BASP and beyond
I've been taking the 2nd half of the season on day-to-day basis. Things started off OK for me early in the season but took a downturn when I ate it @ Laguna and sprained my thumb pretty bad. I will never make fun of hoop stars again after hearing about some sprained thumb injury... My training took a dive after that as I couldn't do my planned workouts.. No mt. biking or standing hill repeats...
The last 3 weeks has been tough but I had some good racing especially at Golden Gate Park... Saturday I rode over to the park and did about an hour riding on the course inc 5 "hot laps" I could have just kept riding it was so much fun... After a crappy start, I ended up jocking for position with Pat, Rick and Grant which made for some fun racing... The course was about as good as it could have gotten, given the lack of rain leading up to the weekend.
I ended up narrowly beating Grant in a finish sprint for 22nd place. About 5 min down but in no danger of getting lapped by a super strong field.. So, not great-- but an improvement non-the-less... Next on the List was.. BASP final @ Coyote PT.
CCCX #6
Things were going well and I was slowly reeling in a few riders. I had made quite a few changes to my bike setup over the weekend and can say with confidence--it was the right thing to do. With about 3-4 laps to go I dropped my chain in the large dip before the double barriers near the parking area... :(
Aww man... I was doing well and had regained all the positions I lost earlier... I took a deep breath as Howie is yelling at me to gather myself together and I put the chain back on pretty fast. I think there was 2-3 laps left at this point and tried to stomp on it but I was starting to feel tired from all the hard efforts earlier. The lead SS chase group containing Keith and Jesse tacked on the back, came by me and I tried to hang on but in the end could not. I finished just behind them in 12th place just over 6 min down. That's not terrible for having to stop 4 times during the race, last one at a crucial moment (dropped chain.) I think I probley lost about 1+ minutes combined if not more.
Most important is the bike feels sooo much better. I moved my cleats, swapped the stem and raised the saddle. lots of small changes right before a race is not the best idea but I was desperate to address the problems nagging at me the last few weeks. My neck and shoulders didn't hurt at all and my back while feeling tired was not sore and I feel good today not sore and dis-jointed like previous 3 weekends..
We are getting down to the end of the season and I will do a few races to get stronger for the CCCX final which, will be the official end of my season. It's been a tough cross season and I am getting sick of driving... not racing however!
The road season is just around the corner and I will focus on doing well and achieving an upgrade to 2 this season. This year my main focus was off-road on the mtb and I achieved my goals. Which were--
(Top 3) in in the CCCX series-3rd overall Pro/expert single speed. I had some great battles with Howie and Cesar..
(Win) 1st plc Nor-Cal SS Expert Championship/ Team Bigfoot throws together a bunch of races for a series and I did well @ Napa Valley and CCCX rounds 4-5? I dropped out of Howell mtn with crazy cramps but feel good about the overall.
(Mountain Upgrade to Semi-Pro) -- Successful!
Holidaze are here.. Get out and ride!
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