First CX race of the year for me, with virtually no prep, no anxiety and no expectations. Feels good, except it gives me the excuse to get into Holiday mode (whiskey) a little sooner than I should if trying to be an athlete, which has always been hard for me to balance.
After buying a CX bike in November 2021, the goal was to win a masters jersey and accomplishing that last year combined with getting back into mtb racing, especially with my two priority races in the fall, has made this CX season less than planned. Regardless, I love CX and it brings back floods of memories of good times with the old Mesa crew, meeting my wife and spending a lot of time at McGurks on Sundays after racing. Best memories. To be honest, I watch follow and watch CX more than any other discipline and love the week in week out racing. Convenient and low impact racing.
This was the first 50+ race I have entered, which is extremely weird from a milestone perspective, but I really enjoy racing in the morning and having some family time in the afternoon, so old fucks it is. I thought I might cat down to the 40 plus, but then realized the added challenge of starting a little behind the SS and 40 plus and going for the overall would be fun.
It rained a lot Saturday night with rain in the forecast on race day and I was pretty stoked to see a good field of 40's and 50's, including some fast guys, mainly Dust, Dr. Mark, Hartzel and Paul Carter from out of town, among others. The course turned out to be incredibly dry, slightly tacky and rough, which didn't change until it started to rain the last few laps.
We took off about 45 seconds behind the SS and 40 plus, I would guess. I fucking charged. No real game plan other than slicing and dicing to the front, and by the second lap I had caught everyone but Dust, Ian and Laberta, who got a great start! Not long after I caught Ian, and was basically riding like it was a two lap race, but didn't really care. I could never close down on Anthony and on the 3rd lap my left quad/IT starting locking up (I think it's the warmup and q factor, ordered some extenders) and got caught by Ian and Paul. I think I stayed with them for a lap and then started getting gapped.
By mid race I was closing back in on Ian, maintaining to Anthony and going a little faster each lap, less chaotic, more steady power. I started to feel better and was close to catching Ian on the last lap, but he sensed it and I made a mistake in the pines and couldn't close it down. Paul came very close to catching Anthony, which was super impressive, and I finished 10 seconds or so back from Ian.
All gas, all power, no tech. Was a good race. If I could save a few matches earlier in the race and get my IT straightened out things will improve. Super stoked to be back out there. 2cd in the 50 plus, 4th overall.
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