More Cowbell, Please!

Number 2 and Number 3: Barb and I at KC Cup Cross

As you know, I have been super duper excited about the new cross season - just like everyone else. Well, everyone around these parts anyway. This weekend was, what we here in KC consider, the season opening race - KC Cup. One weekend of dirt racing! (There is a mountain bike race on Sunday... but I don't have a MTB and I've never ridden trails so yeah, did not race Sunday.)

So ... enter Friday and I'm super excited to race on Saturday. It's all I can think about. In an effort to save some cash, and with my reasoning that this is a new sport and I shouldn't spend too much money until I know what it is all about, I have been borrowing equipment. This include MTB shoes. I've been borrowing RDJr.'s shoes and doubling up on socks to compensate for the fact that they are one to one and half sizes too big. After Wednesday's practice in torrential rain, sliding around in the muck and, sliding around IN the shoes, I decided I had to have my own that fit me. How much could they cost? Really?

I drove ALL THE WAY out to BikeSource over my lunch hour and bought the last pair of size 43 women's mtb shoes. They fit like a glove ... or a sock. AND they were on SALE!!!

Yay! My very own shoes! Super excited, I left work a little early in order to meet RDJr. and ride the course. Now that RDJr. had his shoes back, he was able to ride with me and HAD A BLAST!! I think that his exact words were, "I wish I had discovered this before triathlon!" Typical RDJr. - he had a smile from ear to ear the entire time we were at the course and even asked to go "one more lap".

The course... I have only done two other CX races up to this point and both have been in city parks with nothing but grass, mud and sand. KC Cup is unusual (I later learned) in that, almost half the course was on single track in the woods. Since I didn't know this, I didn't have any reason to be anxious about it. I just went with it and IT WAS AWESOME!!! There were two logs on the trail and on the first couple of practice loops I dismounted them, but later RDJr. convinced me to try jumping them - or at least rolling over them with speed. I was scared, but we practiced and I did it!! GO ME!

Saturday morning the Aubs and I headed out - with our bikes on her new Thule roof rack with NO incidents, thank you very much. Both of us were racing at noon - she in the Women's Open, and me in Women Cat 4. Rode two loops of the course, said hello to everyone, blah, blah, registered, etc. Aubree commented a couple of times on how many women there were racing, and many of these women all commented on how they were nervous about all the single track. Huh. I guess ignorance is bliss OR riding the course the night before really helped boost my confidence because I felt ready.

In a previous post I mentioned how I had learned that in cross, it's all about the tires. I was wrong. It's all about the TIRE PRESSURE! Seriously. That's all everyone was talking about pre-race, "what pressure you runnin'?" FYI, everyone was running 30-35 on Saturday.

So la la la, and it's time for line-up. The start was on blacktop up this long, steep hill and there were about 6-8 women in the Cat 4 race. I'm not very good at sprinting up a hill but I did my best and later passed two people in the first grassy turn. Then, passed another girl when she hit the first muddy section and had trouble steering the bike. I kept passing girls the whole time!

In the woods (photo by Dennis Grelk)

It was really hot out. Like mid-80s or higher. There was a lot of shade, but no breeze and I was sweating like a sow. Our race was only 30 minutes and at the bell lap, I thought, "if I had to, I could probably do another lap" because I was tired but not dead. I think that's where you want to be in a cross race - tired but not dead, because when you are dead tired, you get lazy and your handleing skills get sloppy and then you crash and then you get passed.

Yada, yada, yada ... I took 3rd! Yay me! I have to say, that pre-riding the course the night before gave me a big boost of confidence going into the race and is something I plan to do for future races (when possible). The couple of laps that I get in as a warm-up just before the race start is not enough - for me. There are too many distractions and it makes it hard to focus on the course and get to know it. Because I pre-rode, I knew what corners were tricky, which straight-aways I should shift into a harder gear, and how to jump a log to save time!!!

Another big confidence booster was having RDJr. at the race to cheer me on. Just knowing that he was there made a world of difference. And of course, all the support from the BLVD men and women was awesome as well.

Speaking of RDJr., he raced too and had so much fun - his FIRST cross race! He did GREAT and I think he plans do more in October.

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxing. We stayed in and watched a movie Saturday night, and ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Sunday. Later I met up with Martini - totally random - for a Chief's football viewing party, a stop at Fresher than Fresh Snow Cones for the last snow cone of the summer, grocery store, and finally, ending with turkey burgers and the season premiere of Boardwalk Empire with RDJr.

Fall = Chiefs Football

Cranberry Clove Snow Cone!

Next weekend is a mini-vacay at the lake with RDjr.'s family but the weekend after, first weekend of October is another BIG bike weekend!! Tour de BBQ and Boss Cross 2! Can't wait!!

Editor's Note: I have decided NOT to do the KC Half Marathon, as mentioned in a previous post. Doing a race that long, "just because" is not productive and probably not something I should be doing during my break. Besides, BLVD Cup and Captiol Cup are that weekend! MORE COWBELL!!!