Palmer "Jungle" Cross Race

Today I went to my third cyclo-cross race of the season in Palmer, Mass.  Even though I woke up a little sore from yesterday's race, my energy level was pretty high and I was excited to take on another challenge.  The weather was another beautiful day and I actually got to the Palmer votech school with time to properly warm up and pre-ride.  I did one lap around the course and figured out why they call this the "jungle".  80 percent of the race course goes through the woods, which has roots that cover the ground like giant spider veins.  The other 20 percent of the course goes though a small field, and goes on the long, straight, and flat driveway into the school.  There were two short steep hills in the course that were pretty much rideable, and there were two longer hills of about 15 to 20 yards, that were steep and loose soil.  I actually ran these hills at a better rate than I ran yesterday.

I had a very weak start after about 150 yards of sprinting on blacktop before we made a left hand turn onto wet grass and disappeared under the thick tree cover.  Out of the 50 riders in my field, I would say I was about 40th or so into the woods.

I worked lap after lap to pick off riders.  After I would catch and pass a rider, I would drive onward to catch my next prey.  At some points I was stuck in traffic in some of the technical sections where the ground was covered in large roots, and some other times I was riding by myself with out anyone in sight.

I lost track of the number of laps, but after my second lap I crashed when trying to ride up one of the loose climbs, and as a result I dropped my chain.  This mishap lost me some time, scraped up my leg, and caused me to get behind riders I had just worked really hard to pass.

The loud cheering of fellow Expo Wheelmen back near the starting line gave me a boost a of adrenaline and helped motivate me to drive hard for my last two laps. I passed a few riders on the final lap who were tiring and I ended up 23rd for the day.  I was really hoping for a top 15 finish, but regardless, I had a good time.  It's a few weeks until my next cross race and I'm planning of working on my fitness over that period, and I plan to sharpen my handling skills on the cross bike since I feel that is a weakness of mine at this point.