School of Cross

The first true cyclocross race took place today with my own club hosting the School of Cross race. Last weekend was an enduro-cross race but I'm not counting it. In the past, I haven't liked the School of Cross course because the school grounds where it's held drop away into a ravine. This usually means long grass, very bumpy trails, and up and down a steep hill too many times. However, this year the ravine section seemed to flow better and it was a more enjoyable course for me.

I've felt my best during races where I slurped down a Clif shot a little before the start. I was eating them last week during my race and felt good and I had one left so I ate it about 20 minutes before my race started. If any of the three people who read this know where I can get Clif shots by the box, please let me know. Anyway, I was a bit surprised to feel pretty good throughout the race. My heart rate did spike each lap as I came out of the valley which meant not pushing hard on the easiest section of the course but the urge to cut the fun a lap or two short never came. It might have helped that I had two teammates nearby for the opening. I lost track of Wes behind me late in the first lap and had Bruce right behind me going into the barriers for the second time but I could hear he had some trouble on them and I noticed a good gap on him the rest of the way. After the finish, I saw that Wes dirtied both of his knees during the race and Bruce said he had problems on two occasions. I don't know Wes very well but I know Bruce is a good Cat 4 racer. He's much stronger than I am on the road but it was only his second 'cross race so it must have been my experience and maybe a little better off-road bike-handling skills that kept me in front of him.

I completed four laps in 35:39 and was one lap behind the leaders. I covered 9.2 km at an average of 15.5 km/h and a maximum of 26.1 km/h. I averaged 170 bpm, which is just two bpm below my anaerobic threshold, and had a maximum of 183 bpm. There was a 30 second run up to the start/finish line and I had laps of 8:40, 8:38, 8:54, and 8:57. I thought the first lap was slow, due to all the traffic on the first lap. I then thought I picked it up for the second lap but this doesn't appear to be the case. I was expecting my body to start telling me to stop so I backed off a little on the third lap, thinking I would have two more to do. I was a little surprised to see two laps to go as I started my fourth lap and I expected to be passed soon by the leaders so I knew I'd probably just have one lap left to do. I was pretty set in my position so I just did enough so no one would catch me.