Blind Date at the Dairy

Race: Blind Date at the Dairy (Weds evening cross series) Date: 10/10 Category: Masters 35+ C Teammates: none Place: 67/92 Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/24625165

Dusty, dusky race at the Alpenrose dairy — site of Sunday’s tire blowout-fest. I’d since gone to Cyclepath in NW Portland, the shop featured on the cyclocross magazine article on tubeless cx setups, and got some good advice from the guys there. I was running new Challenge latex tubes on last year’s hutchinson piranhas, and it was a serious relief not to have mechanical problems during the race. All I have to blame for my poor placing is my skills: I lost more places than I can count on the two long, rutted off-camber sections. Our race started at 6:30 and it was good and dark by the second lap; had I known I would have rocked my L&M Stella for the race, as lots of guys had good lights that would have helped the back sections. (The course is erratically lit with generator-driven porta-lights) Not saying that would have necessarily increased my placement, but it probably would have kept me upright where i went down in the gravel behind the velodrome. Good times though, with some amusing heckling and the lead guys in the young-guys Cs (who got a 3 minute lead on us 35+) encouraging me on as they overtook me on the last lap. Coughed some dusty crap out of my lungs for an hour after the race, but other than that it was a fantastic Wednesday evening workout.