My cross nationals

I'm back home but I thought perhaps I should make a final post from my last cross race of the year.

Thanks to Ben Turner's generosity I got to do my warm up in the Team Clif Bar area which was great and meant we didn't have to set up the "madcross" tent area on Friday. The Clif Bar team had a great set up and it was really well protected from the wind so I had no problem staying warm while I rode the trainer.


About the racing - It isn't pretty racing after taking more than 2 weeks off and being sick but I made it happen. My goal was not to be last and I did accomplish that and beat two 35-39 women and I think maybe two 30-34 women. Even if I'd have been last the trip would have been worth it as I did have a lot of fun. Next year when I move up to the 40+ I do hope to have a better showing and maybe be a bit more competitive. (Here's hoping for no injuries or illness next season!)

Friday's race conditions were incredibly muddy but there was icey ruts hidden under the mud in the shady sections of the course just to keep you on your toes. I would say that I did well on the technical sections and rode the rutted ditch, the off camber and the chicanes fairly well. On the first lap in the off camber section I took the low line and passed a bunch of people. Unfortunately I had nothing in the long gradual uphill section that was super deep sloppy mud. I needed power and I had none to give. On the upside I never had a crash and never fell in the mud but I did hit one icey rut and flew off into the woods and couldn't stop. I must have hit a tree as one of my brake levers is not straight. I also was having trouble whenever I had to run as I felt horrible on every run (although I passed the woman in that picture on every run).

It was good to do another cross race and I had so many cheering fans I felt like a total rock star. One woman even commented on how much cheering I got. However the best part of the weekend was cheering on everyone else in our crazy Wisconsin/Illinois cross scene. There was plenty of cheering to do and we had someone in pretty much every race. It was also fun hanging out with everyone over the weekend and getting to know people better. Everyone was helping out everyone else and cheering and it really made me appreciate what a great cross scene we have in our area.

On Friday night we had the big "madcrosser" dinner and there were probably just over 50 people who showed up to Carino's Italian Grill. I think the hostesses there hate me and I may not be able to go back ever again. A group of us got there early to try and get tables and it's a good thing as the place was packed. However, in the end everyone from our group got seated somewhere and with someone. Some of the tables were close together and some weren't but at least everyone got a table in a somewhat reasonable time frame. I just kept telling the hostess . . . "about 15 more" . . . "about 10 more" . . . "about 10 more" . . . " about 6 more" . . . "about 6 more" . . . and on and on and on. I'm not sure if she realized I had gone past the original 35 I had told her I needed seated or not. The hostess was very nice about it though but I think she was glad when she was done with me especially since the place was packed with all the bikers plus the normal Friday night crowd.

On Saturday night JPE and I went to the UCI Race Promoter's meeting since we have officially applied to have two days of UCI races next fall. It was interesting to hear the perspectives of promoters from around the country. It was funny listening to some people from the coast try to lump everything from like Idaho to western PA into one region. There was also discussion of having nationals in January starting in 2009. I can see why some people want that even though from the point of view of the upper Midwest I don't see it as a positive. I can't see a lot of people jumping on board to promote races in our area past early December but maybe bikers who don't ski would feel differently. Having Nationals in January doesn't seem like a totally done deal but I think there is momentum in that direction and that is when it is done in Europe.

Sunday night we went to the post-race party at Dave and Busters where we used the cards they put in the race packets to play driving games and even tried out the dance machine game. I hope that Amy D. got some good photos as I didn't have my camera with me.

Monday morning brought the drive back to Madison. I pretty much drove or slept the whole way. (I had trouble sleeping this weekend as my tooth pain has come back with a vengeance). Last night began my ski training as I did about an hour of skiing at Elver and then hit Pasquals for half-price margarita night with some other skiers. My off season is officially over and the time has come to put in some time on the skis as the race season is nearly here.

Oh yeah . . . the only downside to this weekend is that someone took Dave's wheels. After his race on Saturday he went to get them and they were gone. He checked back, he had the announcers make announcements, and he checked with various people. I'm sure someone grabbed them by mistake but if you know of anyone who arrived home with wheels that aren't theirs let me know.