Cyclocross Is Not For The Faint of Heart

Another great race, this time at the Xilinx campus out near Longmont. This course is a blast, with off-camber turns twisting through trees, the requisite steep run-up, and some really big log barriers. This company, whatever they are, is really great to hold races on their property. They even open one of their buildings for us, so we can use real restrooms instead of port-a-johns. And the registrars, who usually freeze their asses off under a tent in a parking lot, got to sit in front of a fireplace in their shirt sleeves. I've gotta say, it makes them a lot friendlier. So, on to the race...

Look out folks, we've got another shooter in our midst -- Zack took some awesome photos of my teammate Cindy and me:









Luckily, what you don't see in these photos is the fact that I dropped my chain on the first lap, trying to remount in a really choppy spot. I managed to chase back up a few more places as the race went on, but as usual, I didn't get a thorough warmup and wasn't feeling that hot. But I was really enjoying the technical aspects of the race, and that always keeps me smiling. I was duking it out with two women who were obviously road racers... they would speed up and pass me on the paved sections, and then slow to a crawl when the dirt sections arrived. I'd pass them back, and put some time into them, but as soon as I had to face the wind on the pavement, I couldn't stay ahead of them. The smaller you are, the more the wind pushes you, and both of these girls were bigger than me. It was motivating, having to pass them twice every lap. So finally, on the last lap, I passed them (both in turns, which is pretty cool, I thought) and managed to hold them off. It was really great to actually have some action within the race; usually I get isolated somewhere in the top ten and feel like I'm racing by myself.
The other motivator was Dave Towle, the announcer. He's very good at what he does, and in fact, he announces at many of the biggest races in the U.S. It's a pleasure to have him at a local race, because he keeps the energy up and makes everyone laugh with his funny comments. Zack got a picture of him:



He tends to announce my name a lot when I'm racing, because he knows me and I'm someone he can actually recognize and say something about. I mean, he's gotta fill a lot of air time during the 45 minutes of our race, and once the pro women go by, he's probably hard up for anything to say. One lap when I went by, I heard him say that I was "breaking legs all over the course" and Zack heard him call me the "wattage cottage," which cracks me up. He always tells everyone I'm a photographer for the Camera... I'm never sure if that makes people think less or more of me, ha ha.

Anyhow, I managed to pull off an 8th place in the combined Category 4/35+ group, which translated into 3rd place in the 35+ only. Yay, a podium finish! Hey, do I win anything?? I'm not sure. Doubtful. Just bragging rights among the other old chicks. ;-)

Then on Saturday night, Zack "The Pyro" Price and I enjoyed a fire in my fireplace, the first time I've had a fire in my house that wasn't accidentally set by a roommate. Unfortunately, I had only brought in some wood that morning, so it really wasn't dry enough to burn well. But hey, it was still pretty fun to light all those Daily Cameras on fire.
Here's what Zack thinks of my desire to document my first-ever (intentional) house fire:



I am extremely privileged to report that I now have a Christmas tree, courtesy of Zack as well. Not only that, it was decorated by him, too, with the only thing he could find around my house: cycling gloves.
Behold... and be awed by.... The Glove Tree:



Ahhhh... life is good. Even if I got sick within hours of that 'cross race... sore throat, congestion, etc., all over again. It's just hard on the body, I tell you. Joe is sick too, so I don't feel so bad. It happens to us all.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!