Gentlemen, start your engines!

Checking in... and checking out that cute girl with the cast!

Lap 1 and eating dust

"Don't hit the brakes, don't stop pedaling."

I love this picture. It was a quick downhill into a sweeping left and I hit this at full speed. I passed this guy like he was going backwards. He's looking over at me and I have a huge smile on my face.

This is the number of days out of the year that I kick ass.

I climbed a tree for a better view of the Elite Master Men's race and I tore my arm up on my return to Earth.

The 2010 'cross season is underway with the first race of the year in the books. Saturday was the Nittany Lion CX near Trexlertown, PA, home of the Valley Preferred Cycling Center and super awesome velodrome.

It wasn't a surprise that it was pretty hot on Saturday since it's still early September, but add to it the fact that we haven't had any significant rainfall in weeks and you have some pretty non-cyclocross-like conditions. The grass was burnt yellow, the dirt was a sandy light brown, and the ground as hard as concrete. The course had no real elevation and was lacking the usual, too steep to ride, run-up that is characteristic of a cyclocross circuit. The conditions made for an insanely fast, and dusty, race where there wasn't any real area where one could rest. Just an all out sprint.

I did well at a race like this last season at Hidden Valley, but was my engine as strong this year as it was last year? The name of the game was to not give my opponents any extra room. This meant pedal strokes. Any time I wasn't pedaling and my competition was, I was losing ground. We zig-zagged across a soccer field, which meant long straightaways linked by 180 degree turns. I had worked very hard to attack racers in the technical portions leading up to this, only to lose my lead on them on the soccer field on the first three laps. It is disheartening when you can't make your passes stick and you see the guy you just passed passing you back and you can't do a thing about it. On the last few laps, it was important not to let anyone catch me through this section, so I had a mantra going through my head to keep me going, "Don't hit the brakes, don't stop pedaling."

As the race progressed, my fitness didn't diminish and I was able to attack riders and hold them off while I set my sights on the next guy in front of me. From starting in last place (and I mean DEAD last) I was able to fight through about 1/3 of a field of about 100. Not too bad for my first B race. I'll try to get better starting positions later in the season and hopefully be able to stay up there. Already looking forward to the next 'cross race, but first there are a couple more XC races I want to do. Up next is the NJ State Championship and second to last H2H race at one of my favorite parks, Jungle Habitat.