Utah Cyclocross Race #7 and Introducing Team Clammy Chamois

I was reminded by the blog of my new team captain Josh, that I hadn't yet mentioned that I've joined team Clammy Chamois. One may wonder why someone would join a team named "Clammy Chamois." I think it's the perfect name for a cyclocross team. 'Cross is sort of a non-conformist, rebel sport. Clearly, with a name like Clammy Chamois we're embracing the non-conformist side of the sport and it makes people, like the triathletes at SBR, grimace and say "ewww" when they hear the name. We are a non-shop or sponsor affiliated team. We just want to race, grill up some brats and shoot the breeze. Currently we're 13th of 25 teams in the Utah Cyclocross Series, thanks mostly to Clay and Pat, but Josh, Kerry, Brad and myself do a decent enough job of adding in some finisher points to make a strong finish. We've got one other team member, Riley, whom I have not yet met. So far things are great. It means we all have a group to hang out with after the race and tell stories about the various racers that either plagued us or pushed us to ride just a little bit faster. We're all over the board with results. Clay and Pat continually finish in the top 10, usually the top 5 or 6. Josh and myself are around mid pack or so. Kerry pulls up the rear, though I'm pretty sure that's because he's masochistic and rides a singlespeed. I don't think I could even finish the race on a singlespeed. The team aspect has made racing cyclocross that much funner. I even found out that Josh, like myself, is a fan of Irish and Scottish punk; Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphy's, Real McKenzies, etc.

Last year 4 of my 6 races were at Wheeler Farm, with the other 2 in Draper. Race #6, my 4th race of the year was at the Weber fairgrounds, that makes 3 of 4 races in the same place. There are aspects of Weber that make it fun. There aren't any tough hills and you can really rail through the corners with tons of traction. The downer is that it's totally non-technical and I just don't have the fitness to keep up with a lot of guys on all of the flat sections. It was a fairly un-eventful race. I learned that I could hop the single log barrier instead of dismounting. To clarify, I can hop the log the first couple of laps, the last 2 or 3 I have just enough energy to get my front wheel over and un-weigh the rear wheel enough to get it to roll over the log. Either way it saves me from that lung searing run between the logs.

I was doing ok, keeping within a couple spots of Josh for most of the race when I dropped my chain shifting to the big ring on a section of sidewalk. I lost about 4 spots and never could get back up to where I was. I think I managed to make up 2 of those spots but just didn't have enough left in the tank to pull out much in the end. No one was around me at the finish so no spectacular sprint this week, though I did feel pretty close to puking after I came to a stop.

Next race, after a week off is at the Heber Fairgrounds, my first time racing there. We'll see how it goes.

Mud and guts on 3