It's cold. It's snowing. It must be cross!

2 races this weekend. It had snowed thurs night and there was still snow on the ground. I headed to Lancaster for the Wonderland cross race, which was, thankfully, only about a 40 min drive for me, which was nice. I raced this last yr as the PA state championships.
Got there to see Dan K, Mike G, and Gary S go off in the C race. HUP took 2 or3rd, 4th, and 7th. Great showing for our 2 newest members, Dan and Gary (Dan 2nd or 3rd, Gary 7th).
My race was a combined Masters 35+, 45+, and 55+. There were about 16 in my group, so this was by far my smallest race this yr.
It was almost the same course as last yr; lots of off-camber turns and straights, 3! sets of double barriers, and 2 sets of smaller single barriers, 1 up a steep run up. That last one killed me last yr. I got a good start and the legs really felt good. I sucked for the 1st 2 laps in the 180 turns; finally got good lines the last 3 laps. I caught some guys from the 35+ race (started 1 min b/f us) and swapped places with 2 guys from Evolution and 2 other guys. We stayed together for a couple of laps, then the one Evolution rider and another guy pulled away from me as we dropped the other 2. I just couldn't stay with those 2 guys.
Wound up 8th which is my best result so far. I'm happy with it esp considering there were cat 2's and 3's in there.
Sunday was my typical 1 3/4 hr drive to Leesburg. Never did this race before. It LOOKED like it was fast. Man, was I wrong. Pumped up too mush air in my tubies (I had dialed them in perfectly on Sat). Fortunately had time to pre-ride the course. Lots of steep drops and climbs, off-camber turns, and some long climbs with a few sections of hammer time pavement and dirt/gravel.
I got a decent star, lining up near to Dave T from RBR. I made some passes on various short climbs and even on the long climb. I also lost ground to the faster, skinnier guys on that climb. Dave and I wound up trading places for the last 3 laps or so. My legs felt pretty tired from Sat but started to settle in after about 2 laps.
I caught Dave again on the barriers and went flying by him, hoping this would be it. I ran barriers pretty well both days. Unfortunately, Dave is much lighter than me and he passed me up that long climb. I never was able to catch back up.
37th out of 50 finishers. Not my best but still OK with me as the course was really tough and didn't really play to my strengths, which are fast sections.
Fortunately, they had some really good grub and Vitamin H2O there, so that helped a bit.
All in all, a good weekend of cross. Esp now that it's cold and we gots snow!
Fotos courtesy of Dan K.

I just shaved at least 5 min off my race day prep time...

After working at my beloved place of work for over 20 friggin yrs I got to choose a gift. Most were actually quite nice. One that caught my eye; a Krups programmable 12 cup coffee maker. I had a programmable before but like an idjuct I broke the carafe and since it was a POS, I opted just to go out and buy a new one. Never got around to it. So, thanks to 20+ yrs of servitude I gets a new coffee maker (yes, kids, some of us stay at a job THAT LONG). Oh. And don't be giving me any shit about how I should be brewing my joe in a french press. They are a PITA and there's not many things better in this life than waking up to a hot pot of freshly brewed coffee.....

I just noticed...

That in every picture in every cross race I've ever done I look like I'm dying. Check it out. (Thx to fatguyracer-from Rockburn) Maybe it's because I am??

Sometimes you're the windshield...

Sometimes you're the bug. Arrgghh. I got a good start to the day, got going at a good time, nice ride to the Rockburn race. Made the same wrong turn as I did last yr but it was no biggie; had to use "the facilities" anyway.
Get there, EARLY enough to see the C race go off and was able to give Mike G a shout out. Turns out he finished 13th-he's getting much better. Get warmed up and head down to the start. They changed a lot on this course from last yr. The prologue went rt instead of left and up a short climb. Since I pre-reged kind of late I had a sucky start position. As the whistle blew, I went out. Passed quite a few on the climb and was holding my own thru thew twisties. Saw Thor bite it and get back on. Followed him for a while. The sand pit, tho rideable this yr, was best off run; I would make gains in it and at the barriers. I just didn't have any real power in my legs tho to hammer on the flats and descents; guess maybe it was not riding for 2 days prior and me getting a cold or something? Who knows. Nunzio passed me then I kept him in my sites. There were about 4 of us in close distance. Weren't passing alot but we weren't getting passed, either. I passed him with about 1/2 lap to go as well as another guy. Thought I had them but they got me again in the more technical sections. Something, I hope, I'll get better with in time. Figured I get them in the open areas. No. Legs just weren't there.
As a positive sign, I'm actually passing guys on the climbs now instad of getting passed, even when my legs don't feel great. I wound up 42nd out of 69. About what I expected. Just didn't have it that day.
Now it's 2 weeneds off. Time to go out hard for 2 of them and finish strong with the 2 2 race weekends coming up.