Well, Sunday was the 1st "official" cross race of the season since mother nature finally bestowed conditions worthy of a cross race. Wow, talk about a change to the racing.
I started the day with a pre-ride of the course prior to any racing starting. It had rained the evening before and there was standing water and the dirt sections were soft mud. The course is at Barton Park / gravel quarry next door. There is quite a bit of gravel roads, pavement in the park, single track, and the "pit". The "pit" is inside of the gravel pit and consists of gravel roads, 2 substantial run-ups, 1 straight steep ride down, and 1 off-camber squirrly ride down.
Well, I started at the front of the line today (with about 140 riders behind me - the largest field yet for Master C group). I "lit up" fast and led the group most of the 1st lap. I eased up after the road section since everyone was sucking my wheel and I "broke wind" for the top ten group.
The course was considerably different when we rode after ~300 racers in the previous 2 races. The mud was wetter/slicker and more exciting. A fellow fell right in front of me in the tight tree section. I couldn't avoid him and went down. Took me too long to get up and regroup. I probably lost about 15 spots. My brain wasn't quite in the race after that. I found myself hesitant and lost my "mojo". The rest of the race was "get this thing done" and keep safe.
A couple key lessons learned this race....
1) Don't lead the pack too early. It would make much more sense to pick the top 3 riders and stick with them at all costs. Let them "break the wind" since they are the top dogs. The key to these races is "hanging on" the 1st lap and then being strong the final laps. The race strings out after that 1st lap.
2) To have a top 5 finish, you need to avoid bad luck. However, that's not going to happen every race (especially in slippery conditions). That's OK. The key is to RECOVER from that set-back and get your mind back into the race as quickly as possible. I failed to do that on Sunday. My fitness wasn't the issue - my head was the problem.
Live and learn for next time.
The course got more slippery as the day continued. Looking at OBRA emails, there were 3 broken/separated shoulders and 1 guy got plastic surgery from that off camber descent. The descents on this course are always tricky. The key is to play in safe as possible in these "high risk" areas. Speedy recovery to those fallen racers.
Check out these great photos at pdxcross
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