KissCross (Holland Municipal Park (Eric's Perspective))

There is much more then just talking about the cyclocross race, so I will start with T-Day. Chris and I headed home for T-Day. We spent the day with family eating food, playing cards, and catching up on all the things we missed. Especially, since I don't make it home that often anymore. We left Thursday evening full of food and extremely happy. We woke up bright and early on Friday and started working (I actually enjoy working, so yes I worked all break). Then we decided to go out for a run. I just started this running thing about 2 weeks ago and made it up to 2.2 miles on a treadmill, but Chris and I decided to go out for an outside run to breath in the fresh air. We headed out and ran the loop that I take my roommates on for a nice bike ride. When we got home and mapped the route, I found out we ran just over 5 miles! That was an amazing accomplishment from my 2.2 miles and a little outside air apparently does wonders for you. We showered up, made some food, and got back to work for the rest of the evening. Saturday rolled around and it was about the same story, except I could only make it about 4.5 miles before Chris noticed I was really dropping pace and asked if I wanted to walk the rest. I didn't even think or hesitate and the only words that came out of my mouth was "YES". So we walked the rest of the way home and talked about coffee and team goals. I was still really happy with my attempt, but definitely felt the pain in my leg muscles and upper body for the rest of the day. We got back to work until it was time for bed.

Sunday we woke up and headed out to Holland for the final cyclocross race of the season. I was definitely sore, but I just kept blocking it out since the rain and cold temperatures where more of an urgent issue on my mind. I went out for a practice loop to only realize it was going to be a muddy race too. I jumped in the car and started throwing my wet cloths under the heater vents to try and dry them off. I was lucky enough to find an extra set of socks (didn't match but who cares at this point) and I slipped them over my existing pair so I could ward off the chills and the soon to be hour of racing I had to do. I was planning on taking my riding jacket off but since I was already shivering from standing outside, I just slipped my jersey over top of my jacket and kept on as many layers as I could find around the car. We watched our buddy compete in the C race for his first cyclocross race ever and he came back a little wet but not that muddy. Well, sometime between the C's finishing and the B's starting, the course got destroyed. I lined up closer to the front of the B race line and started shivering from head to toe (literally, I couldn't stop the full body shakes that I was encountering). I was really antsy to get the race started but not because I wanted to compete, but to get my body temperature up so I wasn't so cold. Everyone around seemed to be filled with excitement since cold, wet, and muddy is what cyclocross is all about. I was thinking they were crazy since I wasn't in a state of enjoyment...yet. The race started out and I just kicked up the intensity to raise my core temperature as fast as I could. We were probably only on the course for a mile before I encountered an off camber turn in the muddy grass. Everyone seemed to stay high so I went low; well that resulted in me skidding out and hitting the mud. At least I got the getting muddy part out of the way early. I jumped back on my bike and took off to try and catch back up. I ran up the stairs and down the hill and into the spiral of craziness. I am not sure how you can corkscrew in and then get back out without crossing paths but the race promoters seem to have figured that out, because that is what we did in the middle of the stadium. It was just insane to try and keep turning with apparently the wrong choice of rear tire because I was all over the place. I am pretty sure I was going sideways more than straight during the entire race. I fell a few more times (had to make sure both my right and left sides were completely muddy) and ended up a little better then mid-pack. I congratulated all the people that I knew and raced with and tried to find Chris figuring he was right behind me. I passed him while he was fixing his bike but I figured he would just fix it and catch right back up again. I found our buddy and he said Chris had a lot of issues with his bike and is finishing up in a few. I have to give him major credit for finishing up the race when you get two to three laps down before you even start; I think it would have been hard for me to continue on at that point but he always has had more integrity then me anyways. We met up at the car to take some photos of the mess we encountered and got out of our wet and muddy clothes before jumping in the car to head home for our long awaited warm coffee and stories.

Sunday marked the end of our first season of racing under our new team and the started the new era of D2 Racing. It appears we will have a full schedule for 2010 with projections of racing in a few out of state events too. The goals are being formulated and the sponsor list is growing; 2010 is looking like the year for D2 Racing!