HPCX

The rule for this season is no races more than an hour away from home. Charm City is one of my favorites and it was tugging at my heartstrings last weekend. I resisted the urge to travel to Baltimore. It was the right decision for both personal and financial reasons.

HPCX was new for me last year. I remember that it was brutally cold and that there was no place nearby to get coffee. 

I arrived at Thompson Park a little before 8AM and proceeded to double flat on the pre-ride. My initial instinct was to pack up and go home. After some persuasion, I headed over to the Stan’s No Tubes tent for support. The mechanic was able to seal my front tire, but couldn’t guarantee that the rear tire would hold. No pre-ride, no warm up, sealant oozing out of my back tire and my race goes off in thirty minutes. 

My pit bike is a peanut butter sandwich...let’s eat...then let’s spend $100 on new tires at the bike shop!

I can’t say that I was thrilled when the alarm went off at 6am on Sunday morning. It was dark and cold, like frost on the windshield cold. This time, I pulled out all the stops...a road bike, trainer (what?? who warms up?) and two CX bikes made the journey with me. I cannot believe how much shit one person needs for a 40 minute bike race.

The course on Sunday was new this year and it included two sand pits. I watched people ride, but I also saw some epic failures. Running would be the fastest way for me to get through this section. I committed to the run, even though most people around me would be attempting to ride.

I had a decent start and settled in somewhere around 4th or 5th. There was nowhere to recover on this course. If it wasn’t the sand it was a climb or a run up. It wore me down, but it felt good. I hung in there and battled it out for a third place finish, which was a nice turn around from the double flat on day one.

HPCX Day 2

I woke up with no regrets about ordering that pizza last night. When I went outside to load the car it was noticeable that it had changed from summer to fall. I hopped on the Turnpike North and opted for Lionel Richie over Taylor Swift for my soundtrack.

The course was noticeably different with the exception of the nasty paved climb. My legs felt like cement on the warm up so I tried to keep moving until the start of our race. The field was smaller than the previous day, but the competition was still present. I vowed to have a better start, which I didn’t and promptly went to work. Heading into the second lap I was in eighth. On the bell lap I found myself in fourth. That’s when I noticed a yellow jersey on the side of the course. It was the series leader with a flat. 

I successfully avoided all remaining trees and finished third...the podium I had hoped for, one day late.

A special thanks goes out to Noodles the dog for heading up the cheering section today. Next weekend I put on my big girl pants for the first time in the 1/2/3 race at Crossasaurus Awesome.

HPCX Day 1

I got dumped this week. I was handling it fairly well until sitting alone with my thoughts on the drive to Jamesburg this morning. Breakups should be forbidden during CX season.

In order to race, one needs to possess both a physical and a mental presence. Today, I lacked the latter.

There was a run up, followed by a steep descent. I made a mental mistake, being more concerned about clipping in than the line I was taking, which left me off course and into a tree.

This came at the very end of the fourth lap. I went from third to sixth, with only one lap remaining. I could not shift and my saddle was crooked, but I finished. Aside from a nice handlebar check to the ribs I am ok. It could have been much worse. I drove right to the shop and am ready to roll tomorrow. Hopefully, all of me will show up this time.