Friday afternoon my dad, Kerry, and I pulled into the venue. It had been raining during the drive and was even sprinkling when we got there! It seemed like it may be a weekend full of real cross conditions! We got dressed and pre-rode the course and geez it was slick! No mud yet, but the grass was so slippery! I felt pretty good during the pre-ride and was excited about the conditions.
We arrived at the course Saturday morning and were delighted to discover that the cyclocross fairy had been there overnight sprinkling mud everywhere. I hopped on the course during the open time and it was like a slip n slide. Race time arrived at 4 pm. I had a good start and kept moving up on the first half lap. People were crashing everywhere but somehow, I was staying out of the way of all the mishaps and moving up even further until an unfortunate incident occurred. KK had slipped and crashed into a turn on the course right before the pits. As she was untangling her bike I unfortunately came around the corner, and smash, right into her wheel I went. I tumbled over and into the course fencing and landed in the pits. After what seemed like minutes but was probably only seconds of untangling myself I stood up and was now in the middle of the pits frantically looking for my dad for my other bike. I didn’t need another bike, but I was now in the pits so figured I had to swap bikes. I spotted my dad, sprinted over to him and hopped on my other bike. I tried not to panic and quickly move back up in the race. I moved up throughout several laps but it just wasn’t enough. Gaps had formed and I finished disappointedly in 17th place. I remained hopeful that Sunday would be a better day and I would redeem myself.
Sunday we arrived at the course and I was so disappointed to see that so much of the mud had dried up and the course was fast and tacky. The race started and I did not have a good start at all. Once again, I was not aggressive enough and sort of got swarmed throughout the many turns. I tried to move up throughout the race which I did a little bit, but I didn’t have much snap and felt sluggish. I finally finished what felt like a long race in 20th place.
Next weekend I’ll be racing PanAms in Midland, Ontario. I’m hoping for mud or snow and better feeling legs. I am taking a rest week this week, eating lots of red meat and liver, so only time will tell if it helps and next weekend goes better for me.