Cat. 3 racing, welcome to the jungle!

I prepped for the pain, the hurt of racing to the limit for an hour. Mentally I was ready to dig, physically I was strong and the weather even cooperated with sunny skies and cool weather. The only problem was that I was moving up to the Cat. 3's where the field was bigger, the quality higher and the speed faster.

The course today was outside Boulder at the FlatIrons Mall of all places. It sounded corny but the course was long with a mix of tight corners, slick grass and some fast flats. After riding the course a bit I chose my tires (knobby up front, slick in the back), decided what to wear and got onto my trainer to continue warming up. I did some quick spinning and big gear efforts getting ready to hurt. After downing my customary Double Latte PowerGel I headed off to the start. With no call up I knew I'd be starting in the middle at best. When the start of the race is super important like it is in cyclocross this makes the whole race a come from behind effort.

My rad skinsuit and caffeinated PowerGels helped me go faster! Photo: C. Johnson

 My assumption was correct and as we took off I was in the middle of 80 other racers flying into the first corner. It had been awhile since I'd experienced what that was like and I was happy just to get through safely. When we finally hit the grass it was carnage. The left hand U turn backed the field up and guys were falling everywhere. Many riders, including myself, hopped off the bike immediately and got to running. Re-mounting the bike I tried to make up ground and not let any riders by me.
Feeling good I tried to put in some efforts on the flat sections and not get caught up in the crashes.

The grass was well worn from previous races and it was super slick. All high speed corners became a gamble and even if you stayed upright you could still be taken down by the guy in front of you. On one fast downhill left turn three guys stacked it right in front of me. On a slow U Turn with an uphill I was riding it clean when the guy behind me fell and put his shifter into my rear wheel. When that stuff happens there's just not much you can do.

Then I felt my rear tire going soft. It wasn't an immediate flat so I continued to ride it for two more laps. I could feel the tire getting softer and on the off camber sections I thought it was going to roll right off. I yelled at my friend Shane who was in the pit area giving me bottle hand up that I would need a wheel when I came back through.

The course was mostly slick grass and off camber U turns that wreaked havoc on the field. Photo: C. Johnson

 I rolled into the pits where Shane had gotten a girl from Mavic, who was providing neutral support, to help with the change. Unfortunately she fumbled it a bit and it took almost 30 seconds when it should have taken 10. Not that it cost me a victory or anything, but it was annoying none the less.
So I rolled away ready to just go as hard as I could. I quickly glanced at my watch and saw we were only 25 minutes into the hour. I was determined and now I had some clear space in front so I could ride my own lines.
Finding my rhythm I was on the edge of going too hard and just hard enough. This was my first time racing for an hour, in the Cat. 4's we only went for 45, so I was worried about that extra time. I was surprised at how well I was feeling late into the race. Recently I'd begun using PowerBar's newest product, Beta Alanine. It is a pill that helps clear lactate and allows you to go harder and keeps your perceived exertion level down. After a month long loading protocol of 4 pills a day I am now in the maintenance phase and am really starting to notice it's effects. While my heart rate was pegged at 165 and up (above what I normally see) I wasn't gasping for air or feeling like I would pop at any minute. This kept me motivated to get the guys I could see ahead of me.

Trying to ride hard the whole way. Photo: C.Johnson

 In the end I was happy with my effort, even though it put me in 40th out of 59 finishers. Without the puncture and the wheel change I could have been higher up, but I don't delude myself into thinking it cost me a win or podium.
For my first foray into the Cat. 3's I had raced hard and put out a strong effort. I'll be racing again next weekend and hope to have a better result, but if I can look back and be happy with my effort that will be enough.