Monday, November 02, 2009

Racing Vets Park

Vets park, to sum it up: pain. Lots of pain. But that is part of the allure of the course and the race. It offers the most climbing it seems of any of the races in the series and a lot technical off camber sections.
Day 1, I got 3rd place. That was my best finish ever in a cross race. I had 4th once at the KTR UCI race a few years back, but that was awarded after the race when they decided to break the catergories up by age group. I had a good start and got myself into a position that I wanted to be in. The leaders rode away on the first lap so I sat in with the second group. The last lap I decided it was time to go so I attacked into the wind. I got around a couple of the guys, then on this off camber down hill the guy in front of me wiped out. Hopefully he is ok, but I didnt see him back on sunday though. That put me in third place and I held it for the rest of the lap.
Day 2, was another 3rd place. I really didnt know what to expect. My legs were sore, but the course seemed easier. I got out for my warm up lap, and felt really tired. I got back to the car and checked my blood sugar, and it was 41! No wonder the course felt so hard. Because of that I didnt get much of a warm up in before the race. At the start of the race I was sitting in second for about 1/2 the first lap, until we hit the big ride up. Then a 3 or 4 guys went around me and opened up a decent sized gap. I spent the next lap or two working my way back up to 3rd and 4th place. I finally made contact before the big hill and sat on for a bit. Before we hit the big hill I moved into 4th place, and rode there for most of the rest of the lap. We werent really going as fast as I would of liked so I was debating when I should go. On the start of the last lap I decided it was a good time to put in an attack. It worked and I opened up a decent sized gap. I was worried about being able to hold it up the big hill since that is where I got passed on the first lap, but it held all the way to the end.
I guess all the training hours are paying off finally. It felt good to get on the podium after all these years.

It was just myself and John racing both days. John continued on his streak both days with a fifth and a thrid place finish.

3 comments:

chunky dunker said...

CURT! CURT! CURT!

Todd Shorkey said...

Awesome job Curt!!!

TP said...

HELLZ YES!