I did something today that I had done only twice before: I doubled-up at a cyclocross event. It happened in Wausau in 2016 and in Illinois in 2017. I had traveled considerable distances, and I was going to get my money’s worth. Today’s venue was in Fall River, just 52 miles from home. That’s not too much of a travel burden. My decision to double-up was motivated only by the desire to compete, not by the desire to squeeze everything I could out of my investment.
My first race today at Englewood CX was Masters 50+ Cat 4/5, and it was the 100th USA Cycling-sanctioned race of my career. If you can find all of my USA Cycling results—that’s road, mountain bike, and cyclocross—then you might be fooled into thinking I began today with 101 career races. But it’s not true. USA Cycling continues to credit me with one race for which I was registered but did not start and with another race in which I had no involvement at all. I’m not sure why USA Cycling didn’t remove me from those results when I called out the errors years ago. Oh, well, it doesn’t matter now. I’ve hit a legitimate milestone. (Thursday’s cyclocross practice was a milestone too. It was the 70th practice I have hosted in West Bend since I started the series in 2012.) My result today was solid but unspectacular: 14th out of 45. I really liked the course, which had lots of hammer-down grassy sections on which I excelled. I wasn’t great on the sandy, twisting descent through the pines, but overall I was very satisfied with my result.
I followed up later this morning with the Open Cat 4 race. Having a 1-hour break after the Masters 50+ Cat 4/5 race is what makes the Open Cat 4 race possible for me this season. I had time to refuel, to ensure I was properly hydrated, and to swap out some sweaty clothes for dry ones. So, I was comfortable when the race started … maybe too comfortable. I didn’t have the same snap in my legs that I had in the first race, and I don’t think that was fatigue as much as it was a shoddy warmup between races. Garmin says my average moving speed in the second race was 12.0 mph, down from 12.2 mph in the first race. That’s not a big drop, but I felt it. And in a race with a lot of much younger guys, that drop in speed translated to a drop in the standings. I placed 28th out of 40.
Look for me on Saturday, September 23, in Sheboygan. I won’t be in Franklin tomorrow for the next event in the WCA cyclocross series. I have to work from 11 p.m. tonight until 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. That’s a typical Saturday night for me, so most Sunday races are out.
Work took an unwelcome turn this week when my 3rd Shift coworker announced his retirement, effective September 29. We work together Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, then he works alone on Thursdays and Fridays, and I work alone on Saturdays and Sundays. Hopefully his position can be filled right away, but no matter how quickly a replacement is found, I can expect to work additional hours until the new hire is sufficiently trained. That could affect my Saturday racing plans if my Friday nights are no longer free. For example, I may have to target the 2:25 p.m. Open Cat 3/4 race instead of the morning races. I would expect to take a serious beating in that race, but at least it would be an opportunity to compete.
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