CCCX Race #1 - My first Cat. A 'cross race or how to suffer like a mofo
So this year, for some stupid reason, maybe because I'm a glutton for punishment, I decided to bump up and race with the Cat As for this year's 'cross season. For those not familar with categories for cyclocross, it breaks down like this:
Cat C - like beginner for mountain biking
Cat B - like sport, but mostly a mix of sport\expert and cat 3,4 roadies
Cat A - combine expert, semi-pro and pros.
Yea, that's right. I have to race against the local pros like Andy Jaques-Maynes, Justin Robinson and some of the local fast guys like Simon Vickers & Joshua Snead(Rock Lobster) and last but not least, old time pros like the legendary Larry Hibbard!
Any who, not really being fully recovered from mountain biking season, mostly mental at this point, (read as I'm still drinking lots of beer and not really training all that much), I decided that partying til 4am on Friday, followed by some more beer and wine drinking into the late hours of saturday, would be completely OK before my first A race on Sunday, CCCX Race 1 - Monterey Penninsula College (www.cccx.org)...repeat after me ouch!!
I showed up at the race site with a couple hours to spare. I got registered, then got changed and went to check out the course. Lot's and lot's of familiar faces: Paule, Julie, Tim, Beverly, and Luke of Roaring Mouse; Lauren Constanti, Brian Rodgers, and Aaron Bonar of Sycip, Sarah Kerlin and a bunch of other Bellas, and one other TWWer besides me, Jeff Haneous.
The course was pretty sweet. A super dusty single track section, a gnarly steep descent with a hard right hander at the bottom on to a running track, one steep loose run-up and one short run-up with a really bad, bumpy, hard left entrance into it. The rest of the couse was classic twisty paved sections, mixed with a few flat, straight paved and grass sections. All in all I would say the course was pretty fricken fast.
After getting a good warm-up, it's time to line up with the rest of the A's. I choose a spot in the second row from the front, second in from the outer right side. And their off, the start is super fast, duh, and I quickly realize that a weekend of drinking and staying up late is no way to prepare for this kind of intensity. I fall off of the front and settle in somewhere near the back of the group of 28 racers.
We'd only been ridden for a few minutes and my heart rate was already pegged in the mid 180bpm. I figured I'd eventually settle in and be able to recover....33 minutes later my heart rate is still pegged and I can't believe I have a hole nother 30 minutes of racing at that intensity. I mean I've raced at this type of intensity before in mountain biking, but there is just something much more painful about doing it in a 'cross race. I think it has something to do with the constant accelerations and decelerations, coupled with getting on and off the bike and the bit about running up hills with your bike on your shoulder sure doesn't help to make things any easier.
I did manage to pick off a few people during the race, so I didn't finish DFL, but pretty close at 22/28 racers. The good news is that I was able to race at that intensity for 60 minutes, that is 15 minutes more racing time that racing in the B's last year. Plus, with a little more sleep and a lot less booze in my system, I think I could do quite a bit better. My only goal for the next race is not to get lapped by the top A racers.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Isaias
Cat C - like beginner for mountain biking
Cat B - like sport, but mostly a mix of sport\expert and cat 3,4 roadies
Cat A - combine expert, semi-pro and pros.
Yea, that's right. I have to race against the local pros like Andy Jaques-Maynes, Justin Robinson and some of the local fast guys like Simon Vickers & Joshua Snead(Rock Lobster) and last but not least, old time pros like the legendary Larry Hibbard!
Any who, not really being fully recovered from mountain biking season, mostly mental at this point, (read as I'm still drinking lots of beer and not really training all that much), I decided that partying til 4am on Friday, followed by some more beer and wine drinking into the late hours of saturday, would be completely OK before my first A race on Sunday, CCCX Race 1 - Monterey Penninsula College (www.cccx.org)...repeat after me ouch!!
I showed up at the race site with a couple hours to spare. I got registered, then got changed and went to check out the course. Lot's and lot's of familiar faces: Paule, Julie, Tim, Beverly, and Luke of Roaring Mouse; Lauren Constanti, Brian Rodgers, and Aaron Bonar of Sycip, Sarah Kerlin and a bunch of other Bellas, and one other TWWer besides me, Jeff Haneous.
The course was pretty sweet. A super dusty single track section, a gnarly steep descent with a hard right hander at the bottom on to a running track, one steep loose run-up and one short run-up with a really bad, bumpy, hard left entrance into it. The rest of the couse was classic twisty paved sections, mixed with a few flat, straight paved and grass sections. All in all I would say the course was pretty fricken fast.
After getting a good warm-up, it's time to line up with the rest of the A's. I choose a spot in the second row from the front, second in from the outer right side. And their off, the start is super fast, duh, and I quickly realize that a weekend of drinking and staying up late is no way to prepare for this kind of intensity. I fall off of the front and settle in somewhere near the back of the group of 28 racers.
We'd only been ridden for a few minutes and my heart rate was already pegged in the mid 180bpm. I figured I'd eventually settle in and be able to recover....33 minutes later my heart rate is still pegged and I can't believe I have a hole nother 30 minutes of racing at that intensity. I mean I've raced at this type of intensity before in mountain biking, but there is just something much more painful about doing it in a 'cross race. I think it has something to do with the constant accelerations and decelerations, coupled with getting on and off the bike and the bit about running up hills with your bike on your shoulder sure doesn't help to make things any easier.
I did manage to pick off a few people during the race, so I didn't finish DFL, but pretty close at 22/28 racers. The good news is that I was able to race at that intensity for 60 minutes, that is 15 minutes more racing time that racing in the B's last year. Plus, with a little more sleep and a lot less booze in my system, I think I could do quite a bit better. My only goal for the next race is not to get lapped by the top A racers.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Isaias
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