The Sunday after Thanksgiving…too much food and not enough training.  But decided to get up early to hit the race in Conyers.  I don’t really like the course.  There I said it.  I know everyone has to ride the same course, etc., but I don’t like it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like complaing and I appreciate the effort; but this one is not for me.  They have a lot of land, but the course is pretty tight and most of it is through the woods on MTB trails.  Most of it is very rooty, muddy, etc. even though it has been dry for the past few days.  There are a couple of ditch crossings that might not be too bad on a MTB, but they are rough on a cx bike.  There is one that is really like a small creek.  It is about 2.5 to 3 feet wide.  Tons of thick sticky mud on each side and then a run up after you jump across.  There is also a creek crossing on the back side of the course.  This year it was covered with hay…not real sure why. I guess it helped with the mud.  You could ride it, but you could not see the holes, drops, etc. until the hay got packed down a bit.  So, you weren’t sure what you were riding on.

For some reason, I decided to do Masters 35+ and CX4.  Masters is the first race of the morning and CX4 is right after it.  I worked on my bike on Saturday night after we got back from the carolinas.  Straightend the der. hanger as best I could and got the shifting working ok.  Got to the course and did a pre-ride.  The legs felt heavy.  The first lap of the Masters race was tight.  In the middle of the pack.  Still didn’t feel real good, but was hoping to tough it out.  On the second lap, I hit the mud wrong before the creek crossing.  I just sunk into it.  The mud went up about 2 inches on my crank arm and in my der.  I guess the mud pulled on the der. to much.  I lost all shifting at that point.  This course has long laps and I had just passed the pit, so I cut my losses and hoped to do better in the CX4.  I hate a DNF, but needed to try to fix the bike.

I finally got back to car and started working on my Der. to try to get ready for the CX4.  The Der. seemed ok, but the hanger is way off now.  I finally got it working a little by readjusting the limit screws.  Just in time for the start of the CX4.  I got to the line and was stuck on the back of the pack.  We had over fifty guys, and I was on the last row.  The start section was just wide enough for 8 guys.  Then after about 50 yards it narrowed down to about enough room for 3 or 4 guys before heading down a double track into the woods.  I was stuck behind the bottle neck at that first turn. 

It was hard going after that.  Steadily tried to work my up.  But my legs just never really came around.  I ended up in 37th place.   I really appreciate what the promoters do.  But it seems like here in Georgia that only a couple of the promoters have an understanding of trying to make the course flow.  Some of them do either 1 or both of 2 things.  They don’t make enough room to safely get through the first part of the course and spread out the riders.  AND/OR they throw things in just to “make” the course “hard” which takes out the flow.  They could learn a lesson from seeing a course like Hendersonville.  Make the course flow and let the racers make it tough; don’t throw things in that disrupt the flow just so it is called tough. The course a couple of weeks ago in Dallas didn’t really suit my style, but at least it had some flow to it.  IMHO.  Ok, off my soapbox for now.

Hopefully I can get some good recover this week and be ready for next weekend. Not sure yet where I will race.  It is the last race of the Georgia Series in Conyers and the last race of the Bama series in Cullman.  I’m not really high in either series standings at this point.  So, it won’t really matter for the overall which race I do.  But I like the course at Cullman and had a podium there before.  The course at Conyers is a lot of fun and I have had some success, but a little too much climbing for me.  So, I will probably hit the bama race. 

 I know the season is winding down for a lot of you guys, but if I can work it out with my family, job, and money-wise, I still have about 7-12 races that I can do this season.  They won’t be over until the end of Janaury, with doubles every weekend in January.  That is one more thing to love about CX in the Deep South.  Later.

DS