A Weekend of Racing Close to Home

This weekend was a nice reprieve from the rigors of school, work and life in general. I planned about a month ago to race some cyclocross Saturday and mountain bike Sunday and I was fortunate enough to have my plans hold up. While my time probably would have been better spent getting ahead on homework, I would have been miserable and bored. Having made it through the weekend, I can honestly say that I feel like I made the right choice. Yesterday's cyclocross race was 5 minutes from home at Mansfield Hollow State Park. It was my first "official' cross race of 2011 and the only other cross course I've raced at besides there a few years ago is the DAS course at Owen Bell Park in Dayville, CT (this year's race is Dec. 11... prereg now at bikereg.com). It was an awesome day. I went to cheer on my fellow teammates in the morning and went back for the women's race in the afternoon. I stuck myself in with the Cat 1/2/3 group knowing that my inexperience would make for an interesting race. The course was AWESOME! It was long and tough and super fun. I don't think cross is my favorite thing in the world, but it's something to do when there're no mountain bike races going on. I got my butt kicked thoroughly, but was only really 4 minutes off the leader (Karen Potter aka super awesome person/racer). I was kind of shocked that it went by so quick; it seemed like we had just started and I had finally warmed up. I usually race better after an hour of racing, so I might need to rethink my warm-up routine before I race anymore cross. So, in all, the day was fun. I had a blast cheering on my friends, and they all did really well themselves. While I was at the race, I got to talk to one of the race director, Ron Manizza. What a cool guy. When I told him I live nearby, he started telling me about all of the places that I could go ride, and there are actually some I haven't been to yet that are right here in town. I told him how much I liked the course, and he told me that there is some real cross history there dating back a century. That's right, they raced bikes there back then too! Very cool. My race today was EFTA's Treasure Valley Rally in Rutland, MA. The course was a true mountain bike course. There were more rocks than I've EVER seen in a race, and some endless climbs and hairy descents. While it was the toughest course all season, it was definitely one of the best. I like a good challenge, and this was definitely that. They had the elite racers do 2.5 laps which cut out one of the long descents and one of the long climbs, but by the third lap, I was grateful. I ended up giving someone my co2 pump on the first lap expecting him to catch up and hand it back at some point, but he must have dropped out of the race because I never saw it again until I had crossed the finish line. Good thing I didn't flat (I forgot to bring a tube too... dumb). I ended up in 3rd with wicked fast Karen Potter ahead in 2nd and the super awesome Mary McConneloug in 1st. It was very cool to meet Mary; she's a really nice gal and VERY very fast. Now it's time for a break. I'm done with the long hours in the saddle unless the ride has the label "fun" attached to it. I'll do some tinkering with that cyclocross thing and attempt to enjoy it. I might even get some homework done now too.