2012 was my first year doing CX and I was far worse at it than I thought I would be. I was force-upgraded to Cat 3 in CX thanks to me Cat 2 on Road. This concept works great for people who have some history in cycling (junior, MTB, etc), but not for those of us who have been seriously riding for less than 2 years and the most off-road experience was Battenkill - that one time on dirt (okay, I have probably ridden about 80 miles on dirt out of my 13,000 total). Needless to say, I was unprepared...and the fact that my forte (pronounced fort!) is strength just made it exponentially worse because I'd try to go hard, and I'd end up going down hard.
I was committed to doing "well" in the Cat 3 races: by that I mean a top-half finish and having fun/learning. Well, I was having too much trouble with the techy stuff in races to be able to settle down and follow people's lines and work on my own learning how to take/find lines. After a series of very frustrating races that left me without much improvement by means of skills or enjoyment, I downgraded to Cat 4. In the Cat 4 races I was actually able to emotionally (not physically :P) relax and learn. I even had fun in little bits of 5-10 seconds at a time. The only part of cyclocross I really liked was being redlined constantly...it was the only comfort I found in races. However, normally when I'm redlined most everyone else is in the hurt box with me - CX is different...WAY different. Everyone is going "wicked hahhhhhdd!", just some people turn their bikes well and wicked hard = wicked fast. Whereas for me, sometimes the harder I went the slower I ended up going. I accepted things weren't going to be pretty and might not get pretty for the season (spoiler alert: they didn't, but they got a bit better).
So my CX season is long since past, but it was fun and deserves a little blog attention. In other news, today was the One Year "anniversary" of breaking my clavicle! Feels like it's been far longer though. I did a sprint on the exact same place where I crashed (read here: http://pursuingglory.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-first-crash-32mph.html). It went well, hopefully I get a little redemption in the Doppio Ciclo on Saturday, as I was unable to participate with my fresh injury last year. It'll be my last 'race' with Base36, which is both bad and good. The guys on Base36 welcomed me as a newbie to the sport last year when I didn't even understand bike racing...I just could ride. Now, I leave the team having grown quite a lot - through wins, losses, crashes, injuries, bad moves gone good, great moves gone bad, and everything else in between. The progress I have made is massive, I'm very happy with myself - but I'm not at all surprised given the atmosphere and guidance I had from so many people, especially Jeff. My first "race" as a Base36 rider was a local crit where I attacked off the front going into the last (1.3 mile) lap. I got caught with 250m to go and only managed 7th place. In a couple Pro123 races this summer I positioned myself to be sprinting for a top 5 finish - neither of which worked out due to a crash in front of me one time and being crashed out another. But nevertheless, knowing you are right there and ready to place in a pro race is a huge thing. Getting yourself in position is 90% of the battle. I have no doubts that very early next year that last 10% of the battle won't blow up in the final seconds of a race. It's been a while since I really thought about seeing the white line and watching the my front wheel eclipse it. Feels like an out of body experience, but I'm excited to be reunited.
Next post: 2013 Team and thoughts on the upcoming winter training season.
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