Sheybogan CX Race

Sheboygan was the first cross race of the year. Normally, September in WI is going to be in the low to mid 70’s, this year the high for the race was low to mid 80’s. And while a lot of the state to the south got some huge thunderstorms, at the race venue it just drizzled a few times and then got hot and humid. Not the greatest cx conditions, but hey, everyone has to face the same weather during the race.

The races got a bit of switch-up from last year. This year the 35+ 1,2,3 goes off at 2:15pm along with the 45+ and 55+ 1,2,3 races. We are no longer with the P,1,2 field (which is now the P,1,2,3 field.) So instead of an hour, my race is down to 45 minutes, and if I feel like I want to puke I can double up races.

After watching Heidi and Kate crush it in their races

 

I did one last lap to warm-up, making sure to turn the Clutch Corner! boom box on (more on that in a bit.) We then lined up for our staggered start just off the course. I thought we were going to roll up to the line to start but the officials said we were going right from where we were. I was on the end of what would be the inside of the first corner. The whistle blew and suddenly I found myself in front. I wasn’t really trying to do so and sort of ended up taking the hole shot. I lead for a bit until the real motivated individuals hopped in front. There were 3 initially. Then after a bit Andy and Maciej went around me. At first, I let them go and then started to give it a bit and stay on. The gap wasn’t growing and they were about 20 meters in front of me while I pulled 2-3 guys along.

Then at a 180 turn I was watching Andy and Maciej go around and without thinking I turned a full tape length too soon. I caught it before I went through the tape, but the fellows behind me were just watching wheels so they followed me into my wrong turn.  Andy and Maciej were out of sight by the time we righted ourselves. One or two more guys jumped 3 of us and I was last in line before we got going again. Less than a quarter lap later in some big swoopy off chamber turns Eric slide out, so I cut the line short on the inside and ended up back in front of the group.

For most of the race I pulled 2 guys along as the other guys fell off the pace. I don’t say we “pulled away” because I went basically the same pace for the whole race; start to finish, with the exception of picking it up the last 400 meters. We mixed with some of the 45+ guys and came up on Angry Andy who had exploded.

I didn’t have much power; could have been the heat, could be my fitness. But I was riding smooth and braking very little. I noticed that I was gapping the guys on my wheel in all the techy areas, and then they would get back on at two long straightaways. They were also trying to ride the equalizer while I ran it. I figured that if I stayed in front near the end of the lap in the last lap I could beat them because the end had some twisty turns that I was getting 10 feet on them every time. It worked out that way and I even got to sprint a bit at the end just to hold the guy off behind me.

I ended up 5^thand I'll take it. It was a good start to the season and while I need to race into top fitness still, I feel fast’ish now.

Now, Clutch Corner is a little bit of life I plan on bringing to the races in the form of a boom box playing a different random mix of the 200+ Clutch songs that I have. I have also decided to give the disc away at the end of the day to some deserving racer. This week was a tough choice between Angry Andy going out super-fast and being in the top three then creating a Big Bang type explosion that evolved into an 11^th place finish, or Travis who was absolutely crushing the P,1,2,3 for a few laps, before the ss race (which he won), got to his legs and he hung on for third. It went to Travis. Here is the track list from this week:

1.       Animal Farm: Full Fathom Five

2.       Abraham Lincoln: Strange Cousins From The West

3.       Texan Book Of The Dead: Clutch              

4.       Spleen Merchant: Blast Tyrant

5.       Who's Been Talking? Robot Hive / Exodus

6.       The Elephant Riders: The Elephant Riders

7.       Equinox                : Slow Hole to China: Rare & Rereleased               

8.       Frankenstein: Pure Rock Fury

9.       Spacegrass: Clutch

10.   The Wolf Man Kindly Requests...: Earth Rocker

11.   Pulaski Skyway: Robot Hive / Exodus

12.   El Jefe: Live At The Googolplex

13.   Wysiwyg: Blast Tyrant

14.   Oh, Isabella: Earth Rocker

15.   Hale Bopp Blues:  Slow Hole to China: Rare & Rereleased

16.   The Devil & Me: From Beale St. To Oblivion

17.   D.C. Sound Attack!: Earth Rocker

18.   Sea of Destruction: Slow Hole to China: Rare & Rereleased