Living the dream: Taking a Bow

This week I raced 2 races, the first race I did was race #3 of a 5 race series in Provo Utah. As I was warming up I knew that today wasn’t my day and that the course didn’t suit my style/skill of racing very well. The race started and I immediately realized that we were playing for keeps as I got cut off and shoved into a tree. The course was full of switchbacks and hard U-turns (no exactly what a roadie wants to see). Within 2 laps the leaders broke away from the rest of the field. When I saw leaders I mean the 3 full time professional cross racers, the state champ, and the national champ. Once they were out of sight I tried and tried again to get into the groove of this course but failed…miserably. While passing through the start finish line I tried to ride on my pedal to long before unclipping to jump over a few barriers. All I’m going to say is that I learned my lesson it is better to have to take an extra step or two rather than coast and hit the barrier. When I hit the grass I realized that not only had I destroyed my gap on the 4 guys that were chasing me, but that I had done this in front of all of the spectators and my family. I jumped to my feet, took a bow, laughed it off and started to pedal for my life once again. This experience taught me that even when we have made a mess of our lead in life that we need not hesitate to get back on our bikes, because laying on the floor will only set you back longer. I was able to finish the race and managed to take 10^th place overall, I was able to hold off 2 guys from passing me but due to a bell lap cramp I knew my chances of finishing higher were over.

On Saturday I race Moose Cross in Victor Idaho, this was the first cross race that I had ever competed in and it also marked my one-year anniversary of racing CX. In the past year I have managed to stand on the podium over a dozen times which is an accomplishment in itself. However this race has always appealed to me because it is one of the closest races to where I go to school and I’m good friends with most of the event organizers. Going into the race I knew I was a marked man because 3 of my opponents were buddies of mine from the road season. This year I managed to win all of the races in Idaho Falls against these guys and knew that they were planning on giving me a run for my money! As soon as the gun went off the chaos began, although I didn’t have to “take a bow” this course was full of its own demons like a 20+ foot run-up with steps in it that were 2-3 feet in height, lose dry berms, and a set of 3 barriers in a row. My bike is light but after racing this course for 60 minutes every time I had to carry my bike I felt like my arms were going to fall off. On the last lap I was able to catch 2 racers that were in front of me, and somehow ride myself into 8^th place overall. But the stat that I’m most proud of is that I rode the fast lap time of the entire day 4:30 flat and it was on my last lap (the next close lap time was 4:43). This week has taught me many things about life and racing such as the fact the tire pressure really does matter, and that you are never actually warmed up for a race. I know that I have a ton of room for improvement and feel like this will come with experience. After all I have only been racing for a year!