Iowa Psycyloscross

The race report for Iowa cross is summed up by saying "Hot and Fast". 26 lined up in the 123, 30+ 40+ race. The conditions were hot with temps hovering around 85, the conditions flat and very fast. The course was a 1.75 mile loop with wide sweeping corners, fast descents, very long road sections, and 1 steep run up. The gun went off and we launched into the oblivion. I sat back about 4th for the first 30 seconds then decided to make my way to the front, we hit the first set of barriers doing 25mph, I jumped off to run and by the time I made it past the 3rd barrier I was 5th. It became very clear to me that I needed to work on my dismounts. I grabbed back on and held with the leaders through a long sustained climb, a very long road section, and then the run up that I needed fixed ropes for. At the end of the first lap I was cooked, but tried to suck it up, by the 3rd lap I thought we were almost done only to discover that the lap cards read 7 to go, that was not a good feeling. When I approached lap 5 of 10 I knew my only hope was to try to sustain in hopes of simply gaining on those that had fallen victim, but this was not to happen. Every lap I pounded as hard as I could, but it felt like someone had put a belt around my chest and cinched it up tight, my legs felt like that same person had poured lead into my femoral arteries, ugh. By the end I had finished a disappointing 13th, but had ridden to my limits for the day, so I had no regrets just disappointment, which is always better than wishing you had given a little more. The race was fast without big climbs, not my cup of tea, so fast that I did each1.75 lap in 6 min. 10 laps thus Averaging 17.5 miles per hour I've been on road rides that weren't that fast and this was on my 29er. Oh well that's my sob story race report, on to the next one, no time to dwell because there is always a next one.