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kzoo_swmmr
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| Joined: | Fri Jan 5th, 2007 |
| Location: | Kalamazoo, Michigan USA |
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Posted: Wed Oct 7th, 2009 12:10 am |
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The weather for this year's Highland Park cyclocross race wasn't QUITE as epic as last year (which featured a guest appearance by the remnants of Hurricane Ike!), but it was still classic 'cross all the way. Rainy all week, the B racers hit the course at noon under sunny skies and temps around 55o. Midway through the race, the skies opened & things started to get slick. Fortunately the heavy sheets of rain held off until later in the day ... later in the day when we were safe and sound indoors at Founder's, enjoying some much needed recovery beverages 
The course was a fun one; two supershort rideable hills, triple logs strategically placed to create a run up, a triple barrier, and lots of swoopy turns in between. I was happy to see that my spring training for lumberjack paid off, since I was much more comfortable with all of the slippery turns! I was not so happy to see that a moment of indiscretion in August meant that I was "swimming upstream" at Highland. What moment of indiscretion could that be? Silly, silly, silly. A friendly relay race (young lifeguards vs old fogeys) went wrong on the last day that the outdoor pool was open, and THIS old fogey walked away gimpy, with a calf injury. After the first lap, I quickly learned that healthy calves are key for for runups....oops! After that first runup, the ouch factor was intense, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to finish. BUT, for some reason I decided to try running up the hill BACKWARDS on lap 2. Backwards running combined with walking the barrier sections made the ouchies manageable. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't fast. I got an awful lot of strange looks (understandably!) from other racers & from spectators, but ultimately it worked well enough to get the job done ... I finished the race, a humble 7th of 8 B women.
Selected photos (Jack Kunnan):
Results: CLICK
Monica Tory, B Women, 7th
Last edited on Wed Oct 7th, 2009 12:17 am by kzoo_swmmr
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kzoo_swmmr
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Posted: Wed Oct 7th, 2009 12:11 am |
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Last edited on Wed Oct 7th, 2009 12:18 am by kzoo_swmmr
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kzoo_swmmr
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Posted: Wed Oct 7th, 2009 12:11 am |
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"Barrier walker". Photo credit: Michelle Peterson
Attachment: PA030719.JPG (Downloaded 24 times)
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kzoo_swmmr
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Posted: Wed Oct 7th, 2009 12:13 am |
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| Happier riding than being humbled running ... (photo credit Michelle Peterson) Attachment: PA030756.JPG (Downloaded 23 times)
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beth h
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| Joined: | Wed Dec 5th, 2007 |
| Location: | Portland, Oregon USA |
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Posted: Wed Oct 7th, 2009 03:47 pm |
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Doesn't 'cross just completely ROCK??!
You look great out there! Have a fun season and thanks for sharing the report and photos. Cheers --Beth
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kzoo_swmmr
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Posted: Wed Oct 7th, 2009 08:00 pm |
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YES, 'cross rocks .... as do my Challenge Grifos 
If anyone is wondering what 'cross is all about, Jason Mead shot a nice video of Saturday's race:
http://www.vimeo.com/6897016
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