Bloomingcross

This weekend was the second annual hometown race, "Bloomingcross." The venue was new this year, at Karst Farm Park just West of town. The venue and the course were both great. I had an okay result, but somewhat disappointing race. I raced hard and left it all out there, but I got tangled up in the sand on the first lap and jammed my pedal hard into my left calf.


(the sand. Local home-slice Erik Hamilton passing through)

Sticking my pedal into my calf cause it (the calf) to instantly knot-up. This knot then pulled on my hamstring, which then cramped every time I had to take a step (which thankfully there was only 1 dismount on the course or I would have been totally hosed). So for the 30sec-1min after the barriers I was trying to shake out my hamstrings from crampage, which is not the way to be riding after a barrier section.
Eventually I resigned myself to walking over the barriers so that I could ride after them. My thought was 'I can run these barriers, then spend ~a minute trying to shake out these cramps, or just walk them and be able to pedal after them.' I think I made the right choice, though it really screwed up my race flow. However, before I figured out the "strategy" I was just flailing over the barriers and one time I stuck my right knee into my pedal while "high stepping." Needless to say I was falling apart and I eventually came unhitched from the group of 4 I was in (I was behind a Red Zone rider and it split in front of him, he couldn't close so I had to attack him to try to close, but I had to just watch the other two ride a way). Then a guy I've raced road/MTB/CX against for years made a final lap charge on me and I could only tell him "good job" as he dropped me.
I still finished in the money (14th), but I had hoped for a better hometown showing.
Today (Monday) I feel as though I've been hit by a bus; I guess that's good and means I raced hard.
Thanks to Chris Bohnam for coming out and everyone else too (except the food vendors, which there were rumored to be two and were actually 0).
This weekend is the USGP race(s) in Louisville. Being a Cat 2 means I'm likely to be starting in the back of a ~150+ rider field of Cat 2's and 3's, so I go into it w/ no real expectations and see what I can do.
Until then, I gotta get these legs feeling better and get going again!
(photo's stolen from Ren-Jay Shei thanks bro.)