# Saturday, September 20, 2008
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Saturday 20 September 2008 - Star Crossed
posted by: Martin Criminale
Hrs. Sleeping:  
Pulse (waking):  
Pulse (rising):  
Difference:  
Weight:  
Body Fat:  
Time of Day: 5:00 PM
Distance:  
Time (total): about 50 min
Time (moving):  
Time (stopped):  
Speed (moving):  
Speed (overall):  
Total Ascent:  
Weather: upper 50s, light rain, calm
Workout Type: cyclocross race

Breakfast: 7:00 AM - cereal
10:00 AM - fried potatoes, 2 eggs, onions
Lunch: 4:00 PM - gel, water
Dinner: beer
Workout Food:  

Course: Star Crossed
Results: Masters 30+ Cat 1-2
60th
Comments: Well, say hello to autumn. Today was my first cross race of the season and my first time on a cross bike since last year and my firs time riding in the rain for I don't know how long. It's good to be back.

I keep forgetting that they stage you according to when you registered for this event so since my number was 59 I was basically at the back of the 70 or so people that started this race. Officially the field was full at 80 but there were a few who DNS.

At the gun there was a crash to my left and I just managed to get around it. This made me feel pretty good until we hit the first tight corner... Cyclocross is all about thousands of little sprints and I am just not that fit currently so for me the goal became just to stay upright and have a good time. Damn, last year I though this course had some tight turns and this year it was even more so. That and long straight stretches.

But hey, my technique was fine! For the first time in years I was not stutter stepping to get on my bike and my dismounts were pretty fluid as well.

I passed a couple of guys and a couple of guys passed me and I did have a good time. With three laps to go my back suddenly gave out and it was VERY uncomfortable until the finish. Poop. With two to go I was thinking, "Hey, I have not fallen, this is great!" 60 seconds later I ate it on my right side. I got right back on but then had to dismount to fix my left STI lever which was pushed way over to the right. There were a lot of crashes in every race, holy cow was it slick out there.

Just after my wreck Mike G from ByrneInvent caught me after I had passed him in the second lap when his bike had a serious malfunction. I managed to pass him back but then overhauled me one more time and ended up finishing about 30 seconds in front of me. My back was just toast.

I got so muddy! I had to rinse my clothes in the driveway before I put them in the wash and my jersey did not come close to clean. And because I had not ridden my bike since this event last year I found out while warming up that my rear derailleur main pivot is wasted/sloppy and that my right STI lever is majorly haggard. All night my bike was ghost shifting on me because of the slop in the derailleur and the messed up ratchet in the shifter. But I still had fun.

Scotty form uBRDO tried to adjust the derailleur prior to my race. He did not have much luck but he also gave me a beer when I was done. Nice.

After I managed to towel off and change Greg K and Brian S and I hit the infield for some spectating. Man, I LOVE watching good racers in action. It is so impressive.
Equipment: Red Line Conquest Pro, 36/46, 12-27, 45 psi
cyclocross race
Saturday, September 20, 2008 5:18:38 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Disclaimer  |  Comments [0]  |  Related posts:
Sunday 28 September 2008 - Seattle Cyclocross - Evergreen High School

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