Last weekend with 2 ‘cross days

11.18 Louisville Rec. Center
! got there early. The drive went faster than ! expected. The bad news was that my seat post wasn’t really fixed. It looked fixed, but when ! sat on it the back dropped. ! had to pull Amber’s seat post for the Jackal. The course is pretty much a bowl. Rec. center land has a big dip in the middle of the field. We went all the way around the lip and several excursions into the hole. Go in and ya gotta come out. ! did one warm up lap and thought it was pretty bad. Bumps everywhere. It wasn’t so bad at race pace though. After ! put Sara’s old wheel on the Jackal ! still couldn’t back pedal without jamming the chain. And it kept skipping. A twist of the barrel adjuster solved the back pedaling problem. Every time ! put any power into the cranks it would still skip. That really slowed me down. After the race ! went to the Full Cycle tent and had the link unkinked. She was riding well now. 1.6 miles/lap. 5 laps. Lapped on lap 4. 6.7 miles. 10.7 avg. 23.4 max. 37:54 0>170>15:45>160>22:09 37th of 41

Race 2 Confidence builder.
It didn’t start out that way. The Jackal was working again finally. The start was as far from the finish tent and parking lot and pits as it could be. 5 minutes to start my back tire was really soft and totally flat by the start. There was no way ! could get to the pit for a new wheel and back in time so ! rode the first part on the rim. Everyone else went off fast. ! was barely moving. It was ½ a mile to the pit then wheel change. ! was dead last and way behind by then. With the new wheel ! could start pushing and that is what ! did. ! attacked everywhere ! could. It really hurt, but it was fun. ! got some guys who were giving up. The 2 leaders passed me just before the start line. From the start we took a long gravel trail part way around the lip of the bowl before sweeping down into the lower part. They had a little gap when we hit the straight. Screw it. ! jumped and closed the gap. ! was right on them and could have gotten by with a little longer run. ! can turn on the afterburners if ! need to. Into the bowl it was more power and then the toughest climb on the course. They got away there. Next lap one of the Cat IIIs passed me in the same spot warming up. He went hard like he was racing. ! attacked again and blew by him. Maybe ! should get in shape for some of these. Preparing for Roth should do it. 39th of 42. 5 laps. Lapped once. 8.3 miles. 11.2 avg. 24.8 max. 44:48 4:58>170>27:36>160>12:14

11.19 Tabletop Mountain. Golden
This venue hasn’t been used for a few years. It is the state patrol’s driving course. Mostly flat and sort of smooth. Very fast. The dirt sections had good clear lines. One twisty section was after a slight downhill on the pavement. ! was in my biggest gear jamming as hard as ! could to the entry. Swing wide since it’s a 60* left turn and straighten up just before you hit the gravel on the road side. ! was hitting my max speed there. The dirt section was a backwards 3 shape. The radiuses tightened up farther through. Over 20 mph ! could just lean into it and that was enough to scrub speed off for the tighter corners coming up. ! was leaned over too far to pedal. Right, left, right, punch it. Onto the next paved section to the gravel with 2 barriers and a ditch. There was one bumpy section just past the pits after the 180 and the only really slow section was the long start straight. A slight uphill and into the wind. ! felt really good. ! tried to tuck in for the 1st run up the hill then nail the technical sections. ! need to get better starts. After the start section, we turned onto the dirt. It was mostly singletrack for the good line. Things really got strung out. That damn accordion effect. ! pushed hard. The heart monitor was reading 0 almost the whole time. The only reading ! saw was 167 briefly. ! had all the lines dialed in and was hitting them hard. And it was fun. For the first race all season ! didn’t get lapped. 18th of 29. My first top 20 finish this year. 1.9 mile/lap. 6 laps. 11.4 miles. 13.9 avg. 24.3 max. 49:11. 0:33>170>42:16>160>6:22

Race 2 This Course Rocks
While wheezing after the first race ! heard a tire explode in the pit. ! figured ! should go make sure mine were ok. They were. When ! got back to the Jackal the front tire was flat. Argh!!!!! ! patched it and it flatted again so she got a new tube. For my warm-up ! did 2 sprints up the road. ! was running 22 mph and blew by a few other guys warming up. ! lined up on the side a ways back for wind protection. One of the guys crashed hard after the start and ! hear he didn’t finish the race. ! was a little farther back than ! wanted to be when we hit the dirt. ! couldn’t quite get it together to make passes through the bottlenecks. ! kept on it. This is a faster group and ! usually go faster. One dropped chain coming into the barriers by the ditch. That was enough to let Bob Prieto get away. ! think ! was hurting more this time. Partly because it was my 2nd race today and 4th for the weekend and partly because ! was going faster. There wasn’t really anyone ! could hunt down. There was one group but they pulled over when ! came up on them. ! thought they were racing. 6 laps. Not lapped. 11.3 miles. 14.1 avg. 24.6 max. 48:16. 0>170>45:24>160>2:52. I think the HRM puts everything into the zone if it doesn’t get a real reading. It was reading 0 most of the time.