The provincial cyclocross races were held in Devon on Saturday. I made a strategic mistake on Wednesday when I decided to follow my race licence and register in my proper age category. Not wise for someone who finishes at the back of the slowest category to suddenly decide to race some of the fast guys in the higher category just because they have a similar age. We also had a small field of just 15 or so racers so there were very few other silly old men at the back of the pack with me. And by very few, I mean none. Well, I did pass Tim but he had wiped out on the gravel on the start of the first lap. It didn't take long for him to get back past me. I would find out later that he only completed one lap before dropping out since he bent his derailleur hanger. So, technically I wasn't last because there was one DNF but I'm pretty sure I was the only one who finished a lap down.
Otherwise, it was an enjoyable race. It was a fun course with one climb which got a little steep at the end. The downhill was a little bumpy and had a sharp left turn at the bottom so I couldn't go down too fast. It took me until the last lap to finally ride through the sand pit by the playground. I had a little crash on my second-last lap as I went through the sand coming out of the forest trail. I quite enjoyed going through The Agitator except I see it really messed up my GPS. I'm missing about 800 m of the race since I did six laps and my longest lap is 2.55 km but my total is just 14.63 km and there was an extra 100 m or so from the start to the start line. The only part of the course I didn't really enjoy was the north end before coming back to The Agitator. There were no interesting turns and a few bumps on the racing line which I could never seem to avoid. I hit one in particular quite hard on a number of laps and was jolted by my saddle each time. I ended up with a bruised tailbone after the race and I think it's from some bumps in the north end of the course though it might have been from my adventures in the sand pits. It's been quite sore for a day and I think it'll take a few more before it completely goes away.
In total, my GPS recorded 14.63 km of racing in 51:29 for an average speed of 17 km/h though I think it should be 15.4 km and an average of 17.9 km/h. My lap times were 8:06, 8:17, 8:26, 8:46, 8:58 and 8:47 plus the little run-up to the start. My average heart rate was 168 bpm and I had a maximum of 184 bpm.
This was my last bike race of the year and the golf clubs are in storage too. I'm now waiting for it to get cold and start snowing so I can switch to skiing and skating. Since I don't ski that much, I'd prefer the snow to wait a little since I only need about 25 more commutes to work to break 3000 km for the year.
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