Nats Day 1 40+ B

About 30 minutes into Erik's race I went to the warmup tent and hopped on a CycleOps trainer provided by one of the event sponsors, Bike Source. I get 15 minutes in and then head back to the car to get ready. My feet were cold earlier, so I put some of the Pre-Sports Hot Balm by SportsBalm that Sam had recommended onto my feet. I let that soak in, don my socks, and we head to the local QT for some coffee. We return to the course, and now I've got to figure out what I'm going to wear now the sun has come out and the course is getting sloppy. On the lower half of my body I have a thermal bottom, a bib tight, then my skinsuit. On top, I have a long-sleeve compression top with arm warmers, then my skinsuit. Earlier I had a vest and jacket, but I decided to ditch the vest and cover my top with my Action Sports team jacket. There's a chance I might get hot, but I'm betting not. I opt for some knit shoe covers. We head back to the warming tent for some more spinning.

I get on the trainer for another 15 minutes of spinning, hop off and let Erik change out my skewer from the trainer, and head to call-up. The officials line us by registration order, and are calling out names and numbers. A local SoCal crosser, Jeff Goble, is a row ahead of me. I get my call sans bike, and the official asks me where by ride is. I joke with him that I'm running the entire course, and he lets me line up. Erik appears out of the tent, I wave him over, and he delivers the goods. I check a couple of things (skewer, brake centering) and I'm ready to roll. I'm 4-5 rows back times 8 riders per row--that puts me around 30-40 back. We get the umpire's briefing about pit entry/exit and get the one minute to go. I check my HRM and start it. She calls out the 30 seconds to go. We get the whistle and we're off. The start makes a slow sweeping right up a slight hill past the finish and then makes a right up a (now) slippery bank. I pass a few riders up the hill and a few more on the bank. Then it's follow the leader on the brown singletrack. Riders are going backward quick. I'm dodging wheels and crashes left and right. About mid-first lap I've made it into the top 10. The course is competely different from this morning: the hard frozen singletrack is now soft, mushy, slick mud, with snow and ice on the edges. We hit a hard right that leads us to a downhill off-camber straight. Halfway down the hill, I start sliding down the camber, and finally I lose it into the tape. I lose 4-5 positions and remount. I make it around the rest of the course, slipping and sliding the whole way to past the finish line where I'm given the 4 to go counter. This is a tune-up race for me, so I put it in maintain mode--don't go too fast, don't make mistakes, check out the course, maintain your position, but don't take any chances to change that position. There's a bit of water on the course and my feet get soaked--and cold. The laps count down, a few riders get by me. I check out their lines, and change a few of mine. With one to go I'm still trading paint with a couple of guys. One gets away, the other passes me and then immediately crashes. I take 16th. The bike is a mess but worked flawlessly. My HR was up where I wanted, but I was feeling a little crampy at the end--I'll fill up with more fluids for tomorrow.