Mud and Guts

I didn't race in this week's UTCX race in Heber, I figured my brother's wedding was more important. The other day we received quite a bit of rain and I was thinking about mud and 'cross and those images of cranking up muddy hills and through messy corners came to mind. I realized that in a perfect world of Cyclocross it all comes down to mud and guts. Mud we hope for and guts we work for. I watch the weather report each week to see if the rain gods will bless the Utah Cylocross race with mud that week, so far nothing, but I'm still watching and hoping. Mud just seems to suit the essence of 'cross so well. It's a tough 45-60 minute endurance fest where some of the race you're racing and some of it, at least if you're me, you're trying to make it to the end. Mud just ups the ante. It makes everything that much more difficult, cornering takes more skill, up hills can go from an easy ride to a difficult run. Downhills can go from being a way to get more to speed to just trying to stay upright without going down and taking other riders with you. When you get done your back, face and legs are all covered in mud. Inevitably I have mud spattered teeth, that I only realize when I run my tongue over my gritty teeth to re-moisten my mouth after sucking air for 45 min.

Guts. You have two kinds of guts, one I have the other I do not. I have guts when it comes to taking technical terrain at a high velocity. Either I'm not that scared of crashing or I feel my skills are up to snuff enough that I won't crash. In the heat of the moment I'm not sure which it is, but it doesn't matter. The kind of guts I wish I had are the guts of a champion. The determination to go out and push so hard you're going to puke at any moment because you just have to win. I like to win, I really enjoy winning but when I'm honest with myself, I don't have to win. I mostly enjoy sports because I get to get out and have some fun and competition. This lack of guts plays out mostly in training. In a race I'll give everything I have, that's why I'm there. I'll fight for every last spot I can. Training is a different story. Most of the time if I'm able to convince myself to at least get on the trainer for some intervals I'll get it done. Sometimes that desire is so low that I'll get on the bike, do a half effort, realize it's not in me and I'm done. My wife has the guts of a champion. She will get in a push on every training workout, and she does a lot of workouts. She's like Lance Armstrong if he was a mother of 3 kids and not sponsored by Nike and Trek. I'm working on my guts and I'm hoping for some mud so lets get out there and ride some 'cross. Alright team, Mud and Guts on 3...

Utah Cyclocross Race #2 Done

The heater in my car is on the fritz and with a 1:15 drive ahead of me and a 45f temperature I was less than thrilled. I watched as the temp readout on my dash slowly dropped until it bottomed at 38f...great. I may have been cold but at least I knew the way to the super secret Weber County Fairgrounds race venue this time. I managed to remember my trainer this time too so things were looking ok. I got out, signed my waiver then hopped back in the car to get a little warmer, it was pretty cold and I was signed up for a bike race, sometimes I really question my sanity and this was one of those times.

It was at this point that I realized that I really needed to use the bathroom. I had done a good job of getting hydrated on the drive to Ogden but now I had a VERY full bladder. I hopped on my bike to ride the quarter mile to the nearest bathroom, or at least the only bathroom I knew about. They probably have another bathroom, it's just kept a secret until you happen to stumble upon it. After the short ride to the bathroom my hands and legs were freezing. I was still wearing warm-up pants and my thick gloves, things were not looking good. I got back to my car hopped in to get warm again, decided I just didn't have it in me to get out in the cold on the trainer and opted instead to do some warm-up laps on the course. I started riding and eventually realized that the course was being run in reverse to the week before. No problem, except I still got turned around. Hey UTCX guys, please invest in some more course tape. I manage to get the turns right when I'm with the pack in the beginning of the race when my head is still in the game. By the 4th lap though, my head is as foggy as San Francisco bay, you need to make the course a little more clear. Over the final two laps I managed to lose 5 places from making incorrect turns and doubling back the right way.

I finished my warm up laps and got to the start line. While waiting to start I realized that my front tire had lost a lot of air and was now at around 25 psi. Luckily there are no rocks or roots on this course so there wasn't much chance of getting a pinch flat. The course was even faster than last week with no rain this week and everything being compacted from last weeks races. The extra low air pressure in my front tire really helped hold me in the fast corners, which saved some energy that I didn't have to scrub off with the brakes. People must have realized that it was faster to run between the log barriers because instead of being the only one running this time, about half of the racers carried or pushed their bikes instead of remounting between the barriers. Cold temps and poor course marking aside I'm actually pretty pleased with the race I rode. Normally I'm racing myself the last two laps. Everyone is so strung out around the course that the back half of the pack us just trying to finish the race. This time I managed to chase down four or five people in the last couple laps. I also managed my best finish yet, 25th of 45 finishers. Not much to speak of but I felt pretty good about it and had I managed to ride the course correctly I would have been closer to 20th.

Utah Cyclocross Race #1

Race number one is done. The first race of the year is always interesting. First and foremost you get a quick lesson in "You didn't do enough training." I race the C class, the (s)lowest of the classes so we get a lot of new riders coming from other disciplines, Roadies and Mountain Bikers. All are welcome. Inevitably there are some riders that should really be racing the B or A classes.

I have to say thanks to the Utah Cyclocross organizers for the super secret race venue. They listed the address but failed to mention that you had to take secret roads and drive on the horse race track to get to the venue. As such I had all of 15 minutes to warm up. I was feeling pretty good and loose so I lined up at the front, I usually line up near the rear so as to not get in anyone's way. I looked at the guy next to me, in a pro looking kit. He was riding a Time full carbon, with integrated seat mast bike, complete with carbon wheels and tubular tires. I was this close to telling him that was an awfully nice bike to be racing C's, but I wasn't sure how he'd take the sandbagger insinuation.

After a few minutes of waiting around the got the high sign to go, I got a pretty good start and was in 4th, though quickly slipped to 8th. We climbed the slight hill and dropped around the corner where we started the only real hill, which wasn't much of a hill. About half way through the first lap riders came piling past me like I was standing still. I figured I was at about mid-pack by now, par for the course for me. I also realized at that point that I had probably started off a bit too hot because I was breathing really heavily. I was able to make up time on a couple of riders by running between the set of logs that were placed as barriers about 40 yards apart. It was just long enough apart that most riders opted to remount and ride the distance. I found I was faster running it. After the third lap I really wished I had worked on my running at least a little bit this year. Once I remounted my bike and started riding my heart hurt so bad I actually wondered for a moment if I was having a heart attack. It felt as if a breakfast sausage link was jammed right into an aorta. It was at about this point that the first old guy (55+ masters) passed me. They race along with us, but we're not scored with them. I didn't feel too bad, I've seen this guy race and he's pretty fast.

At about 4 laps of 5 I'm really starting to hurt. My back is aching pretty badly and I no longer have to brake for corners because I've barely got any speed. The momentum I did have I certainly didn't want to scrub off with the brakes. My corners started getting really wide and sloppy. Then, a 2nd old guy passed me. I made a brief attempt at catching up with him but he had apparently conserved some energy and I didn't have a chance. As I came through with one lap to go I heard the announcer say that the only girl in the race was right behind me my first though was why is there is a girl in the men's race? My second thought was, I have to at least beat the girl. I don't normally care if I get beat by the fairer sex. I'm pretty sure my wife could take me most of the time.

I got to that hill that didn't seem like much the first couple of laps, at this point it was monumental and nearly killed me. On the ride down the other side I started to feel a little better, a little pep was creeping into my system. I put some time on the girl, and was making up a little on the old guy. I knew I was out of my mind when I watched the old guy go down in a corner full of soft dirt and instead of wondering if he was alright I decided to get past him and at put some distance between us. On a side note, I could tell he was ok, the dirt was soft and it was a slow corner. I blazed through the rest of the lap, blazed may not be accurate but it was faster than I had been going. I ran between the logs, felt my heart nearly explode for the last time and made it through the finish line. I didn't get lapped and I actually beat a few people, though I'm sure those people were probably missing limbs.

I do want to mention that although I gave them some slag at the beginning of this post, the organizers of the Utah Cyclocross Series really do a great job. The venues are always well chosen and we don't have to do entire races on just a big field of grass like they have back east. Registration is run well and people seem to have a great time. Good job guys!