Munson Park CX - 2006

The 2006 edition of the Munson Park cyclocross race is in the books now, and so is my 2006 season. I can't say that the race went particularly well; better than last year, but still not so great. (Notice that I'm by myself in most of these pictures... that's how it was for most of the race... pretty big gaps to the front and rear.)

Looking at it in terms of my goals, I achieved about 50%:

1. Pedal downhill. OK, I actually did pedal down most of the hills, but, in hindsight, this wasn't a particularly good goal for this course. I think it's important to pedal down hills if the hill isn't too steep. There is only one hill at Munson, and it is reasonably steep; there's very little to be gained by pedaling down these hills.

2. Fast on the fast parts. I made a concious effort to do this today. In particular, there were several sections of crushed gravel, and these were the spots to put the hammer down. So, this one was OK.

3. Smooth on the mounts and dismounts. It would have been OK, except for the disasterous first lap. I decided to try to ride through the sandpit (on the practice laps, I rode it once and ran it once). I got bogged down halfway through, and my dismount was pretty ugly. I followed this up by catching my pedal on one of the course markers, slowing me down even more. Later in the lap, going into a barrier section, my left foot didn't clip out and I crashed. It wasn't a bad crash (I didn't get hurt), but it cost me some time.

Part of the other thing that I think has been going on here is that my training plan hasn't been ideal. I don't think I've had enough intensity in my Peak and Race phases. The result has been a noticeable decline in fitness. My race performances have been getting steadily worse since the Stony Creek CX race, which was at the end of a Build phase. Another lesson learned I guess.