Mill Creek CX

I spent most of the night having dreams about forgetting something. The first time, I got to the race and forgot my bike. I woke up, went to the bathroom and back to sleep. Then I forgot my socks...rolled over...they were calling my race and I wasn’t dressed. I tried to put on my shorts and they were inside out...I woke up and decided to make some coffee...so much for sleeping in.

It’s been a busy week as far as bikes are concerned...a commuter cx bike and a race cx bike are in the works, along with some parts being swapped and my road bike being readied for sale...I was at the shop from early afternoon until close three days last week. As a result, my CAADX is built up for commuting and there are million bike parts in my living room. 

I’ve never done a 1/2/3 race in NJ. The start time (12:06pm) doesn’t suit me well as I am accustomed to racing in the morning. The length of the race (45 minutes) is also longer than I’m accustomed to. BUT this was less than half an hour from my house and much closer than my other options for racing this weekend. Surprisingly, only five women pre-registered. With an additional two day of registrations, the field size grew to seven. It was announced that everyone would get paid. Not a bad deal!

The sun came out for our race and it got pretty damn hot. When I passed the line and heard “three to go” I did the math in my head. This is going to be a long ass race...and it was...52 minutes (for me) which was 20 minutes longer than last weekend at Nittany. 

Lap four is where it started coming undone. The leader was well off the front and the two women I had kept close started to pull away. There I was, on a windy, open field in NJ, navigating twists and turns, a few off cambers and some barriers...no one to chase, no one pursuing me. I did my best to keep it steady and finish where I thought I would...fourth.

Those extra 20 minutes of racing gave me reason to celebrate with an excellent seasonal from Long Trail Brewing Company. Cheers!