LARPD CX Race? report

ummm.. not so great.

So, I grabbed the mtb, switched from 2.55 tires to 2.0, and decided
to give this thing a try, not knowing what to expect.

The course is a bunch of twisty turns arounda couple of different
horse fields, stables, etc. A barrier section close to the start,
and a set close to the finish, and a nice run up the stairs. Much of
the course was very soft due to the rains, but there were only a
couple of real puddles.

I entered the C group, with the thought that I should be competive
with that group. (Wrong!) The starter told us we would likely do 4
laps, blew his whistle, and off we went.

The pack almost immediately split into two with about 8 or 9 opening
a gap, so I jumped to join them. We were pulling away from the rest,
but I didn't think it was too bad at first. I kept losing momentum
in some of the tight turns and had to give bigger efforts in the
straights to keep up. The leaders eventually pulled away in the
straights, but when we got to the stairs, instead of shouldering my
mtb, I did a one handed military press and flew up the steps passing
about 3 people, and I hammered trying to catch a couple riders in my
sights ahead. By the end of the first lap, I wasn't feeling too
good, and knew I went out too hard. The start of the second lap, I
almost puked (how's that for a newb), and got passed back by several
people in the longer straight-aways :( I formed a group with 2 others
and tried to recover myself, and maintained a decent pace with them
until the steps when I flew up again, and they were only 1/2 way up,
so off I went by myself. I thought I was probably in 10th or so, and
at the end of the second lap, the bell was ringing, and I thought
huh? So I pretty much rode the 3rd lap by myself with a big group in
front of me, the two guys behind me, and a big group several hundred
yards behind them. I tried to pick it up and catch the group in
front, which I got pretty close to, but couldn't quite catch.

Oh well. I think I ended up 13/27. Not very good, but I guess its a
good wake-up and learning experience. I was hoping to do one or 2 C
races this year, and do B's next year with a real cross bike. Maybe
I need to re-think that. But I probably will do Bs anyways because
the C race was waaay too short (even though I didn't seem to have
enough gas).

After the race, I caught up with a couple of other racers, and they
were saying that the pace wasn't nearly as fast as the B race they
did the week before (huh?). Then a couple of of them lined up for
the B race, and were up toward the front of that race for a bit
before I stopped paying attention.

I guess I am pretty good at the steps (all that hike-a-bike practice)
and seemed to make it over the barriers without tripping or losing
much position so I can take that as a bright spot.

Oh well. Next? I am eyeing the CXSR race on 1/10. Anyone else? The
SC Peak series conflicts, but I may try to make one.

Rafael