CXSR #2

NCV racers: Sarah P (finishing a very strong, very close second place in the A's), Heather C. (post 13 mile trail run race, crazy lady), Penny Elliot, and Me (Mariko)

NCV teammates that were hardcore and cheered us on all morning in the pouring rain: Cathy Crawford, Jen Scott, Shannon (not only did she cheer but she organized the volunteers as well!), Alexis Marbach, and so many others that braved the elements - you guys are hard core!

Well, I don't think anyone will disagree with me when I say it was damp yesterday in Santa Rosa... maybe that's an understatement, okay, it was POURING RAIN.

I have never felt as close to cyclocross' home land of Belgium as I did on the back stretch of the Santa Rosa Cyclocross race #2 at Youth Community Park.  With mud so deep that when I jumped off my bike at one point because I was pedaling and not actually moving, the mud sopped up over my shoes and I felt like I was running through some seasonal pumpkin puree!  I raced the C catagory, for which I got the official sandbagging notice from Penny and Alexis :-), BUT there was one other C woman who totally spanked me, with her pink tires and all!  I placed second, but not without some pretty humbling moments. 

moment #1: coming over the barriers on lap #2 (of 3, yeah only three laps in a 40 min race) Carlos was generous enough to set up two sets of three barriers.  It was sooooo hard to jump over them after killing the legs to get through the soup on the backside, and I almost landed flat on my face because I tripped over the top of the barrier.  But, as Fritz announced over the megaphone, I supposedly had a good recovery.

moment #2: On the third lap I was so exaughsted that I didn't think I was going to make it through Little Belgium, when Barb "Super fast" Howe came zooming past me, which allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief because it meant I didn' t have to do another lap, but she was hootin and hollering about how great it was to have such a sloppy course.  It totally cracked me up, it was like I was standing still when she passed me, but it was kind of inspiring and got me through the worst part of the muck pretending that I was actually going to keep her in sight.

I have to say, that these moments aside, I felt like a champ every lap I did because there was and AWESOME cheering section at every tricky part.  Cathy and Jen - you two especially - making me go over that crazy bridge when I decided to pre-ride at the last minute.  If you hadn't told me to just shush and go over the thing I would have stopped and tried to run on every lap becase I'm a scaredy-cat when it comes to that technical riding business ;-)  Near the start/finish there was a whole crew of onlookers that somehow all knew my name, Tim from Friendly Feed, Perry (Penny's man), Fritz, Carlos, were all so excited and it totally transfered to me and made me feel like a pro or something, I wanted to go faster and look more bad-ass ;-D  Silly, but when you're that covered in mud everything is silly.

And how can I not mention the hose down afterwards with all the girls completely covered in mud, hosing each other off!  It was pretty hillarious, there was only one hose, right in front of the Bike Peddler tent with all the boys cheering up a storm. 

Thanks so much for another great race Carlos, I am officially in love with Cyclocross!
~Mariko

*****
When I saw how HARD it was raining Saturday morning, I knew was going to get the real 'Cross experience. As Chris Brown said, "You asked for it, you got it".

I started my warm up on the course and as I was jumping one of the barriers I landed on my knee that is missing its ACL and felt it dislocate for just a tiny second. There were some thoughts of canning the race, but I decided to just try one lap and see how the knee would hold up.It was soon obvious that the barriers would not be on the radar for this race, it was going to be all about the MUD, and the knee was fine with that.

So we lined up behind the A's. It was actually kind of warm out, but very wet. The course was great. First the little bridge with it's cheering section that made me feel like a pro every time I went through it.(Thanks, Jen,Cathy and every one.)Then on to the serious mud.On the third lap one girl fell right into me in the middle of a huge puddle and we both went over in slow-mo. The back side of the course was a slog through the soup with only two small sections of recovery where you could actually feel like you were getting somewhere.And of course the log drop off with the bridge after a sharp right turn at the bottom - so fun. I looked behind me half way through the first lap and realized that no one was there and I had a shot at first place. The mud really took its toll on the legs, but I remembered Bear Valley Grasshopper and that mud made this mud look easy, so I just focused on that. I finished first in the B's - very happy and very worked.

Alexis was there for feed and moral support and she and Heather got their photo in the paper doing the hose-down after the race. This was very much appreciated by the boys in the NorCal tent nearby. And my brand new mudroom and deep sink got its first real workout after the race.

-Penny
***
This is a double feature with saturday being the CXSR #2 and by far the most awesome conditions. How cool is it that so far both of our local races have followed or happened during a storm. I loved the course although we had a very weak turn out. I am not sure how many started our race but I estimate 6 A women. I got an okay start, reeling in Melissa with 2 laps to go. As I passed her I went into the root descent onto the narrow bridge going into the finish area too fast and went ass over tea kettle on the bridge. Other than that I was motivated by Alison to ride that section onto the narrow bridge where later I heard a collarbone was dislocated in the men's race. Barb Howe won by quite a bit and I edged out Melissa for 2nd place.

-Sarah P.
***

SR Cross #2:

What a day!?!  After having taken a CSET exam (standardized test to be a teacher) the morning of the race, I was just grateful to even be at the race.  With no real warm up to speak of because I had to rush to get there in time for my start, I suited and set out on the gnarliest, wettest, muddiest race I've EVER done.  Wow!  The conditions were ridiculously tough, and I slogged it out for 4 laps around the course.  I fell numerous times, and laughed at myself, struggling to just keep my bike upright and move forward.  I was working  hard with my upper body to keep my bike going in a straight line and pedalling in a gear easy enough to torque through the mud.  Riding my mountain/cross bike set-up with wider tires than normal cross bikes, I sort of felt like I was trying to drive a heavy cadillac with front wheel drive through a mud pit... Nonetheless, I felt pretty good all things considered on the 2nd and 3rd laps, but by the time the 4th lap came around I started to fade and loose my coordination.  Yes, I fell in front of my most supportive cheering squad (Jen Scott and Cathy Crawford) and thus earning the name "Mud Bear" for the remainder of the day.  I was happy to have finished the race, and was extremely happy to have ridden such a tough course in the company of all of my good friends.  Thank you to all of you who cheered me on, and if you want evidence of all of the mud, check out Veronika Lenzi's website for photos of the occasion (http://www.veronikalenzi.com).  Great job to Penny Elliot for finishing 1st in the B's ( I finished 2nd) and for Sarah Piccolo and Mariko for finishing 2nd in their categories.  And thank you to Shannon and all of the other volunteers for helping to make the race happen.  Yeah Norcal Velo ladies, and yeah cross!!

Thank you for reading,
- Heather

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