Riverside CX Recap

Sorry it has been a few rough days in the Extreme household. I have a lot of stuff going on and it's really affecting everything in my life. Sometimes you know what you want, you work your @$$ off towards that, but it still doesn't happen, and it can be extremely disheartening. All-in-all you just have to keep your nose to the grindstone and work as hard as possible to make things work, and succeed where you feel that you ultimately fail. I've struggled my whole life with a lot of stuff that most people don't know, but it wears on you and when you feel like you are at the end of the rope, or down in the hole and there is no way up, you just need some time to think things through,k and sometimes it just takes a little longer than you would like to get/achieve what you want. I know that I'm just rambling and that this doesn't make much sense, but I know what I'm trying to convey, and I'm sorry if it isn't coming through clearly.

As you all know by now I went to to the Riverside CX festival last weekend. I had a ton of fun simply because I got to go back to my hometown and see my brother and sister-in-law. I had not seen them since Tour of Missouri in September, and before that I saw them in January. That's the bad thing about working at a place that do all their business when most people take vacations, you don't get to do as much as you'd like with your family. Still would not change what I do though. Anyway, I knew I wasn't going to do great or anything. Hell, I haven't ridden that much lately. The course was really fun and open. Got to the race about an hour 45 mins before my race. Didn't pre-ride the course, and didn't really warm-up. So the whole 4's race I was playing catch-up at 110%, not really the most effective thing to do. Either way I did well, especially since I had never ran a barrier section before and did my first one on the first lap. That was interesting. Anyway I finished some where in the 40's out of 56 people, so it's an improvement from Swanson, where I was last among the finishers. The 3/4's race I was just simply gassed for. I had no energy left and just tried to hang on with all the pain my body was putting me through. I have not been in so much pain in my life. IT SUCKED! I came to some sweet conclusions during my racing this past weekend:

1. You can corner way better on tubulars than clinchers.

2. Sand is a bitch to get out of your car.

3. I can hold a turn and thigh line better than most, but need endurance to make it count.

4. 'Cross is FUN!

5. I need a skinsuit, my jersey keeps riding up when I'm running and I have to pull it down.

I went down with 2 goals in mind, and they are the same for any race I do for the rest of my career. That is to finish, and not to finish last. I did the 4's race and the 3/4's and I accomplished both of those goals. My main reason for having this goals in any race is because in Lincoln in April, I finished last in the 4's road race and crit. After that day I was completely demoralized and didn't ride for a while. Hence, why I'm not in the shape I want to be in right now, but I'm working on it. Anyway, I had a ton of fun down there, and can't wait until the Sunday CX race in Lincoln, and maybe the Sunday of Jingle Cross over in Iowa. I'm trying to get as much racing in without taking too much time off of work.