That was my one and only goal for today's race. Actually I had two. The second one was to finish, and I did!
Today I did my 2nd cyclocross race ever, the Battle at Barlow, in Gresham, OR. It was quite possibly one of the hardest things I've ever done (and that includes giving birth to two good size babies sans drugs!) Holy mud, Batman! It was the consistency of peanut-butter and slippery as all heck! And the run-up! OMG, the run up! Imagine a staircase for a giant, made of mud and railroad ties. I clocked myself in the head with my bike so many times. And I wiped out more times than I could count. And I ran/walked more of the course than biked it it seemed. But oh what fun it was, in a sick and twisted way.
I was feeling a bit down on myself when I finished, thinking that I really sucked 'cos I'd only managed to do two laps in 45 minutes, until I saw the results. I came in 32nd out of 42 beginner women, so I wasn't last, and only the top 10 or so actually did 3 laps. So I felt much better after seeing that.
Remembered as we got home at 5 that I had a soccer game at 7. Somehow managed to get dinner for everyone, scarf down a bit myself, and get out to the door to my game. Now I'm ready to collapse.
trying to stay upright after the run-up
not so shiny new bike