Well it looks like racing season is upon us already! This past weekend myself and teammate Chris
White headed down to Chesterfield Virginia (outside Richmond) for Monster Cross,
a 50 mile cross race. It looked like a
fun pre-season race and the weather looked too good to pass up with a forecast
of 59 degrees and sunny….in February! So
we packed up the cross bikes and headed down south for some racin’ This was my first attempt at an endurance
cross race and Chris’ second endurance cross race with Iron Cross Race being
his first.
So
weather looked great, course looked pretty flat and fun, had the potential of
seeing a lot of familiar faces, and I was looking forward to a day of suffering
on the bike. Chris and I both had the
attitude that this was a day to ride bikes hard, have fun, and get some good
training in…and that’s what we did! (The fact that it was a race was well….not
significant). So a few minutes after
10am the race was off and into the woods we went with 50 miles ahead of
us. My goal was to be sub 4 hours to
complete the race and since this was my first race of this type that was a shot
in the dark. I went into the woods
riding pretty hard but not trying to overdo it since it was going to be a
longish day on the bike….then my mp3 player decided it didn’t want to play mp3’s….great…but
at least the bike was working well, legs felt good, and there were plenty of
people to chit-chat with. Then about 4
miles into the race at a bridge crossing I came across a pretty bad wreck. As I pulled up to the carnage one racer was
pulling himself out of the creek and another racer was laying in the middle of
the trail with a bloody face and another racer stabilizing his head and
neck. I decided it should stop with my emergency
services background and assist. So after
a little while, once 911 had been contacted, and other racers who stopped with
more qualifications than me (i.e. two doctors and a medic) and I made sure
there was nothing else I could do, I continued on my way. After stopping for about 8 minutes most of
the race had already passed us and continued on, this created a challenge, ride
hard and try to make up places while playing catch-up, all while not trying to
run myself into the ground and bonk.
Off I
went chasing the field and passing racers left and right and mostly who were
towards the back of the pack. Luckily
this race course was almost all double track and fire roads where I was able to
easily pass people and hold a good pace.
This race was also the first time I have raced with a Garmin cycling GPS
and so I was watching my average speed, heart rate, distance, time, etc and
trying to gage how much effort I need to put forth. So I rode hard, rode sustainably, and tried to
maintain good hydration and nutrition intake, and of course still have fun in
the process.
I went
into the second lap and met up with a couple friends that I hadn’t seen in a
while, this was a good moral booster.
One it meant that I made good progress playing catch-up and two it meant I
had some familiar company to ride with for a few miles. After a few miles though I decided that I
needed to pick the pace back up and continue to ride hard. I was a little worried though that I was
going to run myself into the ground and bonk, but I wanted to see if I could
maintain a strong pace (a dangerous game that I am still getting used
too).
Well in
the end it worked out well and I finished with a result that I was happy
with! I finished 187th out of
382 overall and 36th out of 54 in my division with a finish time of
3:30:38 and an overall average speed of 13.77mph. What a great way to start off the year! Its three days after the race and I am still
feeling the effects, I am both physically drained but more importantly mentally
pleased with how I raced.
Looking forward to a great year and hopefully some great
results!
.jpg)
