Paying the Price

        So we officially took the new house and are now in the process of moving. We started moving boxes on Saturday. The plan was to move over the course of the next week, but we actually got about half of the things done on the first day. I like the new house. It's further away from town, which I love. I would definitely consider it more "country" than our previous house. We are on the front side of a 27-acre farm that our landlord owns. It's mostly open fields, but there are some woods as well. We have already been given clearance to ride and run anywhere on the property so you know some trails are coming! There's also a fairly large pond right behind the house that I plan to swim in next year. No excuses for lack of swim training now! The house is also closer to my parents, which means closer to my backyard trail.

Our new kitchen

There's a fireplace in the den

Basement

Carport on the back

Tree in the sideyard

The view out the back includes a barn and farmland

     The moving went well, but I strained my lower back and one knee despite my best efforts to maintain good body mechanics and get help when needed. I think I'm just out of shape and have a weak core. We worked hard all day, but also managed to take some time to go hit the trail for a few laps of backyard fun. I have been having a lot of fun mountain biking on my trail lately. It's in great condition. Most of the trail is covered with leaves, but they aren't deep at all. They don't slow you down, but keep the trail from getting muddy when it rains.

     Sunday brought my second cyclocross race of the season. This time it was in Springfield, TN for the second race of the Cross the Way Series. Springfield is just 20 minutes from home, so it was nice to have another short drive to race.

     The race took place at J. Travis Price park, a venue that was used for this series a few years ago. I did well here before, dominating one of the races until I crashed and busted my front wheel. I was excited to go back, especially with how well I rode at the first cross race this year at Cedar Hill. The course was up on top of a huge hill. It was 98% grass. There was some climbing, but it was all fast and wide climbing through deep grass. The course flowed very well, making for high speeds in almost every section. There was a telephone pole across the course in one of the early turns and then one set of barriers about 2/3 of the way through the lap. Other than that, no dismounts. There was also a few tight turns near the end of the lap with a few mud puddles thrown in for good measure. There might have been mud in those puddles, but overall the course was very dry and even dusty at times. The weather has been chilly lately, but not today as the temps reached the upper-60s with the sun beaming down on the racers.

GPS on the race course

CX 3 race

Mike Edens during the CX 3 race

    On my morning road ride, my back had been tight, but Shannon was able to get it relaxed and pain-free through some massage right before I left home. I felt good warming up, just had some funky feeling legs. The CX 1/2 race had 12 starters. My funky legs got me a place in the back on the start for the 60-minute event. I was again on my mountain bike with my lightweight Maxxlite 310 tires mounted up. The tires are fast, but not as quick in the deep grass as a cyclocross tire. I knew I would have my work cut out for me today, but I was willing to give it my all.

CX 1/2 racers on the line

Race underway

     The pace was fast the first lap, as usual for a cross race. The telephone pole provided a good bottleneck the first time over. I was last in line and gaps were already forming after a few guys in front of me stalled out on the pole. We chased back onto the back of the line and I picked up one spot, then Jeremy Nagoshiner wiped out right in front of me, almost an identical crash to the one he had in front of me at Cedar Hill. His front wheel broke loose in a left turn and he buried his left shoulder into the ground. I had nowhere to go this time and had to go straight through the tape to avoid running over his legs. He was very grateful that I missed him again and thanked me after the race.

    The crash put me way off the back and I went into full chase mode. I quickly caught Patrick Harkins and then caught Britton Kinnard. I was trying to decide where to make my move when he rolled a tire and went down. That made my pass easy and put me up into 8th. There was a big gap now to the main group. Andy Reardon was off the front, but the other 7 were all together. I chased really hard for 2 laps, but lost 5-10 seconds.

Harkins and Nagoshiner

Ricardo Cannone

Photo by Rick Harris

     Then I started to notice Tim Hall getting dropped form the group. I thought he was fading and it made me go even harder to try to catch up. But I couldn't close the gap. My back began to hurt halfway through the race and I ended up losing more time than I was gaining. I decided to swap bikes for the last 3 laps so I could get comfortable on the singlespeed before the next race. Andy almost lapped me, but I just managed to hold him off. I think he backed off to let me stay on the lead lap so I could go for one more round. It was all for not though as the officials pulled me anyway. I kept going because according to the rules I am to continue on if I am not lapped by the race leader. I wanted to do another lap anyway. I made the round, but the officials didn't count it. They didn't pay any attention to my last lap. I wound up finishing 8th place on the day.

Jumping the telephone pole

Jeremy Chambers

Tim Hall

On the All City singlespeed for the last few laps

The one spot of mud on the course

Harkins

Me in the mud

      Next up was the 30-minute Singlespeed event. We were to race at the same time as the Juniors. I assumed we would start in front of the Juniors as the Singlespeed class is usually pretty fast and competitive. But I assumed wrong. They let the Juniors start 30 seconds ahead of us, including the 10-14 year-olds who were having a lot of difficulty riding this course. It didn't seem like a good idea to me.

     My legs were junk after sitting between races. I was next to last off the start and had to play catch-up the whole race. It took us about 1 minute to catch the 10-14 Juniors. It was difficult to pick our way through the traffic as we definitely didn't want to mess up one of the kids.

     I was 30-seconds behind before I got through traffic. I moved up from 8th to 4th by the end of lap 2. I still had some legs left on the long, gradual uphills in the grass, but the big gear was taking its toll on me in the tighter sections near the end of the lap. I would close down a few seconds in the open sections, then give them back up in the tight turns. I tried hard to close the gap, but ran out of strength. I slipped on the last lap and rammed a stake coming out of one of the corners. My family was there to see it and heckle me. You can hear some of it on the video below. I wound up taking 4th. It was my worst Singlespeed finish in quite a while. I was spent! My back held up though. The position on the singlespeed bike is more relaxed and gave my ailing back a much-needed break.

Video footage from the CX 1/2 and Singlespeed/Junior races

    My sister, Dina, snapped all the pics you see here. Video was shot by Dina and my Mom. I was glad to have my family come to the race. That's one of the perks of racing so close to home. They don't get to come to many races anymore. I'll be finishing off the move in the next week or so and then it'll be time for another cross race, this time at Lock 4 for the final race of the Cross the Way Series. Until then, ride hard!