Bumbling my way to a 'cross podium

I'm learning that a key thing to successful riding 'cross bikes at speed is a willingness to let the bike to what it wants to do -- to an extent. Hold onto the bars too tightly and your own rigid arms can lead to the bike bouncing around too much, possibly moving you off your line. When you relax, though, the bike is more free to flow over the bumps and ruts, sticking to its line.

Sadly for me, it's not easy to undo years of training myself to stay rigid on the bike while grasping the lever hoods in technical situations. I found last night, while racing Fifth Street 'Cross, that a beer led me to a much more relaxed stance on the bike. More than just a social lubricant, one beer seemed to loosen my elbows and hands. Read: I had an OK first race, sitting for most of the four-lap affair just behind the leading quintet, fighting for sixth place. A little bobble near the end of the fourth lap cost me the battle for sixth place.

Then, after cooling down, I applied said lubricant, and when the second race started, I somehow found myself riding at the front very early in the race, and seemed to be turning much better than usual, flowing effortlessly around the sinewy turns. Of course, "much better than usual," is still pretty awful, and I'm sure that I managed to annoy all of the much faster racers around me -- both with my going really slowly through turns (no matter how fast I thought I was going) and my accelerations every time the course was uphill or straight. That's basically the only move I have in a 'cross race, I had to play to my strengths, you know?

In the end, after one racer flatted, and another bobbled, I wound up racing in a group of four, along with Ryan, Jasen and Steve. At some point, Jasen and Ryan got sick of my antics and pulled away in the turns. Steve tried to come around me on the last uphill drag, but I successfully held him off and made it to the line in third. My fist 'cross podium, ever. My previous best effort was that time John out ran me at the Bethlehem Cup, and that was in 2008. It's been a long dry spell for 'cross results, indeed!

Even better, I capitalized on a three-rider pile up in the dash-for-cash, and took the $20 prize at the end of the night -- and promptly spent it on a pulled pork sandwich at Volpes. If there's a better way to celebrate, I'd like to know what it is!

So, that was fun. I'm doing a real 'cross race on Sunday, and will hope to find some way to loosen up, without resorting to drink. After the activities planned for Saturday evening, I have a feeling I may not want to drink much on Sunday. And, drinking before a race that cost me more than $10 feel like a bad practice.