2010 NE Ohio CX Series #3 - Kent State-Stark

Yesterday, Lorena and I made the short trip over to North Canton to hit up the third race of the Northeast Ohio Cyclocross Series. It's the second year that Stark Velo has hosted the race on the Kent State-Stark campus. Last year, we raced in a downpour and the race was shortened due to lightning. This year, we had sunny skies and temps around 60F.

This would be my first cross race of the season after missing the first two while my ribs healed. I probably would have been fine to race at Wendy Park two weeks ago, but the two weeks prior to that were pretty light on training so, a) I didn't think I'd be as fast as I wanted to be and, b) I didn't want to disrupt the healing process by pushing it too hard, too soon. Since the Wendy Park race I've been back to my usual training schedule and feeling better all the time.

When we lined up to start, I was in the third row beside teammate Mike Chapman. With 46 racers in the B field, it was quite the bunch sprint to the first 180-degree turn and then things started to string out a little bit in the fairly long straight stretch thereafter. I was definitely back farther than I really wanted to be and not very happy with my start. To make things more interesting, I had one little near-crash before the first set of barriers but managed to save it. Good to get those things out of the way on the first lap, though.

The rest of the race I just kept trying to catch the person in front of me and with each catch I felt more motivated. I'm not going to say what song I had going through my head most of the race, but it kept me focused and I was able to catch and pass most of the riders I wanted to beat. In the end, I finished 11th and definitely didn't feel like I'd left anything out on the course. Sure, there were times where I might have been able to pass someone if I'd not taken the line where I got cut off, but that's racing. To be able to keep moving up the entire race was definitely some good affirmation about the progress of my training. The competition was definitely close the entire race as the time span between 6th and 15th places was about 58 seconds. The eventual winner left us in his dust by around 3 minutes.

In the Women's Open race, Lorena rode strong and finished 4th and in the lead group of women that rode the same number of laps as the men. Those top 4 are some fast females!

Looks like the next race we'll be attending will be the October 24th race in Elyria. We have to make our annual fall pilgrimage to Michigan to ride mountain bikes and that happens to coincide with the next CX series race. That month will fly right by.

Before I forget, major props to Aaron Hershberger of the OCC for winning the C-race in his first-ever cyclocross race. Not a bad way to start. Also, major thanks to Stark Velo for once again putting on a great race. The post-race food is certainly appreciated.

NE Ohio CX Series #2 - Wendy Park Photos

I know it was a week ago, but I finally got the time to upload my photos from the race. Unfortunately, the battery died before the A-race so the photos are mainly of the B, C, Women's, and Juniors races.

Lorena competed in the Women's Open race and got 6th. I was still nursing some sore ribs and sat this one out. Wendy Park is such a great race venue and it was a bit of a bummer to miss another race. On the plus side, the ribs are doing great and I'll be back in action at Kent-Stark next weekend. TOTALLY looking forward to it.

Enjoy!

Sometimes, Pain Threshold Doesn't Matter

My pain threshold is generally pretty high. At least I feel like most of the time I can push through the pain that comes with training and racing. The last two of weeks has seen that threshold challenged pretty intensely as a result of a mountain bike crash at Mohican State Park. Let's just say that your ribs are not the best part of your body to absorb the impact of a crash. I don't know if I actually broke any ribs, but even if they weren't broken, I know from previous experience there's not much you can do to speed up the healing process. Time is the primary factor combined with taking it easy.

Anyone who's been reading this lately knows that cyclocross is my primary focus right now and the first race of the season was yesterday. I've been really psyched up for cross and have been training pretty hard for it. Sadly, I decided not to go because my ribs aren't completely healed. Hell, it still hurts to cough or sneeze and it's pretty much my own fault. Part of me is kicking myself for continuing training since the crash even though I wasn't healed. There was definitely additional pain during those training rides and runs, but I just pushed through it. At the end of the first week I was actually feeling better, but Monday I tweaked something during a ride that almost made me call Lorena to come get me. I noticed EVERY little bump in the road on the way home. The rest of the week I wised up and took it easy, but it was too little too late.

I suppose it's like training when you're sick. Sometimes you just have to listen to your body and rest. That's a hard thing to do when you feel like your fitness is improving and a race is just around the corner. Thank goodness this coming week was a scheduled rest week and I can get myself back to 100%. Perhaps I need to pull my dumbass threshold back a little, eh?