Holy crap, I hurt in so many new and different ways.

It's awesome.

I attended the 6th race in the AZ Cross 2008 series. We raced through Cave Creek Park in Downtown Phoenix, roundabout the grassy areas and through the playground. Had a blast, didn't get lapped and didn't finish last, which was about what I was shooting for. Finished 9 out of 10, with one DNF.

Thoughts:

-Barriers are my mortal enemy. I need to practice them.

-Deep sand is deep.

-Running remounts suddenly get a lot harder when there's adrenaline coursing through you.

Ayup, I think I'm hooked.

Good job

Great job!

Take one day a week to practice dismounts/remounts and barriers. Start slow and slowly ramp up the speed as you get comfortable. You need to train your mind and muscles to do those motions in practice and it will come through during the race.

just make sure to get your left foot off the ground and the rest will take care of itself. training at low speed helps

Thanks guys.

Just to clear things up, there were 11 riders at the start, 10 finished, one DNF.

The next race is December 6th, and I'll be attending that one for sure. I also need to make some barriers and head to the park down the street to practice them.

Fun times are ahead.

You don't need actual barriers to practice the dismounts and remounts.

IMO the difference between OK technique and slick technique, is getting your right hand on the top tube after you've swung your right leg and while you are still coasting. You straighten the right arm and unweight your left foot, actually unclip and "hover" for a split second before taking your first step.

Once you get the suitcase action down, then work on the shouldering action. Getting your right hand on the downtube while coasting is slightly trickier, and you can't unweight the left foot quite the same.

Practice dismounting and remounting with hands on the tops, hoods, and drops.

Vow never to do a cowboy remount or dab the left foot during a remount. Just don't do it, it's wrong.

That's how I finished in my first race, except before your clarification about 11 starters and the other eight guys who finished did lap me. Even so, you've gotta take pride in having a top ten finish in your first race.

I had my fourth race yesterday and I thought I was finally going to manage to not get lapped, but the leaders blew past me with about 100 yards to go. One guy I talked to said I should have stuck out an arm, but the truth is I didn't even know they were coming until they were past me. I finished 51st out of 62. Did I mention that I'm slow?

Well, hopefully you are faster than when you started racing, which is really the whole point.

Absolutely, although there's only so much improvement you can make in a month and a half. I suspect most of what I've gained has been due to better technique. But with nine months of training, next year I'll be even faster. I like to think I'm training for the 2019 Masters 50+ race. I think I can win it.

barriers are my favorite part!

(besides the beer.)

i'm new too. i always dab my left foot. i hate myself