I raced with the Elites and I went out strong. Okay, maybe too strong, but for two laps I was comfortably riding with the two leaders until my chain fell off, then blammo! I fell apart. I slipped to 4th, then spent the next 45-minutes dooking it out with an 18-year old upstart until the last lap when I had to let him go ahead so that I could finish the last lap at my own pace... kind of like a wild animal seeking death in solitude. Well, that didn't work so well because I had the rest of field chasing hard and I ended up pushing just as hard as if I'd have been racing at the front.
Here's the mass run-up on the first lap: I start in 3rd and get roughed up by some shouldered bikes and make it to the top in about 8th. Fortunately for me, CX is a cycling sport in which it helps to run, not the other way around.
My chain dropped 3 or 4 times during the race and I eventually swapped bikes, but this forced me to attack hard to get back to the front and it took too much out of me. My back went out on me by the third lap like nobodies business and the rest of the race was a slow demise. With the back, eventually also go the hamstrings, and without those babies you can forget it. It was agonizing and I suffered as hard as I've ever done. Pulled off a 6th and happy with anything inside the top 10, on such a day.
After the race I was pulled aside by an official who told me that I'd committed a pit violation by making an illegal exchange: instead of entering the pit and bypassing the barrier section, I handed my bike over the ribbon as I negotiated the barriers and grabbed my B-bike from JJ, standing ready for me in the pit. Lara even caught a partial video of this: I thought it was pretty smooth and I should have been awarded some extra style minutes.
I'm almost keeping up with the eventual winner on the run-up, that's not like me.
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