Monday, September 17, 2012

OVCX #1 The Apple Orchard

This weekend was the series opener for the major midwest CX series, the OVCX (Ohio Valley CX). The venue is in Indiana, but really considered Louisville because it's just over the river, a few minutes up I-65 from LV.
This is the third year for this venue, but I've only been once, which was two years ago because last year I was up all night throwing up the night before this race. It's a cool venue, though the ground is exceptionally rough. It is an apple orchard/pumpkin patch/family fun destination (mini golf, corn maze, hay rides, that kind of crap), so tractors drive over the grounds all the time. This makes for some bumpy, bumpy ground on a bicycle. Plus it's been s dry this year that it was a major dust bowl too.
I'm not sure of numbers or stats, but this was one of the bigger elite fields we've had at an OVCX race. I think there were like 70+ people. This made the start pretty important because if you got shuffled way back, you had a lot of work to do get in a good spot. There was some start line drama that for all practical purposes made the third row the first row available. Long story. I was in that third row.      
It wasn't so bad though. Things got pretty strung out pretty quickly. I went back and forth with a few guys for most of the race.   

I corner knee out moto-sylee.
I felt pretty good and rode a good race. I started somewhere around 16th-20th and finished 18th. I would have liked to have been more like 13th-14th, but that's racing. I can't really look back and think of anything I could have done much differently do have done much better. And hey, 18th is in the money!

Having two races under my belt so far I feel that I'm able to push myself really well. CX effort is so hard, it's difficult to predict whether you will be able to push yourself to the limit or hold back like 1%. My heart rate files are telling me that I'm pushing hard. And I'm feeling okay while doing it. I've been doing some good training, which brings me to this week. "Rest" week. I'm going to rise easier miles and do no intervals this week. There's no race this weekend, so I'm going to make it a recovery week. I've been at it for at least 5 straight weeks now (I lost some data with a computer switch, but it's 5 or 6 weeks) and this is a long season. So I need to remember to schedule "rest" when I can. But I'm having fun and feeling good. And that's what it's all about. I'm looking forward to the season!    



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