A Challenge, A Dare

This weekend is the LAST cyclocross race in the Cross Crusade series. I have raced 4 of the 7 races so far and, except for the first one, I have been for the most part pleased with my performance. Have I gotten a top 20? Nope. But out of the four races I have two that I placed in the top 25%, a third where I was in the top half and one that I am going to toss out my mental window because I was on the wrong tires for the race (but I still was not much past the 50th percentile). I know there are lots of you guys out there that have done much better than I have. So for those that are consistently placing in the top third or so of their respective classes I have a challenge for you: Move up for this last race to the next category. Obviously if you are racing A's this doesn't apply to you. What do you have to lose? I guess if you are in contention to be one of the top 5 in the overall I can see staying in your given category, but otherwise--Move UP! See what the big deal is in the next category up. Sleep in a bit more with the later start time. See what the course is like later in the day. See what it is like to race against only 80 riders instead of 160. Live a little, take the dare!

I plan to do the Master B race instead of my usual Master C race. I don't expect to place near the top or anything, but I don't think I will come in last. I am going to see if I can use this as a baseline as to what it will take to race Master B's all season long next year.

Brian/Brianero was again today trying to talk me into racing the Master A's with him. Umm no. [Plus, I have my doubts about finishing better than last no matter what he says in Master A's. Dude has only seen me race once at the most and I went to one cross practice with their team. I think he believes I am better than I am. Anyway...] I don't think moving up one class if you have been placing in the top third or even top half of your class a most of the time is extreme. I think it will just stretch us a bit.

Everyone step up! Try it, we may all be surprised at what happens. Or not. Either way we will learn something about ourselves and what it will take to do well on the grander stage.

So if you have any points in your class series, but not enough to make the top 5 or wherever the line is to win a series prize I hope to see you at the next level. And if you haven't but your name is Jim and you have a blog named Pack Fodder, I hope to see you doing the same. You want to race Master B's next year? Well let's see what it takes, even if that means we inhale the debris flinging off at us by 90% of the Master B field. Take the challenge.