Cold, wet, and not-so-fast....

Woke up yesterday and heard raindrops on the roof and smiled. That meant I would get to have my first real cross race. I ran around the house for a while freaking out about not being able to find stuff then headed out the door to ride the bike to Verona for my warm-up. Sheri took Rowan in the hypocrite wagon and got some beer on the way. By the time I was registered there was like 50 dudes at the start already. Go. We started shuffling to a start in the back and the guys in front were finishing the lead out already and hitting the mud. Once again my gear was stupid big, and it was all I could do just to hold my position. I slid out once on one of the slick 180 degree turns but recovered quick, and I was taking the barricades a whole lot faster than my last attempt at crossin'. Russell was yellin' at me "Go you socialist, you can do better than that!!" By the time I had learned how to take these greasy corners with skinny tires, the race was over. I didn't look at the results since all I wanted was beer, but I was somewhere between the fast guys and the slow guys.

What have I learned?

1. The 46t has to go. Either the cross bike gets gears so that I don't have to worry about ratios anymore, or I put something little on there.


2. Get to the start line at least 15 minutes early even if it means standing around shivering.


3. Just because there are course features that everyone else is dismounting for, doesn't mean that I have to. I probably could have ridden the run up with the logs and the landscaping ties by the playground had I been able to turn the cranks over.


4. I don't need to wear so much stuff. With a skinsuit I probably could have shed the kneekers and the jacket.


5. Warm up warm up warm up.

In other news, I learned that the WORS message boards are populated by a bunch of dorks, myself included. From now I'm going to save it for after Don says GOOOOOO!