Just shoot me.....

After a few weeks away from the OVCX series it is time to get back to it. This week is at a place called the Gun Club (GC). I have had a love/hate relationship with this place for 3 years now. It is a course that is tucked away in the woods at ...of all things...a Gun Club. With a quaint lodge and the remains of at least 2 million clay trap shooting pigeons about the grounds it makes for one of most unique venues we race on. It is more technical than most 'cross courses but less technical than a Mountain Bike course. The real trademark is that each race is started with a guy in hunting garb firing a shotgun (is there blanks in there?). More on the gun guy later....

The first year I rode GC....Hated it. Could not ride the sand pit. Which I discovered later was tilled up to make it harder. Very nice. Then there was an uphill climb on a gravel road. Sweet. And 'The Hill'. A moderate little hill that the course arched across that was off chamber at the top and forced you to remount (if you had sad skills like me and could not ride it) on the RIGHT side bike. Awesome. (fyi-'cross riders usually like getting off only on the 'left' side)

Having minimal bike skills & fitness I envisioned:
1) Loosing all traction and becoming hamburger on the gravel,
2) Sprawling in the pit making sand angels
3) Trying to figure out 'Right' from 'Left' on the side of 'The Hill' as I am being heckled by my friends.

It was....in a word..... ugly. I ran the gravel. I ran the sand. I ran 'The Hill'. I did everything it seemed but ride my bike. Thank goodness the course was dry!

The following year I vowed to ride the course not 'run' it. And I did. I learned how to put weight back on the tire, get traction and get my carcas up the the hills. I was also able to ride the sand pit. Well, half of it. You see the next year they made it a double sand pit with a u-turn at one end. (Change.....What the heck!).

I pretty much rode the whole course......Ah...sweet progress. Remember, this is a 'cross race. So all of this is occuring with your heartrate at 180 beats per minute, hoping to remain conscious or that the guy with the gun will shoot you. And ultimately praying to adhere to Rule #1: Never puke in front of the kids.

On the eve of this years Gun Club a few things are clear. The course as changed (Change....What the...!). Although I can take what I have learned in the past and try to reapply. The reality is it may not. Not only do we go up a gravel road but now we 'descend' on gravel. There are new tight technical sections. And what about 'The Hill'? With the addition of one or two little bends at the approach to 'The Hill' I am likely back to completely running it.

Everyday 'Change' is all around us. Learnings from the past may help us or be set aside to make way for something new in life's 'course'. Is it better to brute force ride our way or take up our bike and carry it through the challenges ahead. Knowing we have the power to choose our line as we approach each difficult moment is key. Then, to take action and hopefully, to make the lives of others around us somehow a little better too in the process.

As for tomorrow's race? It's Gun Club....it should be a blast (sorry, you knew that was coming). Besides......it's been raining. It will be my first time ever racing Gun Club in the wet and mud.

Ahhhhh.....change.

First steps....

I'm not really sure where this is going...... just that it is.

I'll start by saying 'hi' and welcome to my blog. To the great big world out there this is not a big deal (ok, it's really insignificant) but to me it is a 'first step'. I like these steps. Because there is always something new waiting to be discovered the farther you go. Something you didn't expect.

I chose the title because it kinda reflects me. I seem to exist somewhere in the middle. I'm middled aged (41). I am married and have an average sized family. I am middle-class (whatever that means today). Academically, I was always in the middle of the curve. And it seems when I race a bicycle I always end up....somewhere in the middle. Never on the podium and always trying to avoid a DNF (Did Not Finish).

You'll here a lot about bicycles (and cyclocross). I spend a great deal of time riding one and my wife often teases and calls it my 'mistress.' A product of my mid-life crisis I guess and by the size of the Cat 4 Master's fields recently it looks like I am not alone. I hope to share a little about myself and the sport I love.

With that I guess I am 'clipped in'. All that is left now is to turn the pedals and see where this ride takes me......

jer