Ragged running and 'jumping.'
"Am I done?....please?"
That pretty much sums up my Sunday morning in scenic Kanata. Rodd, Matt H. and I rolled up at 8:30 to the Kanata Recreation Centre, forebodingly situated acreoss a rather large parking lot from the Kanata SK8 park where I last mangled my knee. A sign of misery to come? Probably. We registered and proceeded to lube and butter up, and don our riding attire. It was cold, about 3 or 4 degrees, so we were faily eager to get riding and warm up. Which we did. I managed to pre-burn my lungs; hmmmm not so good. After a couple laps we visited with Benoit, Specialized rep and accomplished XC mtb and cross racer. We discussed conditions and he checked our tire pressures for us; he's the PRO after all. Mine was just right - a good sign? After hanging out in the arena for a bit we headed back out for a couple more laps. Then it was time to line up.
3-2- and we're off. The start took us across a field for about 100m. I could neither see Rodd nor Matt, and by the time merged onto the course I was in the front third. I passed some guys who looked faster than me and worked my way up to the to 12 or so. Burnination. This was not really going bad for the legs, but my lungs were taking it rather poorly. I was in my big ring, and make the climbs fine. I couldn't see Rodd ahead, so I figured he was behind; cool. By the end of the first lap I was already slowing down. People started passing me. That didn't really ever stop. I went too hard and did myself harm; my lungs were burninated. I slowed down another notch and tried to get some proper breathing going, which eventually came around. But alas, my lower back on the right was protesting loudly - stop you bastard, you're killing me! There was a lot of open grass bits that were essentially straight. They were bumpy, and it was windy. I think my positioning was off, because my back was unduly thrashed. This kept me from keeking on it as I otherwise would have. I had some 'battles' with others who were about my speed, but inevitably lost. One such loss I attribute to my error in taking a couple Shot Blocks before the race, which produced some hideous phlegm, the kind that just won't let go. I tried to get rid of some of this and ended up losing a bunch of ground to the two guys I was trying to hang onto while I dealt with the mess. Oops.
I had no idea how much more was to come. Hmmm, guess I'll just do what I can then. Benoit lapped me on the climb near the end of the lap. My goal was to not get lapped by him. Whoops. the leader had lapped me a while back, Osmund Baker; he was flying. Benoit offered some encouragement, "Good job Matt, almost done". Almost like one more lap? I didn't know. As I rode up the hill through the finish I pleaded, "Am I done?" "You're done." "Yes!" Matt greeted me, as he'd dropped out after a crash and a biological. I expressed my confused belief that Rodd was behind me. Matt corrrected me. Turns out I just hadn't recognized him ahead of me since he was wearing a jersey he borrowed from Benoit; which happened to to be a leaders jersey from another series! Only a cool cat would lend out a leaders jersey; I like Benoit. Rodd was not lapped, so he got an extra lap in on me.
The barriers were easy enough while strong, pathetic for me while tired. Gotta work on that. Next time I will make some changes. More careful fueling, perhaps less preriding, and slower start. I fell into the same problem as the 24hr, where I also went too fast when I started my first lap. I am faster over a lap when I start a little slower and then ramp it up. SInce you can pass almost everwhere, this should work fine for cross. We were all hoping for a more technical course next itme as this one was not technical at all. We need to turn more to have more of a chance against the powerhouse riders out there.
The next race I think we'll do is in Almonte, second weekend of November. This should be a more technical course, which ought to be fun. I'm already looking forward to trying again, even though my lungs still hurt.
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