Somewhere in the Middle

Cyclocross at the Hidden Valley Club....
Sunday was an incredible beautiful day In November, with warm temps and sunny skies. Laura went from flip-flops and a tank top to puffy coat when the sun finally did dip behind the mountain. Cyclocross at the Hidden Valley Club was a small local event suitable for the whole family to come out and race, and to make it even more family friendly, it was bone dry. I would have done much better with a wet race, but it was great to see some new racers out there, and even better that the promoter had less clean up to do afterwards. This was the only race all year, that I did not have to wash my bike afterwards. Hooray!!



For me, it was my first open A race, receiving my official upgrade from 4 to 3 that day. It was only my 5th cross race, but I felt like it was time, and once I was upgraded, I began to second guess my decision. The A's and B's started together so not much was actually different, except in my head. I certainly felt under pressure lining up in the front, and being on a mountain bike. I was unable to re-mount on the off camber section after the first stairs, and got a little flustered the first time around. And then my stomach began to cramp as the A women rode away from me. I backed off a tad to aid my stomach, but I could see the B's right behind me. I struggled with this thought for a bit, but eventually I gave into being the B bait, and made the most of it.

My stomach improved by lap 2, and although I tried a bunch of different ways to re-mount after those stairs, I pathetically failed each time, which is something I need to work on. I also had some difficulty getting into my big ring. Then pushing too hard, I threw my chain off onto the crank arm once, but managed to shift it back up quickly. I feel like I finished strong and somewhere in the middle of the entire women's field, putting some distance on those behind me, and lapping a few B's near the end. Certainly a good day, helping me realize I need to practice a bit when my new cross bike arrives, any day now.

That night I had dinner with my mom and my brothers family. My nephew has finally reached the height of 5'3", which is the same height as my mom and me. We posed for a picture to document this magical moment of three generations. Just look who is in the middle again.