60 Minutes of what?

Took a little drive with Gianni today and during our excursion we happened upon a little bike fight out at a rodeo park in Folsom. So we figured what the heck, we had our weapons with us and looked like our colors were being flown.

So Joey O. peer pressured me into taking on the big dogs in the As/Masters As. Well, since I wasn't expecting much and I am probably not going to cross much this year I'll just do it for the workout.

We arrived a little late and had just enough time to sneak in a lap and see what I was in for. Good course for the bike in the post below. Fortunately I slapped on a bigger gear for a little more top end. The bike worked well and with riding the Mt. Bike up a P-Ridge I was starting to get some skills back.

The downside? The pre-ride was the first dismount I have done since Pilarcitos last year, and no running at all. I figured it was no biggie, I am going to get my arse handed to me anyway.

60 minutes of cross racing is really long, especially when there is this nasty little run up that these little legs just don't like (no stride). My thought was tempo, tempo, tempo, then get my feet back on the pedals ASAP. Clipped or not, get them damn pedals a turnin, worry about the rest when you can.

After the first lap things started to get split up a bit and I could use my MTB skills and Short track style of riding to move up. One at a time, I'll pick off as many as I can. The barriers were not as bad as I anticipated, adrenalin does a lot.

Style? I have no style.
Technique? More like falling gracefully.

I have come to enjoy my own little way of coming at a barrier at the end of straight. I hit the straight away as fast as I can get my gear turning, each lap shooting for a higher number on the speedo. As I approach I brake only a little and use whatever speed I can carry to bound over the barrier by only touching the ground a couple of times before in I am in the air.
It's probably wrong, and real crossers would likely just shake their head and say "what a dork", but it feels kind of good, and it feels kind of fast. So like everything else, I'll just keep doing it my own way, cause I like it.

3 laps to go and I pick off one more rider, it appears that he didn't like me passing and we sprinted for this whole shot through a gate about an inch wider that my Monkey Lites. This lead to a quick run around a baseball diamond and onto the straight away with the barrier. I buried the tack trying to make sure I didn't get passed back and homeboy must of been chasing hard and lost his senses. I cleared the barrier and then heard a loud crash behind me. LOUD!!!
Like 6' tall bowling pins being knocked down.
My evil plan worked, gas em so they make a mistake.

Courses like this one are pretty good for me, they change a lot, with a lot of short quick sections, and slightly technical. Once into the laps I like to break a course up into small sections and set little speed goals as a I pass through it, only thinking about that short section. What breaks the sections up are areas where you don't pedal, turns, down hills, or barriers.

60 minutes later and I ended up 7th overall and 4th in the geezers.
Damn! Foiled again, now that I am in the points I have to go back and do the whole series. It would be disrespectful not to.

I really would like to buy a real cross bike and see what I can do with the right equipment, but the dollars are tight. I do like the look of the Bianchi San Jose.