I did the double this weekend.  Or at least tried.  On Saturday, I traveled over to Anniston, AL for the Bama Cross #5 under the lights.  It was held at a local softball/baseball park.  It was a good course for me.  It was mostly flat and dry around and between the fields.  Some might say that’s not cross, but it works for me.  It did have a run up, one muddy section, and one sand pit.  Of course my race started just as the sun was going down; so there was dew on the grass which made it slippery.  The mud section was pretty cool as it went down and through 1 side of a ditch and out the other.  Then you did a 180 and went back through the ditch.  Mud on both sides and a little water in the bottom of the ditch.  The sand pit was my fav, but it sure kills your drivetrain.  I managed to make ground on people as I was able to ride the sandpit all 5 laps. 

 The race started on a pavement section and I hit it hard.  I managed to get the hole shot and was in the lead by myself for the first half a lap.  I wanted to get out front so I could hit the sandpit with “clean air” and avoid any carnage.  That worked, but I went too hard and guys started passing me by the end of the first lap.  I held on as best I could, grabbed a wheel when possible, and fought to stay in the top ten.  We had about 50 guys so I figuered top 10 was pretty good.  The course went through the middle of the park and hit the sand pit, and then a chicane before the finish.  This whole section was packed with people; beer and dollar bill handups. There was a rumor of a hundred dollar bill in there.  So, I was looking.  I managed to grab 2 handups, but they were both singles. 2 bucks…does that make me a pro now???  Made it fun though.  I managed to crash, again.  Got bruised up and mud in my handlebars and other places….don’t ask.  But I was still able to hang in near the leaders.  On the last lap I passed 2 guys by riding the sandpit while 1 crashed and 1 ran.  I ended up in either 8th or 9th.  Final results still not clear because there was a snafu with some lapped riders that they are still trying to work out.  Still it felt pretty good as it was my best finish of the season.  I really felt like a top 5 was going to happen.  Maybe next time.  We’ve probably got about 10 more races here in the deep south.  I really could do more, but would have to travel more than several hours one way to hit all of them.  Hard to go that far with family.

I got home around 9:00 pm and begin trying to clean out the mud and readjust my handlebars and seat and der from the crash.  Got up Sunday and heading to the Ga CX#6.  We have had a lot of rain and bad flooding here this season and we had more on Tuesday and Wednesday.  That lead to some interesting aspects for Sunday’s race.    The course weaves around a couple of small creeks/ditchs and down beside 1 larger creek.  As of the Wednesday before the race, about 50% of the course was under water; some by as much as a foot.  By Sunday most of the water had receeded, but it left mud and sand behind.  Yes, sand.  A lot of it.  It was in excess of 12 inches deep in some places.  Even the paved portions on the lower end of the course had a few inches on sand over it. Of course, here in the deep south, mid 70′s in November can happen too.  Like it did today.  Way too warm for CX, but that’s the way it goes.  I guess that is the trade off for it drying out the water and just leaving the Georgia sand behind

The course was already tough for me as it had three hills to climb each lap.  Momma didn’t make no climber.  It also had a muddy runup, with barriers.  It had a muddy, railroad tie run up.  It also had 2 muddy downhill drop offs.  At the bottom of the the first drop you had a hard right turn to avoid tress and at the bottom of the second dropoff you had to avoid some trees, dismount and jump a small creek/ditch with running water.  There was also another ditch crossing with standing water and 1 off camber 180 turn finished by  another 90 degree turn through a muddy drop after the first road climb.   So, add the sand and it made for a long day for me.  I was running late thanks to working on my bike the night before and helping with a sick child.  So, I really didn’t get a good warmup and was late to the line.  So, I started from about the 5th row.  We had about 50 guys again.  I did the best I could from the start and tried to work my way up.  I was still a little sore from Saturday, but was moving up a little.  Then came the sand.  On 1 straight sandpit on Saturday, I did great; but this sand was rough, deep and involved numerous turns.  At one point on the second lap I missed the groove through the sand as the course went around some trees.  I figured out why I wore my superman hat today as I went flying over the bars.  Ended up face first in the sand and sand in every nook and cranny of me and my bike.  Sand in the shifters, gears, etc.  It made the rest of the race a “grinding” experience.     

Luckly, I only lost a few spots and was able to keep going.  Still, I ended up 27th.  Just the way it goes some days I guess.  For some crazy reason, I ended up doing the SS race right after CX4.  I was cooked, but in my mind, a few more laps seemed like the best thing to do to help my sore legs.  The hills were tough on the SS: spin out going down and stand up and grind going up.  But I handled the sand much better the second race….until I broke my derailler.  I don’t have a dedicated SS, so I lock out my der and go with it.  I had to work my way back to the pit to grab my other bike, but decided to finish anyway.  Actually, I was able to pass a couple of guys on the last 2 laps and moved up to 18th.  Our SS class only has about 25 or 30 guys most races. I think we had about 25 this race.  The single speed is tough on my knees, so I think I will just do Masters and CX4 next time.  I can’t keep up with the top guys in Masters, but I can’t keep with the top guys in SS anyway.

We have GA CX#7 next weekend, but I have some family stuff in the Carolinas for Thanksgiving.  So, I’m trying to swing it where I can hit at least 1 day of the UCI race in Hendersonville, NC on the way.  My wife will go with me so hopefully I can get her to take some pictures to put on here. I’ll yet ya’ll know how it goes. Later.

David