So this past weekend has been a long time coming. Ever since the purchase of my CX bike in August of 08' I have had the constant question of if I was ever going to race. Well, before this weekend I had never raced at all on a bike, so I decided why not do two races back-to-back for my first experiences as a bicycle racer. On Saturday, I participated in the Fall Color Festival at the John Muir trails with James Ira. We rode the 20 mile course on our single speeds and I quickly discovered what riding single speed in a pack of non-single speeders was all about. Needless to say, I finished 53rd out of 103, and 3rd in my 18-28 age group.
Sunday, I arrived at James Ira's house at 6:00AM to meet up with his brother Joe, and their friend. We were all about to go to the USGP Cross race in Sun Prairie. We were all going to part-take in the Cat-4 race that was to go down at 8:30 in the AM. Since I had not registered though, I was required to get there an hour before hand. Joe and I got to Angell Park Speedway at 6:45AM to register.
Going into this, I knew it would be quite a task to even complete the 35min of hell I was about to endure, but I had no idea what I ultimately had gotten myself into. Right away as we left the starting area, it was a cluster f*ck of major proportions. In the Cat-4 race, there were about 80 plus registered riders, many of which were not the greatest bicycle rider to say the least. My main goal was to steer clear of the scary ones, and get as far ahead at the get go as I could. My plan didn't work out so well, so I ultimately got stuck behind quite a few riders. Going on, about 3 laps in, I was feeling all aspects of my hurt, mainly the screams of my back. I fought through the death of my body, and completed the laps. I managed to not get pulled from the group, as a couple of my friends did, so I was pretty happy about that. This race gave me a good idea of what to expect this cross season, and I think I'm ready for more.

XD