Well what was without a doubt the most challenging semester
of law school yet (hardest semester of my education for that matter) is finally
over. Im not sure if it was working at
the Court of Appeals again, the course, or law review; but, which ever contributed
the most to the suffering, the summation of the wounds was quite severe. Now
all I can do is wait to see if I passed. Pray for me.
So my last post was after the state crit champs, but my
season didn’t end there. I took a couple weeks off to regroup and train for my
late season. I came back in late August to do my second mountain bike race of
the year at the finale for the Southern Classic Series in my hometown trails at
Dark Mountain. I had been wanting to do
this race for a while, but the schedule or fitness never was right. This year
though I went in with decent fitness and high motivation to have my best mtb
race to date at a trail that I know better than any other. As I lined up I
noted the guy who beat me in the state games earlier in the year and figured he
was the favorite. As the start came I
easily sprinted to third wheel right behind my main rival in the brief gravel
section before we hit the singletrack leading out of the parking lot. As soon
as we made the first turn I felt the rear get squirmy and in the next 10 yard I
realized I was flat. I had burped all the air out of the rear in the first 100
yard of the race. I was upset to say the
least, but I knew I could have put down a pretty good time, so I ran back to
the car pumped the tire back up with a co2 threw a tube and tools in my pocket
and went back out just after the next Cat 3 30+ group had started. This meant I
had a five minute gap. I knew it was a long shot, but I charged as hard as I
could. I weaved my way through the 30+ group and ended up passing 1 guy from my
race. I ended up putting down around a 38 minute lap, which would have put me
right there with the winner, and was my best time there by over 4 minutes from
the same course at the same time last year. I really enjoy racing at Dark Mtn and will try
to make it back again next year.
After that I switched thing up a bit. Iv been thinking about
racing cross for a while, but have just never committed, but this year was the
year. Berger Hardware bike was having a cross series for three weekends in September
less than 10 minutes from my apartment, so I had no excuse. I transformed my bike with an awesome carbon
Niner rigid fork and some cross tires and set up for a brief cross season.
I decided to do the first two of the Berger Series (there
was a school conflict with the third) and see where I stacked up. The race was a Cat 3/4 mix field of 60+
racers. The first race I started near the back and just worked my way through the
field. I definitely pushed myself harder
than I ever had for the duration of the race (even dry heaving at one point on
the final lap) but it was a lot of fun. I ended up 30th overall and 8th
in the Cat 4’s which was a surprisingly good result I felt for my first race.
The next week I tried to start closer to the front and see how it worked that
way. In the end it all shook out with my
finishing at almost the exact same spot.
After that school
started to pick up, but I did sneak in one more race at the Wilkesboro
Cyclocross festival in early November as we just happened to be in town for a
wedding. The course was unbelievably hard
both climbing and technically, but even with a lack training I made the front
group for the first two laps of the race.
However, during the third lap I blew up hard and started to slip back.
The front 5 went off and I settled into a group loose group of 4 that was the
chase group. At the end though the others had more kick than me in the last
quarter lap and I finished 9th out of about 20 or so. I may do one
more cross race in early Janurary to try and get some speed and intensity back
in my legs after my base period and that will be my first cross season.
I cant say im hooked and ill start planning my season around
cross, as I still prefer crit racing. However, I do think I will try and make a
conscious effort next year to plan to have some fitness for some early season cross
next year and build on the decent results I put up this year.
So that’s how my 2012 season came to an end. This was without a doubt my most structured
and serious racing season, and accordingly the fastest iv ever been. My first
year was well, not much of a year at all with a few mtb races and even less
training. The next year a bit more training but no structure and maybe 1 or 2
public races with the collegiate season. This year though, I had a good base,
and had some structured intensity. I
felt fast in the early season and actually got my first win in a collegiate
crit. Unfortunately after that I had to take off for spring finals and then the
training to get back on track was hard while at the Court of Appeals over the
summer. Nonetheless, I had some respectable results and even felt like I made
my place in the peloton and at some local group rides. I feel like I actually
have something to build off of for next year for the first time in my racing “career”
and Im looking forward to it.
There will be changes for next year that im excited about,
but more on that next time.
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