The Roller Coaster

Up and down and whipping all around.  Sometimes you want to get back on the ride and other times you want to lose your lunch in a rusty old garbage can.  In the past couple weeks I have ridden the roller coaster of cyclocross.  The first ride was awesome.  The next ride I ended up in that garbage can.  Sometimes you need to know when to say when.  I didn't and paid the price.

I went back to Lembi Park in Folsom for some redemption of sorts.  I had a "rolling snowball" amount of bad luck there last year, ending up on the pavement with a jammed thumb and fair amount of road rash.  This year I wanted a redo.  So I headed up to Sac and lined up against some Berries and my Sac nemesis, Jeff Mitchell.  Jeff is the local and was leading the series.  I promised myself not to go out too fast and sure enough in the first turn I was dead last.

Soon enough I started to weave my way through the traffic and made it near the front.  Lembi is possible the best course in all of Norcal.  I wish more people came up to race it.  It has all the classic cyclocross feature - grass, off camber, road, mud (since it had just rained), run up and even a sand pit, which they put us through twice this year.  This course has lots of elevation and a great local crowd.  There were 4 of us after the first selection with this mountain biker taking massive pulls.  Jeff, Jon the Berry and I just tucked in.  By the 4th lap I knew we had to get rid of this mtb guy so I attacked.  Jon followed and then Jeff.  Mtber, gone.  As I was pulling all the air in Sacramento into my lungs, Jon attacked me.  Oh, I hated him.  I tried to follow, but to no avail.  Jeff went and I got dropped immediately.

So I was in no man's land just finishing up when I noticed the Mtber coming back. What?!  So I was determined not to let him pass me.  By the last lap this outright fear turned to elation as my efforts where pulling Jeff back closer to me.  I caught him after the sand pit, then attacked (like the crit rider I was) on the pavement where I crashed last year.  I held him off and by the end I was gassed.  Jon the Berry had won, but I had really dug deep on this one.

Into the sand pit with Jon M. in pursuit

The roller coaster was on a high that day.  It would all drop the next day as I tried to do the double and race Stafford Lake CX.  I had a feeling that I was not on top form and I should have listened to that feeling.  Murphy Mack set up a course with a few circus obstacles which I was not really pleased with - a 4 foot tall wall and a 4 foot deep pool of water.  Not really my idea of a CX course.  I was just about to pack up and leave when I heard that there was at least a bypass to the water pit.  Ok, I will race.

First half lap I felt good chasing the two more Berries - Brian F. And Gannon M.  But as the first lap came to a close I knew the engine room was losing power.  I should have stopped then, but I didn't.  I just had too much pride.  Well, that pride hurt me more than I thought because after the race the ball of my foot swelled like a softball.  I ended up having to stay off the bike for two weeks, go on prescription meds and lose a lot of fitness.  Point being...if you conscience says don't do something....don't!  And the roller coaster hits rock bottom....