CX Gods...

...so what have I done? Seems I have angered the cyclocross gods this year! DNF in the forst race of the season, hurling in the woods...a great race at McClaren on my SS, then a dismal evening uder the lights for my first race on the Redline (I could blame the gears, but i won't). I followed that race with a good race the following morning in Folsom. After that came Golden Gate Park where I totally missed my start, but that wasn't my fault...oh wait it was.

No worries, put some new treads on both bikes in preparation for Nationals in Bend where it was last forecast to be 34 for a high with snow all week, and took them out to the RodeoCross in Folsom on Wednesday night. Now I have to admit, I had never run this tire setup tubeless (Specialized Captain CX Pro) and I wanted to see how hard I could ride it w/o rolling it off the rim.

Race comes, great start, and after 2 laps I was sitting in 5th and we had a good size gap. Lap 3 the gap is actually getting bigger. I was riding my SS with a 39x18 and I was happy to be hanging with the lead A racers. Lap four, coming into the stadium I run over a barrier, remount, make a hard left to ride up and over a steep pitch and "BUUURRRRPPPP!!!"

"F&^%#" I slipped....and Cameron was right there watching, literally a couple feet away!

"What the heck was that DAD!?" Cameron yells out as I am dropping an F-bomb in front of him....lucky me he was louder than me and he was wondering about the Stan's love sauce that now covered my right leg!

So again, the CX gods strike...well if you haven't figured it out, I have been racing this CX season by the seat of my pants and really not paying attention to details...like when my start time is, helmet, tire pressure, etc. The frustrating thing is I was moving Wednesday night and actually felt good....relatively speaking for a CX race of course.

Just trying to keep up with Marja's performance Wednesday night. Marja put on a clinic, being forced to stage up behind a large field of Men's C's and Junior Men, she was in second starting lap #2 and took the lead starting lap #3 and never looked back. She won by a few minutes (keep in mind each lap took about 3:50) over the men.

Oh well, what can I do....pay more attention, I know, I know!! But I am looking forward to Nationals up in Bend. I am r acing the SS race on Friday, Scott the masters 45s, and then me the Masters 35 race on Saturday. My start position on the grid is around 100 for the SS race and 150 for the masters, so I have no pipe dreams of a Cinderella story, but I am excited as all heck! Cold, muddy, snowy conditions! Marja is racing for the collegiate National title on Sunday.

Most people wonder why we would drive over 8 hours through crummy weather to race for just 60 minutes...my guess..... they have never raced Cross...