Let's bring a Volkswagen to an F1 race. Or, perhaps a better analogy, fuel that F1 car with E85 instead of rocket fuel.
Trek CX is always one of the highlights of the racing calendar for people and it brings people from far and wide. This year, though, it isn't a World Cup. So, only a couple of Euro pros were racing instead of most of the best. But that doesn't mean the rest of the categories weren't stacked.
There were 3 days of racing and George, Bob, and myself did 2 of them; Saturday and Sunday. All total there were probably 20-30 CCC people up there with some good representation (and at least 3 podiums). We did the 10:30 time slot which had 4 different age groups starting each about 30 seconds apart: 40+, 50+, 60+, and 70+. All told 120+ racers on course at the same time,
Before the weekend my Cross Results points were about 500. My points aren't good but for a Cat 4 slumming with the 50+ age groupers they aren't horrible. Of the 60 guys in my race I was predicted 58th based on points. The top 10 all had sub-300 points. Top 20-30 had sub-400 point. This field was crazy stacked. In fact only 11 guys of the 52 who actually showed up (8 guys paid and didn't show) finished on the lead lap. 41 people were lapped. That's crazy.
I finished 40th out of 52 on Saturday. Much better than predicted but still far down the line.
The course is very different than anything we see in the CCC. And we didn't even do the pro-only line. Lot's of punchy rises along with 3 man-made flyovers. A couple of slow drags uphill. There was one descent that really should have been done on a mountain bike. I am honestly shocked I didn't crash and I didn't see others wipe out: bumpy, dusty, and steep.
Needless to say my Chicago legs were not ready for this. I've raced up there 3-4 times so I know it is hard but it is always a shock to the system. My last two laps were 30-40 seconds slower that the first 3. I was burnt out. One thing about doing things out of the ordinary is that you have to plan better to not forget anything. So, I forgot to take any caffeine before the race. My HR was an average of 161 so not too bad but not the 167 of the week before. (More on HR later)
The rest of Day 1 I spent watching all the races including the pros. It was warm and a lot of fun. Lots of walking and not near enough water. Trek has an area tucked away on course called the Secret Bar and they were giving away beer back there. No water. So I had a beer just for something - I'm not a big beer drinker.
That leads us to Day 2 where I was not in good form. My legs hurt after the first day like I had just done 100 miles at Mineral Point. They didn't bounce back for Day 2. I actually did take caffeine this time but for some reason (lack of water/fitness?) I could only must a HR avg of 152. My times weren't actually all that horrible but they weren't good. I finished 44th out of 48 and three of those guys DNFed.
The highlights of all the races is hanging out with friends. George and Bob and I had dinner together at a surprisingly good truck stop/restaurant. So fun to hash out the racing and make excuses.
We also got to talk to some of the pros (Not the Taylor Swift security level up there) and got a picture with Maghalie Rochette.
Day 1 Lap 1: https://youtu.be/Y8RfkHaD6zs?si=E-ozjcBAQ2Bt2Ey1
Day 2 Lap 1: https://youtu.be/Gut1d-PPgj8?si=inFTzQO7-TCnNzCf
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