Three of us race tomorrow. Karen at 9:30, me at 10:30 and Jeff at 1:00.
We will roll at 7:00 do our course check out at 8:00. Karen will use the course check out as her pre-race warm up... Jeff and I will use it simply as a course check out.
Since the temps will be below freezing and the course will be covered in frozen muddy ruts, all three of us will have to change into dry clothes. Karen will change directly into her race uniform... Jeff and I will change into a second set of clothes.
Jeff and I will have to do our pre-race warm up at a later time and then put on our race uniforms right before our races... requiring us to have 3 full changes of riding gear. Since it's so cold and wet, we have to strip down and put dry riding gear on in between each ride or we will risk hypothermia or getting sick. So... that's a ton of pre-race pre... meaning I need to do that TONIGHT!
So... here's a quick update on the course.
Unfortunatley, not crashing isn't an option. The course will be covered with frozen ruts and what isn't frozen will be a thin layer of slimmy mud, sitting on frozen ruts.
To the best of my recollection in today's races, there wasn't a single rider that didn't crash... not one... not the winners, not the folks who finished in the back, not a single one that I was aware of!
There were all sorts of crashes... big ones, little ones... crashes
that had so much crap flying in all directions it looked like a yard sale for god sakes!
So, the name of the game is to try to go as fast as possible, while crashing the least and if you crash, make it quick and try not to break anything in the process. Hmmmm... sounds like a good plan. Oh... and no crying. There are no babies allowed in cyclocross!
Tom had a tough day today. His race started out really well and had worked his way to 15th place. A racer that was attempting a pass, caught a rut and t-boned him on a downhill section of the course, sending Tom head first over the bars and onto his mellon. Tom's ok, but a crash like that rings your bell pretty good, leaving you seeing stars and the smart thing is to pull out from the race... which is what Tom did. By the way... he didn't cry!
Peanuts' Race Uniform
Fleas' Race Uniform
Big Pits' Race Uniform
Keep your finger's crossed we race fast and keep the crashes to a minimum.
Talk to you soon,
Kath
