"Beat the Freak"

I raced the "Beat the Freak" CX race last Saturday. I didn't do so well, but as always, I managed to have fun. I ate right, I dressed right, and I was well hydrated. I definitely ran the right tire pressure - 40 in the back, 37 up front. The course was mainly cold hard grass and pavement, and it was pretty dry. I finished 10 out of 13, but I could have sworn I DFL'd.

The race was held at a high school in Fayetteville, Tennessee. The course started with a nice flat, paved area, dropped into a slight grassy downhill, ran into a sweeping right turn, then up again onto a paved circuit around a football field. The paved portion around the ball field was deceptively steep, and by the fourth lap, was pretty punishing. Then the course ran through some more grass, over a pair of log barriers, then more grass, up a triple set of three or four stairs, more grass, a "death spiral" (seems to be prevalent this season), some grass, a pair of barriers leading to a run-up, and more grass. So, yeah, a lot of grass and pretty fast, overall a pretty good course.

We rode three laps before they told us we had another three to go. I was staying with a couple guys pretty well, and really felt like I was doing well. When we got the 3-laps-to-go count, I decided to ease up for a lap, then I was going to really lay down the law on the last two laps. The plan, of course, was to conserve a little energy, then blow it all in the final two laps. I believed at the time this was a good move, but it turned out to be a big tactical mistake for a couple of reasons, and one I will likely not make again. The officials miscounted the laps-to-go. At the end of the fourth lap, they said two laps to go and I went as hard as I could. I was doing my best to close the gap, but then they called the race after 5 laps. I couldn't have caught him anyway, but I gave it everything I had.

So what did I do wrong? One, I trusted the lap count. Two, I should have kept even pressure on the guy in front of me - I think easing up made it that much harder to get it going again. And when he looked back and saw I was easing up, it gave him the boost he needed to keep going hard.

Next weekend I'm going to Dallas, Georgia for the final race in their series. If luck is on my side, it will be wet and muddy and cold, and the course will be slow and soggy, not grassy and fast. I tend to do better in the slow slogs than the fast courses, so here's hoping. I've been doing a lot of working out off the bike, running, lunges, etc to try and get a little more endurance, we'll see how that pans out!