Dahlonega

Last race of the year and did not know what to expect from my waning fitness and a new course that no one knew and I didn't get a chance to pre-ride on Sat. Lucky for me the weather wouldn't be a factor as it had been warm with spring like temps all week with race morning cool and foggy.
This week I had cameras mounted on the front and back and was able to get good footage that I could combine for a nice video, the video is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MncA4nwg3uA
Now for the race, I had no expectations on my finish just wanted to enjoy myself and attack the course which I thought was the best of the year, I really liked the steps and the downhill leading to the run up the steep bank. Not going into a lot of detail I started off slowly and moved into 4th place on the 2nd lap with Lamar and Torre hot on my wheel, I bridged up to Dan and Gerard and for a while we rode together but they eventually pulled away and I began to think that I would be happy just to finish on the podium and was checking back to see where Torre was, going up the first set of steps was a good place to see if I was loosing or gaining ground and for 2-3 laps the gaps stayed the same but I was putting out near max effort and didn't know how long that could last, finally I saw a little more breathing room and realized that 3rd was in the bag, whew it was hard well earned podium.
I got what I think is the best race photo in several years taken by Trish so I had to buy it thanks.

A hillbilly in Blue Ridge?

Like Wendell I hadn't ridden much in a couple of weeks (when it gets cold I gets lazy) so I wasn't expecting much for the race. I did go down to the course on Sat. evening to pre-ride and got there just as they were finishing the set up.
On the pre-ride I rode the hill each lap but not at speed so it was questionable if I could do that in the race after a couple of laps. The ditch didn't seem too bad so I rode it also but thinking back on it I would have been faster to run the ditch, jump back on and power up the hill. The last lap of my pre-ride I timed myself at about 80% effort and came in at 7:42, well I should have aimed for that in the race the next day and would have probably finished better.
Race day morning was better than I expected, nice temps and good humidity, choose to wear the battle flag jersey but an interesting note if you go to the Veterans Memorial Park in Blue Ridge you will notice that most of the veterans in the Civil War from the area fought for the North, you will probably find that in the mountains that was not unusual.

Ok back to the race, the whistle sounded and Dan took off like a shot out of a Yankee cannon! Torre and Lamar were not far behind and I took a spot behind Lamar up the first hill to the pavement. I managed to pass Lamar and then Gerard passed me and Torre up the paved climb, I passed Torre about half way up the paved section and caught Gerard at the ditch, I noticed Dan got off and ran the ditch, smart move. Getting across the ditch I would then pedal the down hill hard to hit the loose up hill dirt section with as much speed as possible, this worked to get me about half way up with just a little effort to go over the top. Doing this I passed Gerard and then Dan at the crest of the hill and took the next turns wide almost getting into the tape, again! I managed to avoid taking myself out and screamed down the hill, hitting close to 30 mph, down in the low lands I took a peek back and didn't see anyone and was thinking, damn a big ole lead so I tried to settle down and just ride a good pace not looking back to see if anyone was catching me. At the mulch run section I thought I heard someone behind me but still didn't look back, when I hit the paved section before the start line big Dan comes by like he had just started the race, so fast I couldn't respond. So up the paved ascent for the 2nd lap and Greg T. passes but he has to get off and run the hill so I repass him, back down in the flats we pass and repass each other some more then Torre comes by an then moments later Gerard and Greg do the same. I stayed there as best I could letting them get a little gap up the paved section thinking I could get the gap back on the hill, no didn't work I hit the ditch and let the front wheel dive in too hard and a tumble I took, that was it as far as racing for a podium, 5th place.
I may have went too hard on the first lap but it didn't seem like the effort was that much but I guess no training = no endurance. I reckon if my fitness level was the same as earlier in the year I would have had a good shot at a podium or even a win.

Wendell's World Race # 6, Blue Ridge

Race # 6 (45+ Category), Blue Ridge- A return to racing after two weeks off for Thanksgiving, two weeks in which I rode my bike a grand total of one time. I did manage to go on a couple of runs while at the in-laws for the holiday but was not feeling primed and ready to "turn the pedals in anger" on Sunday morning in Blue Ridge. I decided I was just going to take this race easy and see how I felt so I lined up at the very back of the field on a row by myself at the start. After the start it didn't take long for the competitive juices to start flowing as I got frustrated at being stuck behind everyone as they came to a standstill on the left hairpin leading onto the lower ramp of the climb. I worked on the hill to pass people and got by a number of folks by the time we hit the ditch. I settled into a little duel with Bobby and Randy on the first couple of laps as we swapped positions a few times around the course. I think the long climb was a good feature for me and I was eventually able to get a bit of a gap on those guys there. I could see Jim and another rider not to far ahead of me (50 yds??) at this point but that was as close as I would get, they opened up this gap as the race progressed. So for a couple of laps I was just dancing with myself as the guys behind me weren't coming back and the guys in front of me were going away. Then I caught sight of orange (series leader jersey) behind me and had renewed incentive to ride hard as I was in the sights of the 35+ leader. I tried, but fell about a half lap short and got lapped. On the bright side the leader was the only one who lapped me, in weeks past the first three or four guys came by me. I wound up in 9th place.

Some thoughts on Blue Ridge:
- I thought the course was an interesting balance; a long (at least for cyclocross) sustained climb for the little Spanish climbers and the rest of the course downhill or dead flat for the big Belgians. I really liked this coure.
- In practice I decided the ditch was an endo waiting to happen for me so I ran it and re-mounted and rode part way up the hill before dismounting and running it. I also re-mounted after the first railroad ties in the mulch pit and dismounted again for the second set of railroad ties so I was dismounting/re-mounting 5 times per lap. I'm not complaining that's just what I thought would work best for me on this course.
- Note to self for next year: "Learn to bunny hop"; at least a six inch high railroad tie, as that is about all the second set amounted to coming out of the mulch pit.
- The off camber turn on top of the hill felt like you were going to fall off the face of the earth if you screwed it up; it made me feel better to un-clip my right foot on that turn even though it probably made me slower.
- Having gotten lapped the last three races I've gotten an up close view of how guys who are substantially faster than me are riding different parts of the various courses in the race. The thing that has somewhat surprised me is that they aren't really taking the technical/skills portions of the course much, if any, faster than I am. This sort of blows part of my excuse for being slower i.e. those guys are just better bike handlers or have better CX skills. Guess I'll just have to come up with a new way to rationalize my poor performance; they're probably all on drugs, yes, that's it, they're all on drugs!!!

One more race in the series for this season, I think I may double up this weekend and try doing the CX4 race after the Masters just to see what that second race feels like!