Two days later and I still don't have the words for it.
I've been on the other side of the fence cheering on my favorite racers, but I've never lined up against the best of the best with a national championship on the line until Saturday.
The crowds were huge. Coming full steam into the barrier section the first lap was something I will always remember. It was so loud. It felt like there were 10,000 people screaming and all the cowbells had an "11" on the their amps.
Everyone was having a good day. People were absolutely flying. Myself included. It felt like we were those little white balls in the lottery, bouncing around inside the container but always in control and smooth. Pure mayhem from the outside, but a graceful dance inside the tape.
All the interesting characters that make Cyclo Cross crazy were on hand and in full force.
From a racers point of view, there were few sections that weren't lined with people making the option of backing off nil.
I have my best races when my head is clear. There is very little that I think about besides just giving everything that I have to the task at hand.
Racing changes people. The ID comes out. The nicest people off the bike become monsters on it.
I have lots of other pictures of the weekend here. A big thanks goes out Heather for taking amazing shots like this:
Also thanks to Christophe for taking pics (I stole some from you bra) and also this video:
Overall, I am quite happy with how things went. I'm still in awe of the sights, smells and feelings of the day. I was lapped by eventual race winner Ryan Trebon with two laps to go, but lasted long enough to be classified and finished 90th out of 133 crazed professional cyclists.
At this stage in the game, it feels good to race against racers of this caliber and hold my own. Its sad that my year is over when I'm still fired up to keep going, but I'm sure it will all translate into solid training in a few weeks.
Game on.
4 comments:
awesome, man. what a killer experience. I was glad to be able to go through it with ya!
next season is going to be off the hizzzyy
wow jason! this is absolute madness. so awe - inspiring. as i reading, i got so stoked for you!amazing gift you got there. keep it up - the pink haired girl.
Great job up there! Gotta be amazing to line up with those guys. J Pow passed me on a Thursday practice lap. I had to let 'im go, didn't want to wear him out before his big race on Saturday. HAH.
Got to your site through Christophe. Putting many pictures up. There's some of you here. Feel free to download and post 'em.
RideOn
Sweet man, thanks for the link. I'll check back later to see if there are any others.
Is this the first RAAM your attempting?
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