Why are you a mess?

These were the words spoken to me by my daughter Amelia when I returned home with mud all over my face.  The reason, honey, is that daddy spent 45 minutes riding around in the mud at Quad Cyclocross race.  It was a roaring good time with a lot of rain over the preceeding days, and of course day of.  Such a difference from last year when it was hot and fast. Now it was cool and slow.  I got my typical lousy start, which has been pissing me off.  I was able to work my way through the field fairly quickly, though, although the efforts were leg-sapping.  The course became technical due to the mud, and it was hard to power through certain sections because the mud would just catch your wheels.  Tire selection became very important, as did power output. Go too hard and you’ll spin your wheels (literally).  Not go hard enough and you are a loser.

I was able to keep the front of the group in sight, but had a few problems with shifting and then my chain slipping off going over the barriers.  I hope to have solved that problem with a new chain.  The other one was pretty stretched.  All those efforts to catch up only to lose time with stupid stuff took its toll.  I was able to keep things together better than the previous weeks, however.  I was going nose to nose with a guy from HUP United, and was able to pass him when he bobbled a couple of corners.  On the positive side, I was able to get 7th place.  On the negative side, I got 7th place.  Should be doing better, but still don’t have that gear.  I have read that it can take 2 months to fully recover from an Ironman and be race ready.  We’ll have to see, because right now is just over 2 months, and in fact the legs are feeling better.  No ‘official’ races this weekend, but next weekend is Gloucester.  I am going to get destroyed in the 1/2/3 35+.  But, hopefully racing faster will make me race faster.