Clinic'n and Cross'n

This past weekend was shock full of activity. Saturday was the cross clinic put on by NCVC, my former bike club. I was surprised to arrive and find Dee Dee, aka the Thrill from Charlottesville, 8 months pregnant. I had been wondering why she was absent from the race scene as she tore it up last year and capped her season with a trip to Worlds in Belgium. The other ladies' instructor was Cara, no slouch cross racer herself. The 6 women that attended the clinic couldn't have asked for more...6 hours of personal instruction from 2 of the best women out there. We worked mostly on drills and finished the day with some hot laps on the course. While we were practicing starts, I had a spectacular crash while fighting with Spaznogle for the hole shot, the result of which was a broken front deraileur. I managed to get to the shop in time for it to be fixed before Sunday's race, but ironically, it didn't matter much.

Sunday morning had a chill in the air and the normal butterflies in my stomach. I arrived at the race venue and parked next to Diane and Marc and was immediately surrounded by their cult-like group, which I took as good luck. After warming-up a bit on the course I arrived at the start line early to ensure a good starting position, but it was not to be. I once again wound up on the second row, and once again behind Diane. Diane is a great starter, but I cannot say the same for the others lined up on the front. The gun goes off and almost instantly there is pushing and shoving and a near crash right in front of me. I back off the gas content to let the others fight it out and wind up near the back of the pack going into the prologue lap, but no worries. I know this course and proceed to pass lots of women by taking the perfect lines thru the turns in the pond section. On the gravel road section I pushed harder and slotted into 4th place. Cynthia and Kristina were right in front of me and I bided my time and kept up the tempo. Approaching 2 laps to go I caught and passed Cynthia and told her to get on my wheel. Kristina was 10 seconds ahead, but try as I might, I could not catch her. I got the gap down to 9 seconds, but it was not to be. I ended the day 3rd and happy about it. I beat Kristina by 10 seconds at Charm City, and now it was her time to return the favor, beating me by the same 10 seconds this week.

Oh, and here's the ironic thing about rushing to get my bike fixed on Saturday, breaking all kinds of traffic laws to get to the shop before it closed. I used my big chain ring only once during the entire race... during the start. As soon as I hit the grass, I shifted down to the small ring and that's where I stayed. Maybe I should consider a single ring set-up???

Podium shot thanks to Jim Wilson.


These are fuzzy. I stole them from Dennis. They are not fuzzy on his web site.



Another picture here.