"Natz" Weekend

The trip to the east coast was uneventful, bike and everything made it fine. (it cost $80 bucks to fly, but it would have been $95 if they thought it was a bike.) Went down to Providence right from the airport. Got there with time to take the bike out of the box( A huge shot out to Robin who lent me his bike box), put it together, and did a bunch of pre-riding before the elite race. It was surreal to be in Providence and riding around the course. It had been a long night of flying and hanging out in airports and here I was on a beautiful winter day without a cloud in the sky, warm, sun shining, riding around the Nationals course. The course itself was SWEET! not necessarily suited to my style (I would have liked more technical and less pavement and straightaways) But really it was damn fun. The section referred to as the fruit bowl was great, lots of little ups, downs, corners, all really smooth and fast. The rollers you could cruise up with your speed and not really have to hammer up, then fly down the other side...pulled a photo of the B race from cycling news...

Changed out of the spandex and got the pink foam finger for some cheering. I ran into Issac and Sacha and did some spectating with them before they headed into the pits for Molly and Shannon.

The elites were impressive as ever, I am constantly impressed with how fast and smooth these riders look and how effortless they make going so fast seem. Molly had a great race and looked really strong.

Headed out right after to get to a Christmas party with some family friends and went to bed early. I got up at 6am and got on the road on Sun to get warmed up and do a little riding before the racing started for the day. Had an amazing sunrise and some good coffee on my way down to Providence from my Mom's. Felt rested and strong. It was a bit colder and a little frost on the ground. I watched as the B women had lots of trouble on an off camber section off the start that had become extra slick over night. Did some more riding around and got to the start. I thought I had registered fairly early, apparently not early enough I was 2 or 3 rows from the back of 150 something riders...Damn. It was still cool and a little damp by the time we started and this was by far the biggest group I have ever been on a starting line with. The start was on pavement and wide so I made up some ground before the course took a turn onto the grass and around to the off camber section where all hell broke loose...
(photos of my race from cycling news) I don't know what to report about the race other than it was super fun, it was pack riding most of the way, I had to do some throwing of elbows to move up and around folks, I hammered when I could find room and it was over before I knew it. I felt like I rode well, felt strong, and had a good race. I was moving up the whole race and the only time I really lost ground was when I crashed really hard in a corner towards the end...I turned my wheel a little hard, it hit some soft sand in the trees and I went down so fast that I never even got my hands out, slid across my face a bit (have a good scrape on my forehead to prove it) and must have lost about 10 spots because there were so many riders. I ended up in the middle of the pack (59th out of 147 or so), but I am happy with the result and know that I rode well regardless of where I ended up...

Went with my Mom to White Electric to get some coffee and a sandwich and headed back for more spectating. Watched the strawberry cup race...Molly kicked some serious ass and ended up in 11th...she looked really strong and had a seriously impressive race...way to go!

A kick ass weekend of racing! It's got me stoked on cross regardless of whether the season is over. I am gonna train my ass off this winter and summer for next season! There I said it, now I gotta do it!

Found this quote on the Rapha site...I think I will put it on my wall somewhere...or on my blog

“The greater the suffering, the greater the pleasure. That is nature’s payback to riders for the homage they pay her by suffering. Velvet pillows, safari parks, sunglasses; people have become woolly mice. They still have bodies that can walk for five days and four nights through a desert of snow, without food, but they accept praise for having taken a one-hour bicycle ride. ‘Good for you’. Instead of expressing their gratitude for the rain by getting wet, people walk around with umbrellas. Nature is an old lady with few friends these days, and those who wish to make use of her charms, she rewards passionately.” -Tim Krabbé

Travel Tunes:
- Talking Heads
- Wilco
- Andrew Bird
- Tarkio