Vets Park - Race 1

We've got a cyclocross double-header going on this weekend. Today was race 1, tomorrow is race 2. This year is the first year I've done races on back-to-back days; the UCI race weekend wasn't too bad, but we'll see how this one goes.

So, the race this morning went well for me. The course suited me well, lots of climbing. I went out hard at the start, like the last race. And, like the last race, I quickly found myself in 3rd behind a couple guys who looked intent on checking out; I had to let them go. Near the end of the lap, it became obvious to me that I was still going too hard and had to back off. Once that happened, a few people started coming by. I tried to keep the gaps small; the one exception was a guy in a plain blue jersey who I thought would surely pop and come back to me (I was wrong, he finished 3rd).

The bulk of the second and third laps saw me in a group with English Mark and 2 Team Sandbag guys (the Team Sandbag guys are usually not, as their name suggests, sandbaggers). I had some trouble staying with the group on the 2nd lap (Mark, in particular), but I did, and the third lap was a little easier. What became clear to me riding with this group was that I could take them on the hills; I didn't play this card until the last lap though.

So, on the last lap (4), the group was still basically together. Mark was ahead of me, but we had gotten by the TSB guys (if I'm remembering correctly). Mark was tiring a bit, and after the first barrier section I found myself in the front of the group. Still, the other guys were within striking distance and we had a long way to go. I decided that I'd try to use my climbing advantage and open a gap well before we got near the finish. My idea was to punch it hard up every hill and then ride at our normal pace on the flats. It took a couple of hills, and then the gap started to open. By the end, Mark was a couple corners behind me, and I could relax a little to the finish. I wound up 4th (another podium); about 30s behind 3rd.

Tomorrow, they're going to tweak the course a little bit and we'll basically ride it backward from today. The basic character should be the same though, so I'm hoping for another good day.


I came home today to check out the Olympic Marathon Trials coverage. The big story was not the race, unfortunately, but that one of the runners collapsed and died about 5 miles in. Some articles from ESPN here and here. I'll be interested to see what they find out about the cause; it's hard to fathom an elite marathoner collapsing 5 miles into a race. My guess is that they will say "previously undiagnosed heart disorder". Assuming I'm right, this is one of the reasons I've made my diet change; we're seeing increased scientific and anecdotal evidence of a link between high-carb diets and heart disease (that Shay was on a high-carb diet is my assumption #2). Anyway, that part of the race news has me bummed out this afternoon.