SCC #3: Kelly Creek

The weather held up nicely and we had another dry race for the Seattle Cyclocross series. I'm sure this won't be the case much longer! For a change I got there early enough to get a few warmup laps in. The course was fun and had a steep, fast descent, a few gravel sections, one set of barriers, and one downed tree. I was disappointed there were no real run-ups since I seem to do better in races that require more running. I'll just have to wait for Steilacoom next week, though I haven't done the course before so I may regret saying that!

Usually I'm fairly daring on the bike and especially love going downhill, but the steep descent on today's course gave my brain a bit of a meltdown. When I came around on my first practice lap I stopped at the top and immediately thought, "Whoa. I'm not f***ing riding down that!" The top few feet were a bit off-camber and for some reason I just couldn't deal with it. I sat there for a few minutes feeling like a total idiot. After seeing scores of people easily descending I figured it couldn't be that bad, took a deep breathe, and hit it. I aimed for the rut down the middle, laid off the brakes, and zoomed right down. It was TOTALLY fun!! It's amazing how much stuff you bounce over when you go that fast :)

I did a pretty good job of getting a crappy start again and ended up near the back right away. I was able to pick off a handful of gals but finished a lap down in 23rd place. I only needed about 10 seconds to finish on the lead lap, but oh well. Yesterday I felt like I was getting a cold, so naturally I went out and did a 40+ mile team ride in the rain. Today I felt a little under the weather and my legs and lungs were flat. I still had tons of fun and enjoyed the race, but was relieved when I didn't have to do another lap.

Zoka kicked some butt today. We had so many Zokas in the top 10 that I can't remember them all! Zoka went 1, 4 and 7 (I think) in the Men's 4 race. Hats off to Chip for his win! Dave Cook took the win for the Men's 3 with Chris Hill shortly behind him in 3rd. Elise snagged 7th in the Women's Cat 4 race and I know we had several other strong finishers. Unfortunately, I got no pictures this week. I was all set to snap a great shot of Chip coming across the finish and then realized I left my memory card at home in my laptop. Ugh! I'll make up for it at Steilacoom next week.

I'm just doing cross for fun this fall and so far I totally love it! I think if I start getting serious about it, which I'm certainly considering, I'll cut out the Saturday team rides. I think I could do much better if my legs were fresh so I'm going to take a Saturday off for Steilacoom next week and see how it goes. Big runup, here I come! Now I'm off to chug some OJ and stop this impending cold...