Cyclocross season is in full swing. P-town kicked it off early and right now Wednesday nights are spent in Provo and Saturdays are spent with UTCX. That usually means driving to freaking Ogden. My results weren't much better than they had been. Mid pack.
The first race we lined up at Draper and by the end, I was eleventh. Which was good, but when you looked at the finishing order 11 of 27 was still...slightly ahead of mid pack. But still better than I have ever been in my life.
Down at P-town I had a passable excuse, or two. Ridiculous starts and big packs on a tiny course. By ridiculous starts I mean we usually start 30 feet from a turn into wooded singletrack. Last week, for example we started 10 feet before a barrier. Then thirty feet to the wooded singletrack. Ridiculous. Another tough thing is the black and red line across the front. While most of us are shooting the shit and whining about the dumb starts a certain team(dressed in red and black) is staking out prime real estate at the front. 5-6 dudes wide which is usually the width of the lane.
Then two weeks ago something changed. The start time got bumped up to 5:30 which I believe made it hard for "the team from up north" to get there on time. Coincidentally that night they had a normal start. Full width lane for a good 300 yards. I pushed my way up to the front. Much easier without our friends from Davis County.
At the start I got away with the front few guys. First lap had me in 2nd place. It was cool. Successive laps had me still towards the front. Despite a stupid mistake that had me on the ground and trying to straighten my bars and get my chain back on. Even with the troubles, I came in sixth. A pretty good finish.
At UTCX I had two 11th place finishes.
The cool thing that happens with finishing in the front half is that you get more points on the series. More points on the series means that 11th place two weeks in a row puts you in the top ten on the series. Which means...call-ups.
In six years racing cross I have never had a call-up. And then this Saturday it happened. There I was, number 6. Call up means that you get pulled from the crowd and allowed to start front row. As long as you don't screw it up, it means you don't have to fight your way through the pack. It turns out this is a huge advantage. On a flat, fast course with nothing to break it up besides on difficult barrier section, it was full tilt boogie for eight laps. I couldn't hold on to the leaders but I did come in 6th. Basically where I started. My best finish ever in a UTCX race. I am still only in the B's but I am pretty pleased with myself. Don't think I got slaughtered by the leaders, but there was some podium shame going on from the announcers booth and it looks like at least one big-dog in the category may be upgrading next week.
What will that mean for our hero? We will find out next week.
Weight wise I am holding steady. Pretty incredible since I have basically stopped training. Have you noticed it's dark in the morning? Also, cold. Had a pretty tough time dragging my ass out of bed lately. When I do I find I have lost the ability to tolerate the cold. I have been known to race cross in 16 degree temps and snow with bare legs. Not so much anymore. Temps in the 40's have me wearing many layers and shivering by the time I get home. I can do the dark, and I can do the cold. But the dark AND the cold has sucked the life out of me. If I am going to have a hope at the podium this year I have to figure something out. I hope it's not spin class.
Diet wise, I am not doing too bad. Weekends are terrible. Then I do pretty good most of the work week and maybe hit the Wing Shak once a week. Cause I'm naughty.
