This year has not been a typical year for me as far as racing and training goes. While i intended to lay off the road season a bit I didn't plan to not do any road racing but that's the way it goes sometimes I guess. So because of that i've entered the cross season with lower fitness than normal.
Sunday was my first race of the season, the second stop in the Chicago Cross Cup, Hopkins Park in Dekalb, IL. Even though my fitness is lower than it should be I was pretty confident that i could improve on my finish from last year. Due to too much air pressure in my tires last year i ended up on the ground about 5 times and finished 56th. This year all I wanted was to finish higher than that. The course was amazing. It features a great combination of straights and corners, pavement and singletrack, and even has a flyover.
So Reason 42* why I love cross is that no matter what your fitness level is, there is still a race for you in cross. Once the race starts and things settle in you will usually find yourself in a group of riders with similar fitness and ability and you will have a full race of using what fitness you have, the technical skills you have to race those you are with. I ended up in a group of about 6 or 7 who I traded punches back and forth with the whole race. You quickly figure out what sections of the course you are good at and what sections your competition is good at. Then you use tactics to figure out how to maximize your strengths and limit your weaknesses. So even though we were fighting for 31st place, we still had a blast. That is reason 42* why I love cross.
Here's a handlebar vid from my race. I spent the whole race way behind this guy but it lets you see the course if you weren't there.
Next race for me is the 10/19 Psycho Cross in wauconda.
*42 is just a random number i like. Sorry I don't have 41 other reasons, well i probably do, i just haven't written them down.
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