NO-Cup 2...

Again I bailed out of the O-Cup this weekend.

2 reasons.

1. My knee was / is still healing, and its on my mind when I ride.
2. I pre rode it this Saturday.. in the cold, and during a Thunderstorm... twice.. so race length, at scout pace.

After pre riding and slow crashing once....

Slow Crashing: When you crash and you have time to look at your watch as you bike tips over on you, but there's nothing you can do except kinda contemplate your navel while its happening and brace for impact eventually. 

I realized that a Full Rigid / SS combination requires a lot of skill to navigate some nasty terrain.

Skill I lacked horribly this weekend. It might have been the rain. It might have been the knee, it might have been the course, but my brain was NOT there for the trail, and things I usually do without issue were taxing and difficult. This would have lead to another injury, so I passed it up. Upsetting as it was, I'll get over it. Mind you there were 2 things there that really jumped out at me, both of them were about the same difficulty.

Rocky terrain in a decent where I couldn't find the line. After almost bailing out on the second one, I realized that there were cheat lines through the sides. The realization of this POST doing it was a good indicator that I wasn't thinking right.

There's another O-Cup this weekend in Albion, of which I may go and hit up. I've ridden in Albion before and the elevation changes are really the only factor, the trail is pretty neutral with some technical log overs and some root drops but nothing like rock stairs. I'll register Saturday after my DMBA ride if I'm feeling strong like I did after last nights ride.

The 24H race is around the corner, and I'm actually super psyched for it. Getting in more hill training, though I'm going to start to focus on the rockbed climb on my local trail. The one I avoid because I torque my rear tire somewhere in there and lose all momentum EVERY TIME I TRY IT. This will be the basis for my technical climbing training... a skill I lack right now. To compensate I use a CX style "Hop off, kick someone in the face, run up hill with bike on shoulder, hop on, kick someone in the face, ride down hill" kinda thing. That needs to change.

I remember last years ride, and the one hill that absolutely just wrecked me was a long grinding hill to a feed station. I remember sitting up there for a long time trying to find my lungs while downing half their eLoad supply. I found a hill that's VERY similar to that particular hill. I grind that hill out at least 3-4 times on my ride now, just to make sure.

I am debating going to a 32/20 for the 24. I ride a 32/18 right now and its great on some hills, but if I remember correctly, Albion doesn't have a lot of flow into some of the hills they give you. It may change this year as they've done something like $100,000 worth of trail maintenance and development since last year.

I'll update Saturday with a decision.