All Cated up

Well, I finally got my Cat 3 upgrade and did my first race in the big boy category at Badger Prairie. It was quite the race with a field of over thirty riders that were all looking to crush it. The week prior was an off weekend except if you did the WORS finale, which left a hefty chunk of us jonesin for cyclocross. The ourse was great with one set of three barriers, a barrier that was only accessible through a short cut(that no one took), and the last one being a log in the middle of an up hill. The leaders of my race were hoping over the log, a skill that is very valuable seeing that the top cat 1s were hoping it too. Those guys know what they are actually doing out there. Where I am just kind of riding around trying to look good, which worked out fairly well. So I am going to start working on the bunnyhops at a race pace and hope to break them out in a race sooner than later.

In the morning i woke up with enough time to hit Beans & Barley before going to M/Wildman's house to be picked up. I thought this errand would take me a half an hour so I alotted for such time. To my surprise it took a mere ten minutes. I headed to the randavu point regardless showing up a good twenty minutes early with the M/Wildman answering the door half naked. Once being picked up by Cale and Katie we were off to Badger Prarie only having to stop once for a pee pee break. I was nervous, thinking for some reason I would not get the "ok" to upgrade to the 3's. I did and was trembling with anticipation for the race. The pre ride I did before hand helped me out a bit with knowing what corners were going to be hairy and the overall course lay out. As for the line up I started a couple rows back, which later turned out to suck due to bottle necking. I made up most of my positions on the first and second laps. On the second lap I was behind the M/Wildman when he dropped his chain on a bumpy and speedy descent. John Fang of BKB dropped the hammer on the final climb after catching back up to me from a wreck and passed me like I was standing still. At the end of the race I came out with a seventh place finish. When the race was over I thought of a handfull of things I would do differently, but I can only apply them to the next race, since this one is now in the past. This race was the half way point through the season and since I need a lot more practice I will be able to tell if it is actually paying off.