Why I continue to pay for self sufferage at cyclocross races is still something I ponder on a daily basis (and more so during these events). It just seems contrary to normal thinking to pay someone money so that you can self-induce extreme burning muscle pain that makes you want to puke and send one's self into an ego depleting humbleness when you get your butt stomped by those that actually train for this insane sport of cyclocross. And I still am praying for a sloppy rainy, muddy course to make all this even more fun!? I've lost my sanity it seems.
I bumped my pain up a notch this last weekend (and my ego down a notch or two) when I raced a Spokane cyclocross race on my single-speed (SS) converted Gunnar cross bike.
After pre-riding the course I realized I was at a gun fight armed with a water pistol...not good to say the least. The opening run-out was at least 1/2-mile of fast pave (which is so anti-cyclocross). The long pave start translated into a need for SS crank RPMs that are not physically achievable by me to keep up with 28-30 mph speeds. I was spinning like mad at the start and doing 25+ mph while I was watching everyone pass me and steadily fade away. Then once onto the dirt there was another long straight stretch that was again a high speed runout. The end result was that I had no chance to keep up from the start.
By the time I got to the more traditional cyclocross stuff (twisty with barriers) were the SS shines, I was so far behind that all I could do was to overtake anyone in front of me with continuous all-out-I-don't-train-for-this-kind-of-stuff-effort. I was happy that I was not lapped (not even close) and that I finished within the middle third of the group.
Also I was happy that I was not the only SSer out there that got their butt kicked by this road-toad course. I only hope that the course designers come up with something a little more creative and cyclocross-like for the next few races that are up in that area.
On the better side of this story, this was another fun event and I do believe I am addicted to cyclocross racing...so much so that late next summer I may actually change up my endurance training for some short power training needed for cyclocross. It's too bad they don't have a super-cross event that went on for 3-6 hours so that I could shine at what I do best...the long haul.
After my event Donna (my mate-for-life) and I cheered on some familiar faces (as well as nearly everyone else). Louie Fontain got plenty of support from us as the only SSer in the elite mens group. He worked hard and had the same problems/limitations as I did on this course, but his effort made everyone else's look minor in comparison.
Then there was Ted from Pullman who made the hill run-up look easier than anyone else...he ran up that thing so smoothly that, in appearance, he made it seem effortless (which he and all of us know that it was not so easy). He started fast, but somehow ended up nearly last after the first few laps. However Ted showed us all how it was done by steadily picking up places and putting in a hard effort until the end.
One should never discount the biting love that chip-seal can provide...on one hand it provides nearly endless traction for our tires to keep us upright and provide quick stops. On the other hand it wears our tires faster, provides greater resistance against our tires making us work harder to pedal (which could be good if you like sufferage), and it lovingly bites back when you impact it while doing an unplanned (or planned gone-awry) dismount from from your bike.
You may or may not know that smooth pavement is so much nicer to land on and skid many feet across since it tends only to scrape or rub the skin off over large surface areas of the body. Chip-seal just rips your hide off leaving deep lacerations everywhere which causes incredible amounts of bleeding and some interesting pain issues. I just so happened to take a recent low-speed chip-seal impact while doing a planned dismount from my cross bike where my cleat mildly stuck in the pedal causing an awkward skin on non-moving jagged rock (aka chip-seal) sudden-stop-to-forward-motion followed by copious amounts of blood and some pain.
Unfortunately I don't have the bloody gross pics right after it happened so you are spared the yuk (which I thought was rather interesting). I've since been patched up by Dr. Jane (a super awesome wound care doc) and healed up for the most part. My elbow obviously took the greatest impact and is still being protected every time I ride with an oversized guard.
The major damage consisted of 4-deepish lacerations and one 1.5 cm deep puncture into my bursa area (not good), but after a few weeks everything is looking quite good.
My rides exploring at higher elevations continue as I try to escape the 100+ temps here in the valley. The temps are bad enough that I have actually driven (gasp!!! yes, I know it's so not me to drive the 20 miles up the inferno like canyons here) to the lower reaches of my favorite riding areas. I've been exploring a few of the many trails I have long ago (last year or more) marked on my GPS as "need to follow"...trails that don't exist on any map except the one in my brain and a few on my GPS.
I've had some some crazy thoughts that I can map some of these trails out and interconnect them for a long single-track ride...hmm imagine a long ride on real trails around here...a paradox to say the least. I may share my mapped out trail network with other people (if I get it done)...maybe I won't take the time to map them at all...maybe these trails will never be known to others...here is a small peak at one of the trails...oohhh yeah, the WOW factor is huge here!
