My Daily Ground: Mud, Sweat, and Gears (MSG) Cyclocross series races #3 & 4

I was super stoked to have found this series as I wasn't especially excited about spending the weekend by myself in Alabama and the BamaCross series only had 6 participants Pre-reg'd combined in all categories. Races three and four of MSG were being held in Kingsport, TN one of the tri-cities (Bristol and Johnson City are the other two). Kingsport is a relatively short (140 mikes) drive to Blacksburg, VA compared to my 400 mile drive from Alabama. I worked through my lunches on Wednesday and Friday and got on the road around 2 Friday afternoon. I decided this weekend was an excellent excuse to make my way up to Blacksburg plus get a little racing in. After finally arriving around 9pm I got some shut eye, but not before washing all my cycling clothes.

I woke up early the next morning and headed to my favorite breakfast joint in town, Gillies restaurant. Breakfast was delicious especially because today was a special day, I turned 23 today. Having my race later in the afternoon was nice as it allowed me to be lackadaisical about getting out on the road towards the race. Around 11 we got on the road for Kingsport, a not so short 2 hour drive south. When i arrived it was the perfect day for bike racing, cloudless blue skies and perfect temperatures. I registered, pinned my number, and headed out for a warm-up. I got in a 20 minute warm-up before heading out on the course to see what i was in for. My first thought was.... Wow... It's really long! I was right, during our 30 minute race we only did 4 laps.

Note the blood on the leg. Very Pro. I fell before the race even started. Because of caution tape, and a bottle in my back pocket...oops.

On your mark...

...Go. (PS the chitlin in the picture doesn't look real enthused about being dragged to another cross race by her dad)

Barriers, missing dedicated cross practice at the VT rec. fields.

The course was pretty perfect in every other regard however. It had a pavement section, four sets of roller-coaster like hills, a set of barriers, and a nice log that if you weren't careful would introduce you to the ground very abruptly; I watched several others do it, and decided I would dismount for it. The most difficult section for me included the fly-over which was basically a giant ramp with 30 to 40 degree walls that required a good bit of momentum to get up, and a lot of concentration to not go ass over end on the way down.

I got a solid start and after a ridiculous pile up on fly-over during the first lap, the race was pretty much set in stone. I felt good but there's always room for improvement, 8th on the day of 37. Sunday was much of the same and didn't seem to have as much energy during the race, managing 10th of 38. I was happy with my performance and look forward to a whole lot more cross.