Sunday, October 23, 2011

Two races, one flat, one DNF

I'm not going to dwell on just how poorly my races went this weekend. I'm blaming it on bad luck and being sick but mostly recognizing there is still a lot to learn on my part.  I'm motivated to correct things as the season goes on.

Also, if you haven't tried the Clammy Cross series, you are missing out.  Great venues, great people putting on some very cool races.  The Night Race was so great. The course was short but had some great features including a steep run up, singletrack, smooth grass, 5 barriers, a lot of tight corners, all while racing under the lights. It was fun to mix it up with Bob, Mark, Ben, Grizzly and others.

Waking up on Saturday, I didn't feel good at all but I promised Seth I'd take him to race his first bike race.  He wanted to try a true CX bike so the good folks at Canyon Bicycles hooked him up with a loaner at no cost.  The UTCX cross out cancer ride/race was going on at Wheeler Farm.
 Seth and Dad
The pre-ride and some last minute coaching.

Seth dismounting for the barrier section

Then it was my turn. I lasted about 3 laps before pulling the plug.  I had no power and had a hard crash on the gravel road which left me pretty frustrated.  O well.  That's racing.  Just chalk it up to a bad week and bounce back I guess.

Rachelle snapped a few pics.  
Seth and Dad in the pain cave.  Turns out, we both like to ride with our mouths open.

7 comments:

Nate said...

Im sure it was still a pretty sweet weekend. Even if you did feel like crap. Cool that Seths gettin into it.

Ryan said...

Pretty cool to see Seth out there tearing it up. Sorry you didn't have a better race yourself. How was the course? I was bummed I couldn't make it. Next week...

dug said...

Did Shelle climb a tree to get that overhead shot? Please say she did.

Ski Bike Junkie said...

The moral of the story: if you catch up to me, back off before disaster strikes. You think that flat or the crash in the gravel were accidents?

Rick Sunderlage said...

Ryan- It was, perhaps, the best course UTCX has done at Wheeler. I hope they do it again next week

Dug- They put those barriers at the bottom of the sand pit. Shelle was standing at the top of the pit, but it have been cool if she had climbed a tree.

SBJ- The moral of the story is to get the hole shot. You seem to have that part dialed in.

JoshuaMcC said...

Glad you could make it Friday and that you had a good time. Bummer about Saturday.
My little stunt on the tall barrier has still got me seeing tweety birds and nursing my shoulder.
I had a thought about how you might be able to help us get a few more people out to Clammy Cross. Shoot me an email joshwmcc@gmail.com

evilbanks said...

Seth Rules----so cool!