Torin Tries Cyclocross

Well, I apologize for not putting up a post-GMSR blog. I was still trying to figure out if I had died or not. For those interested, here is the recap I sent out to my team after the ordeal.

After GMSR, I hung up the slick tires and tried this weird event called Cyclocross, which involves throwing skinny mountain bike tires on a road bike and riding it places you probably shouldn't.

It's amazing.

My first four races came in late September/early October at Deer Farm and King Pine CX, venues which are roughly a half hour and half-mile from my house respectively.

I entered the Cat 3/4 and 4/5 races at each event, and by some miracle placed top-ten in each. (DF: 5th 4/5, 9th 3/4. KP 2nd 4/5, 7th 3/4)

The courses were tough in each their own way. Deer Farm was a much more technical, sprinty course than King Pine, which featured a monster climb 3/4 of the way through the lap, followed by a descent with a mini-headwall before the finish.

I won beer for my podium placing.

Fast forward to Hallowweekend, and I made the trek down to Hampton Falls for Orchard Cross, a day that started at 4:30 in the morning. Arriving at the venue before sunrise is something I haven't done since my Eastern Cup racing years, but at least it was warm this time. My race was the first of the day, and the dew hadn't quite lifted by the time we were on course. Early corners were slick, and sprinting 4-wide into them saw some (including myself) go down in the first couple laps. At least we figured it out by the pump-track.

Regardless, I found my pack with my teammate Ben and we held a good pace for(read: heckled) each other for the first three laps, sitting just in sight of the lead pack of 5.

After a little bit, I made my move heading up the straightaway and entered no-man's-land for almost a lap before branching up.

At this point, CX races become a contest of who can make it the longest without something breaking or crashing. In this case, over the last two laps, the group of 5 dropped to just 2 between two crashes and a puncture.

For the final half-lap, I hung on to the leader's wheel, and didn't try anything until I saw him fumble while remounting his bike after a set of barriers. I tried sprinting past him on the outside lane of the course (which at this point was between rows of berry bushes), but he headed me off in the last corner, taking the lead into the finish straight.

After eight years of racing, you learn to always take it to the line.

I haven't sprinted this hard since I duked it out my junior year against my teammate in Cross Country, and felt like I was going to die afterward. Looking at the finish line photo, the leader started posting up just before the line, and I was able to come around him and take the win by less than a bike length.

Getting back to business

It hasn't really been the kind of season I was hoping for so far this year. Going into a senior season, one hopes they won't be sidelined by injuries for the first month, only getting back to their freshman form with three races left.

I've been battling some Illiotibial Band (IT Band) issues since the beginning of the season, keeping me from participating in many team practices, and limiting my running to only a couple of days per week. As any athlete can tell you, being apart from your team can really get to you, missing out on big events because you physically can't do them. Luckily, I've been able to keep active through cycling, but it's still taken its toll.

Dinner.

Another thing an athlete can tell you is that when you pull them out of athletics, it will affect them in their daily life. For a student, this can mean classes, personal commitments, or just daily function. Trying to pull yourself out of a funk when you just aren't there is one of the biggest struggles you can have, and sometimes you just need to take a break.

This weekend, we hosted the VT Intercollegiate Cross Country championships, where after four weeks of disappointing races, I was able to finally break the elusive 28:30 mark again, having cracked it first at this race in 2013.

Now that I feel that I'm going somewhere with my training, it's time to figure out everything else.

One last shot - Senior Seasons Ahead

Well, here it is. Three years after I first moved into my double in Ryan Hall, I am slowly settling into the townhouse life on the other end of campus. It's been an interesting three years, ever learning how to be both a student and an athlete at the same time, and a large part of that learning happens when there is no school.

Summer break is the time when many students go off and work so that they can afford to come back to school, others do summer research, while some try to think nothing of the coming school year until it's time to start. As an athlete, I was thrown into all three camps: working at a camp to make enough money to get by for a few months of unemployment while I train and compete this fall and winter, research myself to find out how to not overwork myself both mentally and physically, all while trying to not think about the fact that these will be my last seasons as a college athlete.

A large portion of my time this year has been spent sitting on a bike. There's just something about it that makes me feel more free than my ski or running training. From central NH, it's hard to run or ski somewhere that leaves you with both a great workout and a feeling of having taken an adventure. On the bike, I have been able to test my limits and see how fast, far, and how long I can go for, taking me on some pretty cool adventures.

It is on these where I am able to really absorb what is going on in life. Decisions that need some time, I have found, are best made on the bike. Thinking about what is going to happen this year was a big one, like determining what my senior project is going to look like, how to best avoid my injuries (didn't work, already injured), and how to try and lead both the Men's Cross Country and Nordic teams this year. 

Whatever the case, the work has been put in, most of the decisions have been made, and all I can do is keep up and hope for the best over the next few months.