Thurday evening rolled around quickly this week and quickly enough it was time to start thinking of the Webcyclery Cyclocross Thrilla' hosted each Thursday for 4 weeks. Last night's race was the 2nd is a series of 4, so it was time to wrap the head around pinning the heart rate for a while.
These first 2 races of the series made up the full extent of my CX experience...my first time out on a cross bike was race #1 and so it was only natural that my 2nd time out on the cross bike was for race #2. Since we have received no rain over the past week, the course was only bound to be dryer, and moon-dustier. It did not disappoint in the moon-dust department.
The other novelty for the week was that the wifer decided to join the CX misfits and give it a go. She did great! Her chain fell off on her last lap and it was enough to slow her down a bit in her first cross race.
Race #2 was similar to the prior week in so much as my heart rate quickly bumped up into the red zone and stayed there for most of the race. I managed to snag pole position during the first lap of the race and then tried to hold on until the finish. The 2 or 3 times I was able to look at my heart rate, it was in the mid 160's and again visited the low 170's! The middle section below is the race where the HR is consistently above 160:
This spiky anaerobic stuff is my nemesis...I am used to the long marathon rides that prep me for the long 10+ hour days in the saddle....this is my weakness and despite it being good for me, it does not mean I have to like it...but in a twisted way, I do...crikey
These first 2 races of the series made up the full extent of my CX experience...my first time out on a cross bike was race #1 and so it was only natural that my 2nd time out on the cross bike was for race #2. Since we have received no rain over the past week, the course was only bound to be dryer, and moon-dustier. It did not disappoint in the moon-dust department.
The other novelty for the week was that the wifer decided to join the CX misfits and give it a go. She did great! Her chain fell off on her last lap and it was enough to slow her down a bit in her first cross race.
Race #2 was similar to the prior week in so much as my heart rate quickly bumped up into the red zone and stayed there for most of the race. I managed to snag pole position during the first lap of the race and then tried to hold on until the finish. The 2 or 3 times I was able to look at my heart rate, it was in the mid 160's and again visited the low 170's! The middle section below is the race where the HR is consistently above 160:
This spiky anaerobic stuff is my nemesis...I am used to the long marathon rides that prep me for the long 10+ hour days in the saddle....this is my weakness and despite it being good for me, it does not mean I have to like it...but in a twisted way, I do...crikey
The course was similar to the prior week's mayhem with a couple of slight modifications that made for a spicier course. There were a couple of sharper/looser turns that required a little more man-handling...or rather one of the turns man-handled me on lap #2 which was just long enough to set me on my arse.
The good: I was able to hold hold onto the pole position I moved up to during the 1st lap just long enough to eek out 1st place and get a 6 pack of beer as a prize for my efforts...ding ding ding ding, I likey! I rode the 40+ Beginner category again and it was tons O' fun. My heart rate got jacked up again....Ride it like you stole it!
The bad: Moondust lung...hacking up dirt for the remainder of the evening is not my preferred way to spend the evening. CX is hard work! Going into my heart rate red zone is enough to make a guy want to barf. It took me about 10 minutes to re-gain my lungs after the finish. At one point I almost felt like I was going to hurl.
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