I’ve been practicing mounting and dismounting my bike in preparation for cyclocross this season. Looking like a jerk on the ball-field of my local community center really paid off. I was able to look like a jerk in front of a whole group of racers with ease.

I met up with Dylan downtown last night as he got off of work. We rode down to the secret spot somewhere near a body of water. There were a couple of riders there already and a cooler full of free beer (I think I’m going to like this sport). Some markers were still being laid down for turns, so we had time to converse I got to meet some new people as the others arrived, mostly on time.

We took a couple of practice laps and I realized pretty quickly that I was going to have to just do my best to hang on. I tapped the wound on my leg (from Sunday) with my rear wheel and it started bleeding down my sock. It was a pretty rough start considering we hadn’t even actually got racing yet.

It was a fast course with no real running, just a couple of barriers (which was really helpful for practice/confidence) and a mix of road, gravel and grass.

Sunday’s ride helped my dirt/gravel confidence, but I still had to find my rhythm. The only thing that saved my ride was my endurance, because I wasn’t nearly fast enough overall. I started to catch and pass a few people towards the end of my ride as they started to fatigue.

I lasted 4 laps (they were pulling after a couple) when my I over torqued my wheel on an uphill right after the line. My chain dropped and I called it a ride. I might have caught one more person, but the rest of the group was way ahead of me and looking strong. It was fun while it lasted.

Apparently, none of the “fast” guys were actually there, so it should be interesting to see how quickly I get lapped next week.

I had better get my ass in shape too, Starcrossed and SSCXWC are coming up quickly. I’m hoping to end up in a wonderful mid-pack filler form by the end of the year.

The truth is though, I just really want that free beer.