Cyclocross is fun!

Ted, Stephen, Hitcher, and I drove to Spokane this morning to do the second race in the Inland NW Cyclocross Series. It was held at Valley Mission Park, which is a course both Ted and I really like, and the turnout was really good. It looks as though the sport of cyclocross is just growing in our area because, so far, the numbers of racers seem to be much larger than in years past. Of course, I'm sure the beautiful sunny skies and upper-60s temperatures encouraged some people to show up.

Side note: Ted and I have realized that we should have shortened the length of the junior races in Pullman last weekend. It never occurred to us until we heard that the juniors would be doing 30-40 minutes, rather than the 55 we had them do. Oops. Like I said, we were a little rough around the edges.

Ted and Stephen's field had over 20, while mine had only 4. While all the other categories seem to have blossomed, the women's field may even be smaller than in years past. We need more ladies. Cyclocross is a blast! Anyway, Ted and I both felt better than we did last week, which is not surprising since we actually got a warm-up and drank something before the start. Ted finished toward the back, but he's happy with it. I started out slowly, riding in 2nd or 3rd for the first 2/3 of the race, but got a second wind and picked it up dramatically. I caught the other woman ahead of me, so I ended up winning.

My new bike felt good. I'm still not used to the SRAM shifting, but I'm getting better with it. I was definitely faster on the run-ups, which was at least partially due to the lighter bike. In fact, I just noticed that for the first time since I started racing 'cross, I do not have a bruised, sore shoulder. I do, however, have a very sore right knee. I don't know exactly what I was doing, but I was carrying my bike strangely up the run-ups, so it was leaning very far forward. At least twice I bashed my right knee on the spokes. It's swollen and turning shades of red and purple. I learned eventually, though, and started carrying it in a better way.

I'm already excited for the race next weekend. Cyclocross is fun!