Stony Creek CX

Today was the Stony Creek cyclocross race. We were treated to much better weather for this year's race than last year's. Last year, the race was held in early December and we had cold weather and a few inches of snow. Today was sunny and the ground was just a little wet.

I felt better this weekend than I did last weekend. I felt pretty good and strong on my ride yesterday, even though I rode in the rain the whole time; it was relatively quick and I did just a few hard efforts. Today, I got there early enough to get a nice long warm-up in, and I think that it made a big difference.

I was able to go pretty hard on the first and second laps. As I came across the finish line after the second lap, I heard the announcer say, "Here comes our fourth place racer, from the Flying Rhino Cycling Club." I felt like looking around to see who they were talking about, I had no idea that I had picked up that many places. That being said, the guys in first through third were well out of sight. A couple of guys that must have started slower caught up to me during the third lap. We rode as a group until the last lap. About halfway through, one guy broke away (on a mountain bike, doh!), and we couldn't hang on. I had a plan to attack the other guy going up the last hill, but I needed to be on his wheel to do it. I couldn't stay on his wheel to get it done though, so I ended up 6th (out of 30).

Regardless, I raced well. I had a good first couple laps, recovered fairly well on the bike, and had clean mounts and dismounts.

The only question this really brings up is why I raced so much worse last weekend. I think this course suited me a little better; I think I don't do so well when I have to sustain relatively high power (like you do in the wind or the mud). More of it had to do with the warmup though. I felt much better much longer into the race this time than I did last week.