Beer, Bikes, and Snow

Cooper River (CRCX) is flat.  And tends to have long stretches that require a lot of power.  Typically not my favorite type of CX course.  But I know what i need to work on.  So it's good training for me.  There were only a handful of the Master's women but some of my usual competition.  It was going to be a good race. As always, I arrived early enough to get out on the course before the first race.  Since the course was oriented east west, the sun glare made it difficult to see some of the turns and how the course flowed.  I worked on some different lines and watched the first race.  I've always hated the pavement to grass transition at the start of the CRCX.  This year was no different.  But while watching the grass to pavement transition before the finish also had me a bit nervous.  Plenty of men went down or crashed into the barrier on that corner.  Two things I wanted to be careful of. As our women's field lin...

Hurricane Joaquin.  We were all waiting to see what the weekend would be.  Rain most of the week had us wondering how sloppy Cooper River CX (CRCX) would be.  I must admit, I was a bit excited for some "epic" conditions. Joaquin was a tease for us here in NJ.  It actually stopped raining the morning of the race and to my surprise, the course was not sloppy at all.  Sure, it was wet and there were areas that were spongy but no "epic" mud.  I arrived at the course early and did a lap on my pit bike just so I wouldn't have to clean my race bike.  Other than wet shoes and toosh, I was pretty clean.  I watched the races before mine, noting how conditions were changing slightly.  I opted to stay dry and not go out again until my race. I lined up in the front row with the other ladies and waited for the whistle.  In the past, the paved start at CRCX has spooked me.  Today, it didn't phase me.  However, I didn't have the best s...