Chagrin Day 2

This morning, after I popped a few Advil and did some last minute wrenching on the bike, Chris and I made the quick trip down to Bainbridge for Day 2 of the Chagrin River CX Challenge. The weather was dry and windy last night, so I was looking forward to faster conditions.

Most of the course had dried out significantly and was quite a lot faster than yesterday. The pine tree section was perfect. The mud in the single track section and woods firmed up and provided good traction, and there were sections of the trails that were solid. There were lines through the fields that were solid at the beginning of the race, and the conditions improved through the day.

I decided to run low tire pressures today, which usually doesn't work out too well for me. The tires were probably at about 35 psi. During my warmup lap, that seemed like it would work. There weren't any off-camber sections to roll the tire, and I could baby the wheels over obstacles and avoid a snakebite puncture without too much trouble.

I felt weary during the warmup. My legs didn't loosen, and my heart rate stayed pretty low, so I planned to start off at my own pace (slow!), then build up my tempo through the race.

I lined up in the second row with 26 other racers. The field was a little bit smaller than Saturday, but it seemed pretty crowded when we got to the first bottleneck of the course--the wall climb up and around the telephone pole. I coasted to a stop, got off the bike and waited in line to find a spot to run through the scrum. Chris was just in front of me, and in a million to one shot, he hooked the back of his shoe on my left brake lever just as we were getting ready to ride down the wall again. I thought for sure we were both going to tumble down, but luckily he got clear without a problem.

By the time we were into the single track, I got into a rhythm. I had a pretty easy time riding the more technical parts of the course. I kept my head up and picked relatively fast lines. I was way back in the field, but was steadily making up ground, and the time gaps to riders ahead of me were small.

I picked off one guy after he bobbled through the ditch, then worked my way up toward a group including Dan and Seth. I chased them for the rest of the race. I closed the gap through the grass section on every lap by pushing a big gear at low rpm. That seemed to work better for me than spinning. I actually had momentum through the corners in the damp grass. I guess the lower tire pressures helped.

In the singletrack, I rode the ditch when Dan was running it. As I closed the gap, I lost my Zen trail riding mindset and botched the ditch crossing. I didn't crash, but my momentum was completely absorbed by my front wheel, fork, and arms. I thought I cracked my steerer or fork, and it hurt to take such an impact.

On the final lap, Dan did a good effort and opened the gap up again on the gravel. I was dialed in on the barriers today, so I thought I might make up a couple seconds there, then catch him in the field. I was quick through the barriers, but slow to get back in the pedals. By then, he was already to the first corner. I didn't have enough juice left to sprint the gap, so it stayed about the same until the finish.

Even though I finished way back from the leaders, I was pretty happy with that effort. I didn't crash. I only made a few mistakes. I was smooth through the technical stuff and the barriers and was racing other people instead of suffering a lonely mud time-trial.

I know it's corny to say, but it's too bad real life isn't more like the cyclocross scene. There's a crazy positive vibe that permeates the whole day.

Only three races left!