I'm Not Belgian

I'm not Belgian. Seriously, I'm not. Maybe Norwegian, German, Irish, English, and I thought somebody once said Luxembourgian, but Belgian is not in there. I've studied in Antwerp, been to Brussels, Gent, Brugge, Charleroi, Namur, and a bunch of other places, I've been hammered off of Hoegaarden and Duvel, and have eaten my weight in frites that I'm pretty sure just solidify into one giant potatoe once in your gut, but still not even close to being a Belgie. My newest bike though? It's Belgian.

I recently got a Ridley X-Ride, just the fork and frame, so I can race cyclocross. The bike is great. The rider is not so great. Sven Nys, Niels Albert, Erwin Vervecken? They're great at cyclocross. And Belgian. Go figure.

Today was my second CX race of the year. I raced last week and it was hot and dusty, but I felt like I was riding well right up until I got a pinch flat with two laps to go. Being too far from the pit to switch out my wheel, I dropped out. I wanted to make up for that today, which was the first race in the Boulder CX Series. I got there early, watched some others, including the Open Men race, and did my warm up laps. I was told the course was very bumpy and tough, and there were a few places to watch out for. This was all confirmed on my warm-up.

Heading over to the staging for Cat 4s, it was warm - somewhere in the upper 80s. Cyclocross racing is used to rain, snow, and otherwise cooler temps, not 80s. And when you're riding the rivet for 45 minutes, there's a reason why that's better than the upper 80s. I lined up closer to the back than the front since I'm still learning how to race and didn't want to ruin someone's hole shot that would be a contender. Apparently, I felt that most of the ~ 80 people were contenders. Once the gun sounded, we were off on a nice straight path to get the legs and lungs moving. We worked our way through a sand pit and up a big hill that required most to dismount. A little chance to recover and then on to a bumpy, winding descent, on to some flats, over some barriers, up another hill that required dismounting, and back near the staging area. First lap done. That wasn't so hard and I moved my way up a little bit. Second lap was more of the same with another hill and more barriers added that we skipped the first time through. Again, no big deal. Not sure what happened between the second lap and third, but my lungs were beyond capacity. Legs weren't bad, but my lungs were cooked. This is generally the point in the race where the selection has occurred and even if you're not racing for the win, you've figured out those you're racing against and go for the race within the race. They pass you here, you pass them back there. Little mistakes can lead to big gaps. That's where I was, and apparently lots of others. I was also starting to feel like I was going to pass out from the heat. The good news was that I was figuring out the rhythm of the course even if I wasn't destroying it. One more lap and then, coming down a hard turn, I almost rolled my wheel off the rim. It stayed on, but felt different. Riding a little more I realized it was leaking air but I was able to ride and run it most of the way back to the pit, switch out the wheel and keep going. It also led to me getting lapped but that happens. With a new wheel I was able to ride out the remaining laps. Maybe not as hard as earlier on, but I was willing to take that if it meant I didn't DNF. By the end, I ran (kind of) my bike up the last hill, re-mounted and cruised across the finish line......then straight to the grass to lie down and decide if I needed to puke or not. It turned out to be not. That's also a very normal decision for me after each of the CX races I've done. Just a nice little way to cap off the race really.

When it's all said and done, it was a fun race. The flat cost me, but I still finished even if the course didn't play to my strengths at all. Chalk it up to more experience, and next time maybe I'll be able to ride a little bit more like I'm Belgian. But probably not.