CSAJ CX race Tornoto, ON 11/22/09

Photo courtesy or Robin Watt
This Sunday I decided to upgrade and race with the M1 cat and the Senior/ Elite.
The trade off to getting my as kicked, was that I didn't have to get up at the crack of a Chickadee fart to get to the race and warm up for the early race. 1 pm is a great time to race at. Especially in November and when I have to bring my biggest fan (Owen).

So we hit the road from here at 10 am and got on the highway at 10:30, after buying a memory card for the digi cam I rigged up to go on my handle bars.

The drive to the venue, pretty much in the heart of Toronto, only took just over 1 hr. We got there and parked just as the 11:30 race was going off.

The course was in Riverdale park, right next to the Don Valley pkwy. It was a great track. But had alot of climbing. A little too much for my 42X18 SS gearing. But I was just out to have some fun.

Here is some of the footage I shot. It's a little shakey and the music is annoying but it gives you the idea of a CX race, and all the fun I had. You might wanna turn the sound down on your comp, as I didn't pick the best soundtrack for the 1st 1/2 of the video.
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I mounted my new Sony Cyber-Shot in a mcgyvered case on my handlebars. But it came a little loose during the race so I spent a lot of time holding it still and adjusting it a bit. The results are not bad. There's a few highlights near the end of the movie.

As far as the race went for me:
I let too much air out of my front tire on the starting line so I wasn't cornering the best after my 1st crash.(excuse #1)
I didn't do my regular pre race prep in the week leading up to it, and I only did 1 lap as a warm up, so I didn't have the engine or lungs for the upgrade. But I was just out to have fun and see how fast I'll have to be for next year.(excuse #2)
I had an alright start, but it was clear that these guys were much stronger than the regular M2 field I am used to racing with.
The big runup after the barrier kicked my arse, but I just kept grinding along. After the wipeout I was just trying to get back the spots I had lost.
It was a great course with plenty of opportunity to suffer.
The weather was great, as I was racing in my bibs and a short sleeve jersey, sans gloves.
The movie gives a better description than I could give.

After 1:02 and 8 laps, I ended up 19th out of 23 M1 racers. Not the best result. But it gives me a bar to shoot for next weekend at the Subway CX race in Toronto.

So ends another adventure of a single speeder. (-=