Participation

I did something quite unusual this last weekend.    I "raced" my Cyclocossing-bike in a Cyclocross-like event.  Maybe more like "Participated" with a number pinned on my back.  After coming to grips with the reality that racing was NOT a good idea,  I pulled the plug on racing this year.  Course,  I was pretty much going out of my mind,  being at the Cyclo-X Xilinx race and around the team,  watching people race and not riding.

Since the Blue Sky Cup race at Xilinx was a few blocks from my house,  I decided I had to at least get on my bike and ride.  While RACING with my Heart Arrhythmia would be pretty stupid,  PARTICIPATING while keeping the heart rate knob off that "11" setting would probably be OK.

Turns out that Cross hurts a lot,  even when you keep your heart rate at 80% or so of your threshold.  Turns out you have to let most of the field ride off into the sunset without a fight when you keep that tachometer WAY under the redline for the whole race.  Funny enough,  if you keep it at that "lower limit" and keep it steady,  you can still wear down some people,  and not get DFL while you have a pretty good time.


Blue Sky Cup 13 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

It is pretty different doing (err…  Participating in…) a Cross race while NOT in my normal state of tunnel-vision-anaerobic-red-haze-pain-cave-suffering.   You see and hear a lot of things I usually just don't see from my sensory deprived state while racing.  You can heckle people back,  actually hear their "witty" commentary,  and even interact with said spectators.

I also tended to think better during the race (err…  participation-like thing…).  I even realized quickly that since I was not jumping the infamous "mini-barriers" with a whole lot of margin or much style,  I decided mid-race to quit hopping,  avoid this:

And stay off Johnny D's highlight reel:


Barrier Bloopers - Blue Sky Velo Cup highlights from John Deibert on Vimeo.

All in all a lot of fun,  even for a cripple.   Enough fun that I am now going to "Participate" in the Mile High Urban CX Chaos race this Sunday.  While still a race,  it also looks a bit less intense than a normal Colorado race,  looked like fun from last year,  and seemed like a good excuse for a party/race,  err.…  participation.    The Natural Way guys are involved,  it has a rooftop Lagunitas beer garden overlooking a sand pit,   and it seems bobcats and cobblestones are involved in course building.  What is not to like?

Since this race is using BikeReg.com.  it allows the use of one of my favorite Internet tools.  The cross results.com race predictor.  It is showing a solid mid-pack pre-result in the "C" race,  against a stacked field of Natural Way guys.

And as a bonus,  they are running a Fat Bike race.  I am borrowing one of those pigs just for the occasion.   I even look to have a shot at a podium in that race….

Look for a few of the High Peaks Masters down there.  We're planning on Beer-mosa hand ups.  Keep your eyes out for 'em.