on the ropes. I figured me jumping like that would dispirit him, and that was A-OK by me. If he had any idea how much he’d hurt me on that little hill, he would’ve found another 5 seconds of effort. And that was literally about how much it was: 5 seconds to round the corner, turn onto the pavement, and then 20 yards to the finish line.

But if my season ended on that, I’d be happy. Because having someone just *fold* like that after chasing them was awesome. (Note: I just realized that I’m super excited about barely beating someone who is nearly 50. Kinda takes a bit of the excitement out of it. Ah well.)

Backing up a bit, the course at Edgefield was crazy. Continue reading →

HUP HUP! Over the barriers, Tubby!

I had a good last Blind Date race. Not great, just good. I tried some of the things I said I would, like riding the first lap like it was the third lap: fast and confident. That ended up back-firing, as I lost control in this really soft spot and shot wildly off-course. I was about three spots ahead of my teammate at the time, and by the time I got back on course, I was 10 spots behind him. It took me a lap to work through traffic to pass him again.

But after that, things went really well. I put in some longer sustained efforts, which was something I’d been thinking about subconsciously for a little while.

I think many times this season, I put the hammer down, and then instantly go into recovery mode. In cycling, that doesn’t work. You have to sprint, then keep up a hard pace for a while. At PIR this weakend, I passed people in all the technical sections and over the barriers, only to have them pass me 100 yards later.

A sustained effort is a subtle difference, but in practice, it meant a good hard effort for, say three or four features lasting 3-4 minutes. And then I’d recover sitting on a wheel until I was ready for my next surge. And the thing was: I didn’t need to recover very long last night.

I tried a few other simple tricks, too, like looking all the way up the hill, rather than just staring blankly ahead. That helped me gauge how long I needed to stay on the gas.

Between staging at the back — which is all I deserve this season — and my foray off-course, finishing 46th out of 79 is OK. Not great, but good.

Oh and this being my final Blind Date this season (I have to travel next week), the course was about as dark as I could take it. It was so hard to see some of the sections. But it really proved to me that I could let the bike “flow” more than I often do. Of course, it was also dry tonight with good traction; I’m not sure how well I’d let it flow on a super muddy, slick, wet course.

And I nearly forgot: Amanda and Lo came out with me. On the second lap, Amanda yelled at me: “THROW THE HAMMER!” I was like, “huh? You mean like Thor? That’s an odd cheer.” And I seriously puzzled over it for a minute. We laughed pretty hard when we got home, and started making up other nonsensical cheers:

• MUNCH THE SAILBOAT!
• TACKLE THE ANTELOPE!
• KICK THE MUD!

Next year I might race single speed — it’s a longer race. But then again, if I put in the training to upgrade, maybe I’ll race C’s again to get some extra points. Time will tell.

Up next: ultra flat and fast Washington County Cross Crusade. Hoo boy.