Intensity

Cyclocross is an intense sport. It taxes you physically, mentally and emotionally. Even if you are in the mid or back of the pack, you are testing yourself. It is difficult to explain the feelings of cross racing to someone who hasn't done it. In our artificial, digital, virtual, impersonal world, cross racing is very real, deeply felt and very personal. It is a primal release that I need to remain sane. In an hour of racing, you can feel everything from elation to despair.

All of these emotions played out on Saturday. Doug made the trip down to RMR and eased into the C race without telling anyone. His wrist was still killing him, but he just had to give it a go. He got the adrenaline flowing and put in a good race. A flat forced him to lose a lap, but he had a good time. His wrist is not better, but you got to keep living. We'll all be watching this week.

Tanner killed the junior field again. He had some better competition this week, but both of the other good riders, crashed pretty hard and were not a factor. Tanner brought a friend who raced for the first time and had a blast. Canyon Bikes of Draper is bringing a bunch of new cross bikes to each race for juniors to use free of charge. Pretty cool. Doug hasn't seen Tanner race cross since last year and was blown away at how much faster T is this year.

I rode very hard and was competing in the lead group for most of the race. I had two problems with dropped chains and a bent seat that cost me a few placings. The most frustrating was on the last lap. I dropped my chain on the remount of the last run-up and took forever to get it back on. This was only 30 seconds from the finish and I was passed by two riders. I caught one of the two on the last corner, but was so ticked off I sprinted like an idiot and was caught at the line. I ended up 6th in a really good field, but was very frustrated. I rode a really good race and put in a huge effort and should have been rewarded with a top 3 placing. I've relived the race all weekend and have found a bunch of things to do better next week at Ogden. Bring it on.

The best part of Saturday was JoAnn took the day off work and came to the races. It was great to have her there. She took a bunch of really good pictures. Here's some of them. There's more good ones of me because she was too into Tanner's race to take many pictures. Go figure.