It's finally here, cyclocross season! I feel like I've been waiting for this since cross ended in January. After a good season in 2011, I've been highly motivated to come into 2012 with guns blazin' and top form. I expected to organize my year around training and gearing up for cross, and especially Nittany. However, like most things cycling, not all goes to plan. Sometimes the results are better then expected, sometimes less so.
After getting my Cat 3 road upgrade last August, I had no specific goals for the road season this year, just race, learn by experience, try different tactics, and see if I could make things happen. I was done with all the "sit-in and wait for the sprint" days. And the summer went well, much better then I had thought possible, culminating with a Cat 2 upgrade even. It was a blast, so many great moments. Without expectations I was free to just race, and it turned out far better then I could have possibly expected.
However, all my best intentions for cyclocross this year have just come up short of bearing actual fruit. Yesterday was my first time on my cross bike, and first ride in two weeks. My list of excuses runs long, maybe I needed a break after a long and hard road season, I'm just finishing up a 3-week long course of antibiotics (ugh....), my cross frame was/is bent (I'm chomping at the bit to order the replacement, but still no stock available!!), school work has taken a priority, and on and on, but now now my expectations this upcoming cross season are crumbling.
But I'm beginning to see them dissolving into something better. As a complement to a very expectation oriented grad school program, cycling has been at its best when the experience trumps the outcome. Like the story that Steve tells in this post about Dave Weins turning back in the middle of a race to pick up a stick, "He was into it for the life experiences and not for the results. He wanted that stick to remember."
I'm going to take this season to make sure that I keep that perspective. Try different races, build up a single-speed, and see what happens. My plans to make a run for the MAC series has been derailed after pre-reg for Charm City (125 people already??!??!) filled up more then a week in advance, but maybe I can take that as a cue to try another race (Elites???).
Deep breath, clear out expectations.... ahh.....
Alright, race predictor has me at 7th out of 123 on day 1, and 6th out of 102 on Sunday. Plus, I think that I'll have a front row start from last years results. Seeing who else is in there, I'm not sure if top 10 is feasible, but I'd really like to get a top 25 for MAC points. This is going to be fun.....
After getting my Cat 3 road upgrade last August, I had no specific goals for the road season this year, just race, learn by experience, try different tactics, and see if I could make things happen. I was done with all the "sit-in and wait for the sprint" days. And the summer went well, much better then I had thought possible, culminating with a Cat 2 upgrade even. It was a blast, so many great moments. Without expectations I was free to just race, and it turned out far better then I could have possibly expected.
However, all my best intentions for cyclocross this year have just come up short of bearing actual fruit. Yesterday was my first time on my cross bike, and first ride in two weeks. My list of excuses runs long, maybe I needed a break after a long and hard road season, I'm just finishing up a 3-week long course of antibiotics (ugh....), my cross frame was/is bent (I'm chomping at the bit to order the replacement, but still no stock available!!), school work has taken a priority, and on and on, but now now my expectations this upcoming cross season are crumbling.
But I'm beginning to see them dissolving into something better. As a complement to a very expectation oriented grad school program, cycling has been at its best when the experience trumps the outcome. Like the story that Steve tells in this post about Dave Weins turning back in the middle of a race to pick up a stick, "He was into it for the life experiences and not for the results. He wanted that stick to remember."
I'm going to take this season to make sure that I keep that perspective. Try different races, build up a single-speed, and see what happens. My plans to make a run for the MAC series has been derailed after pre-reg for Charm City (125 people already??!??!) filled up more then a week in advance, but maybe I can take that as a cue to try another race (Elites???).
Deep breath, clear out expectations.... ahh.....
Alright, race predictor has me at 7th out of 123 on day 1, and 6th out of 102 on Sunday. Plus, I think that I'll have a front row start from last years results. Seeing who else is in there, I'm not sure if top 10 is feasible, but I'd really like to get a top 25 for MAC points. This is going to be fun.....
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