Autumn returned to Wisconsin today and I returned to Evergreen Park in Sheboygan for a pair of cyclocross races in the Wisconsin Cycling Association series. It was my first visit to Evergreen Park since September 2015, and the course was at least as bumpy today as it was 8 years ago. It’s a hard place to ride fast. Last weekend at Englewood, my average speed was 12.2 mph in the first race and 12.0 mph in the second. Today I could manage only 10.8 mph in the first race and 10.3 mph in the second, and that wasn’t because I had bad fitness.
I placed 12th out of 36 in the Masters 50+ Cat 4/5 race and 19th out of 31 in the Open Cat 4 race, when I was the last man to finish on the lead lap. And that little fact contributed to my 0.5 mph drop in average speed. The rider ahead of me was out of reach, and there was literally no one who could catch me, as everyone behind me had been pulled off the course by the USA Cycling officials. I conserved energy and took no risks, content at that point just to finish.
I felt some discomfort in my right calf near the end of my second race. I blame the long runs across the sandy beach that flanks the quarry lake at Evergreen Park. My 2022 season ended prematurely due to an injury to my left calf, and historically I have had trouble with both. There was no sensation of the muscle tearing today, so hopefully I will be OK for the races in Richfield next Sunday, October 1. I’m definitely out for tomorrow’s Battle of Waterloo, and I’m probably out for next Saturday’s Badger Prairie CX in Verona.
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