Nashville Cyclo-cross Weekend I

This weekend was the first of two weekend chock full of cyclo-cross racing and activity for the town of Nashville. Dan (the man) organizes, promotes, executes the series and does a great job. It was a fun weekend and now I am a little sore and tired. Tired from the racing, sore from the wrecking....

Friday night started out cruising home from work to find Thad's parents waiting for me with their new convertible Pony car. My home is in an easy-to-find central location, so Thad planned on meeting them (and myself) there. They got to sit in my cluttered house for a little bit until Thad showed up and the four of us headed to the taproom for some brews. We ran into a bunch of people up there at the Yazoo brewery and much of the conversation revolved around the upcoming cross races. A good meal at Blackstone Brewery followed (along with an intense argument with the waitress about the best cheesesteak joint in the East Falls part of Philly - Chubby's by a landslide). Then it was home to sleep some before the next morning's race.

I arrived to the race venue (Two Rivers Park this time around) a little after 9 and started scanning the course. It had much of the same path as last year, but enough differences to make it a much better course than last year. On Saturday the course flowed pretty well. I raced in the 45 min. cat-3 race that went off at noon. Justin, Thad, Hennessey, and Neumeyer raced in the single-speed class that rade with the cat-4s at 11am for 30 minutes. So when they started, I was riding my bike around taking some pictures (which I will try to share in the near future). As I was riding around the course holding my camera in one hand, steering the bike with the other, and looking for where the riders were, I managed to hit a HUGE hole in the ground that sent me over my handlebars crashing on top of my bike and onto the ground. I couldn't even catch myself because my hands were tied up. When I got up, I could my handlebars knocked off center and felt some pretty good bruises on my legs. There was also a little blood from scrapes on my shins, but it wasn't a big deal. So I was riding my bike over to my car to fix it as well as change and get ready for my race when I noticed that my wheel was rubbing my brakes pretty badly. At first I thought it was just knocked out of its seating in the fork, but quickly realize that it was slightly taco'd. Crap. My race was in about 45 minutes. So, while the other guys were racing, I was carefully and strategically slamming my wheel into the pavement to straighten it out and then loosening my brakes to eliminate the rubbing from the still slightly wobbly wheel. It can together in a satisfactory manner, so I finished preparing to race. Meanwhile, Thad had won the first race SS division (and also overall), with Hennessey coming in 2nd, Neumeyer 3rd, and Jut 4th. Good showing for the Team Remax Yazoo crew.

As soon as Thad finished his race, I started warming up for mine. Two laps on the course followed by a 10 or so minute breather was about right. I started pretty warm but not used up at all. Thad was racing again and lined up right in front of me. I had decided before I started to try to hang in there with the pack from the beginning because I often defer positioning to other people doubting my ability to keep in the running. I decided that such a plan takes me out of the running from the beginning, so I needed to make others earn their position. I went out pushing pretty hard and felt pretty strong for pretty much the entire ride. Thad had a tough ride, but after winning the previous race, it wasn't too surprising. I ended up coming in at the back of my class, but I wasn't too far away from the rest of the pack, so I considered it a good race. As it is, I probably should be racing cat-4, but I choose to race cat-3 in order to get a longer ride. 45 minutes hurts, but it's alot of fun and I'm not even close to getting lapped, so I don't feel out of place. I imagine that the guys that beat me appreciate me being there to round out the category.

Sunday's race was a bit tougher for me. I was noticeably warn from the day before and within 2 laps I could tell I had burnt my energy on Saturday. My class was also much smaller on Sunday, so I ended up 4th out of 4. Again, not close to being lapped, but not really in contention. It was fun, though. My front wheel is still bent and is probably toast. I can probably use it for daily commuting and will try to make it last through the rest of cross season, but that will probably be it for that one. Such a shame. On Sunday morning I took pictures by running from place to place instead of riding.

Sunday after the race, I helped clean up the course, picking up tape and stakes. The tear down process went very quickly, and then we re-convened at the Hennessey home for some veggie chili that Hollie had made and graciously offered to share with the rest of us. The rest of us was Thad, Eli, and Todd and Krista Parks. Todd and Krista had driven their home into town for a few days to take part in the cyclo-cross fun times. They are primarily from the southwest (NM) which has a way of producing some top-notch, cool people. Very cool to hang out with them this weekend, and thanks dan and Hollie for hosting us last night....