Lets race

Yesterday I did my first cyclocross race, on my new singlespeed mountain bike. Cyclocross is basically mountain bike racing with road bikes that have better brakes and knobby tires, on grass and mud with obstacles to jump over (on foot). Short and fast, about 30-60 minutes per race. I am happy to say I finished. But I don't know where I placed in the beginners class. I hope to race again next week. Me entering the frame. I'm also happy to say I wasn't passed by superman.

Somethings I learned from the race (or things I already knew in theory but not in practice):

- Warming up is paramount. My friend John, who won the next category up, was on rollers for over an hour warming up.

- Really, really, really don't give it full gas on the first lap. This is probably a good time to use a heart rate monitor. I didn't feel like I was going 150%, but I must have been because I wasn't even done with the lap and I was feeling toasted. Even though I pre-road the course and was able to see where the steep sections and recovery sections were, it didn't matter, my chest and legs were killing me.

- Knobby mountain tires are not as fast as cross tires. But they grip great. I never felt like I was going to slide out even on the sharpest off-camber switchbacks.

- Its really hard to acknowledge people yelling your name (but it feels great) when you're concentrating on those off camber turns. But its always worth responding to "do a wheelie" with a wheelie.

- Riding singlespeed helps the sting when being passed by someone on a 9 or 10 speed.

Looking forward to racing again next week!