MMIXYYZUCIC1CXDAYII

After Paul's, the mountain bike was put into pure recreational mode. Lots of wheelie practice and general tomfoolery to be had. Tempted to head up to Hardwood Hills for their unrepetitive loop race, but I have a hard time resisting the calling of the 'cross. The bike was removed from the vault (err... basement?) and had some new-fangled shallow aluminum clinchers fitted. I crave attention and what better way to get it than having wheels that no one else uses?

Managed to get out for some running and plyometric "workouts" in the weeks prior. Other than combating obesity, no specific training goals were in mind. This would hopefully have the added benefit of allowing me to keep walking as part of my skill set after my first race. Specific cross skills were not targeted. Being a UCI-sactioned race, there would be lots of guys making it look easy. I was there to add a dose of sketchiness and to show that anyone can do it. Self esteem boosts for everyone!

Had lots of time to think about my pre-race routine while driving to Centennial Park. Also had lots of time to think about why I was stuck in traffic on the Gardiner at noon on a Sunday. Pre-race activities included a spirited registration hunt, a 33% success rate on self-number-pinnage, and a tentative exploration of the course. Also revealed the patented clockwise-spinning-exit from the barriers to a small focus group.

Upon realization that I'm not cool enough to be different, I did not execute this during the race. Or... ...hitting the barriers at full clip is scary enough as it is, so there's little room for flair. That, and I've only successfully spun counter-clockwise in a competition scenario.

Call up was smooth and audible, allowing myself to find a nice quiet spot on the back row. Heard an official update to the tune of 'Four minutes to go' and decided to spend some of those four minutes in a blue plastic phone booth-ish haven. From my new perspective of a vented plastic window, I learned that time checks aren't to be trusted as go time was cut down to a minute to go. Lots of yelling from a concerned spectator was directed at the start line to inform the officials of their freestyle-timekeeping and my justified absence. No biggie, as I had enough time to sanitize the hands (doing my part to make sure cyclocross is not responsible for the spread of swine flu) and roll back to the start box in a leisurely fashion.

A strongly worded letter will be sent to the next person who rushes my personal reflection period.

Race was good. Course was entertaining, as were the folks who would stack it, bridge back up, and then smash into something else. Will likely be getting out to a couple more races this year since it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside afterward. Group hug.