Looks like I will be racing again

This summer was an interesting one for me, and for more than just the fact that I moved to a new country. What I think made it particularly interesting, or more appropriately odd, was that I was not doing any bike racing. Anyone who has had the miss fortune of asking me a question about bicycling soon realized that I am more than willing to go on and on about bikes, racing, training, tactics, history or anything else to do with bicycles for that matter. So when I moved to Minneapolis it was a bit of a shock not to have a club to ride and train with, and as a result no team to race with.

Finally though I did find the Birchwood Cafe team, a group with whom I really get along well with and makes me feel as comfortable as I did with ERTC. A good sign of that may be the fact that I've already started working my way into aspects of running the club. I figure if I stick around here for another full year I will be in charge of the team, after all, it only took a year and a half of riding with ERTC to take over there.

But since I didn't find a club until later in the season I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't be racing. In large part a financial decision but also one made on the basis that though I was strong I was not in the fitness I am accustomed to for racing (ok, I was going to get my ass handed to me if I tried to race, I didn't want to go through that). But as fall rolled around thoughts of cyclocross racing crept back in. I enjoy cyclocross racing so much that I have started doing a skills clinic for club members on Sunday afternoons. I was simply giving those that showed up the knowledge Peter Toth gave me the year prior (when he won the Canadian Cyclocross Championships in Master B). For those that aren't aware in cyclocross you ride what is essentially a road bike off road, a challenge in and of itself. To add to this though there are barriers and/or hills too steep to ride throughout the course. When you get to these you need to get off the bike, and run with it as fast as possible. The technique that I was teaching was how to get off the bike quickly and efficiently. Something which I do really, really well (probably because of the sprinting I did in high school) because I can close gaps of 15 feet when running over a set of double barriers.

So since the club has been doing cyclocross training rides on Tuesdays I have proven to be one of the stronger riders coming out to the event. Of course this garners the attention of those who race and they keep prodding me to get out and race the cyclocross season. Well, now that a friend has found that the race license fee is reduced for an end of season license it looks as though I will have to go out and race. After all I can't simply teach it and not do it.

My confidence in how well I can do is a bit shaky, I have not done a single race and my body is not accustomed to suffering that way at this time. But if the ride yesterday is any indication I should be in pretty good shape. I took a long sprint for a town sign with ease. I actually beat 3-4 guys who got an earlier jump and were drafting each other. I came from behind and just blew past them to take the sign by a very large margin. Shortly thereafter guys were still feeling a bit jumpy and three strong guys took off on a hard attack. I didn't want to chase at first, hoping someone else would take up the chase, but I guess I'm just a bit too competitive, so I chased them down, after giving them a comfortable head start (comfortable for them that is). Though I didn't catch them I was able to pull along at about 45 km/h (according to the guy who was on my draft) for a good solid stretch of time.

So I guess along with all the other ramblings that you chose to read on here (I'm still kind of puzzled by return visits, but what the hell) you will have to put up with some form of race summary from time to time (probably Monday mornings). So that's your warning, who knows, I may even be able to get some photos of the races to share, I have a feeling I will be able to get some friends out for a race or two to watch, maybe even 'on-line girl' whom I had another great date with last night ;)