Not Fast Enough

Headed up to Omaha with Mark Studnicki for what was supposed to be the first two rounds of the Nebraska Cyclocross Series, but found out earlier in the week that there is no official series this year. Just two stand alone race weekends. The Omaha rounds and then the Lincoln rounds in late November.

I decided to just race the Men's Cat 1/2/3 class instead of the Masters or Cat 3/4 class so Mark would not have to wait around for 2 - 3 hours doing nothing waiting for his race. Well let me tell you, next time we will wait around and/or get up extra early so I don't have to suffer for an hour embarrassing myself. I am just not fast enough to ride with the 1/2/3's.

The Swanson Park course just does not agree with me. I have raced there the past three years and have never ever felt good or had a good race there. That place just does not like me.

Saturday I felt o.k. but still only managed 9th out of 15 riders. Here are the complete results My bike set-up was not very good. I chose to run a set of Ritchey SpeedMax tires. I think the main problem was they were 700 x 32's. However, they measured somewhere close to 700 x 28's. Those things just did not hook up well on the dry course. They worked well in the mud and roll really well, but they do not corner well on a dry course. I was sliding in the corners and felt all out of control. I just rode a fast tempo and hoped that my pace was fast enough not to get lapped and stay ahead of the guys I was in front of. My goal of not getting lapped was not met as Mark lapped me on his way to the win.

Update: Found out what was wrong with the tires. Several sections of the sidewall are torn by the bead. This is why it felt like the tires were going to come off the rims. Because they just about were. Now I know why poor Christopher could not ride this same set of wheels/tires at last year's nationals. He kept telling me that there was something wrong with the tires and they they felt weird to him. I guess I need to start double checking my equipment...

Sunday was one of my worst days ever. I went down during the warm-up and on the first lap in the same location. Never got going during this race and actually stopped for a lap trying to fix the shifting on my bike as I bent the derailleur hanger when I went down on a dry slick corner. End result was 9th out of only 10 riders. I must be getting old or something. I only have a small scrape on my leg, but my knee is killing me today. Must of twisted it a little when I went down and now some swelling has taken place. I wish it was my left knee. At least then I would be balanced out with injuries. As of now, my right shoulder is killing me and my right knee. Nothing a little time and ice will not heal.