Last Wednesday's XC race used a course I especially remember from last year, except it had to skip Little Vietnam due to the river's ongoing flood stage. The course uses several sections of the 24-hour course, but in reverse. It also has a notable hillclimb that I think should have "cardiac" in its colloquial name, if it doesn't already. And there are a few turns that come up so fast it's easy to overshoot them... after racing this course last year and having that problem, I decided it was a good idea to arrive early enough for a pre-ride. So after checking in, I pre-rode part of the course to remind myself of some of the sudden corners, as well as the bottlenecks and passing opportunities.
The race went so-so. I was having an off day as far as bike-handling went, and at the start, my heart rate climbed pretty fast, so I didn't get to the first bottleneck with the leaders for fear of totally blowing up. Hey, it's a 16-mile race, there's time... Then again, my racing strategies usually work as well as the villain-capture plan in a typical Scooby Doo episode. ;)
Anyway, if you have ten minutes to burn, the video below shows how that all worked out, plus a bonus feature of a young Two Wheel Transit customer racing on his Trek 3500. Cliff Notes version: I pursue but lose time on the lead group, and end up riding by myself for 1½ laps, finishing 3rd, throwing on my raingear, having a couple root beers, and then riding home.
Did you notice that the race course looks like a map of North and South America?
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