'crossing it

Blast from the past!!! Lithodale has inspired me to dust off ye ole 'cross bike for a bit of muddy groveling action. Out of nowhere I decided to revive the forlorn Crosscheck for its original purpose. L had soccer prac at 6.00, for which we would have to leave at 5.30. Unfortunately I was drawn into a Law&Order-CI from which I could not extricate myself until 5.00. In those 30min I

• found and dressed in sufficiently ratty cycling clothes given that it had rained all day and that it would be a mud bath.
• removed the rack and rear fender (that fender will get new life somewhere. it's a nice city rack)
• removed the 30c tires and mounted the 45c Panaracer Firecross, the heaviest, slowest tires of all time, but *perfect* for the soup.
• mounted an Edge500 computer mount
• removed the old, rusted flat pedals for future (i.e. 20min later) installation of (old) TimeATC pedals.
• find my old Shimano cross shoes with Time cleats and the other crap I needed, including something to protect my key fob from the muck

It was as active a 30 as I've had of late. We arrived, I paid for the tshirts (other story) and got ready to ride. Basically, I did a short warm-up and dove into the first "hot" lap at mostly full gas. Because my gas isn't all that gas, well, it was mostly "gas" to me. I pulled off and prepared for the next "hot" lap, for which I used the "lap" function on the Edge. That lap was at 9:03 doing the "road" link first. I think the wind was coming pretty heartily from the west, so that route provided me straightaways into the wind. On my cool-down I noticed two other 'crossers doing an easy lap. Last week (on the mtbike) there was a whole pack of youngsters; they must have stayed away from the mud. I hit the lap again and went into my third "hot" lap. This time I ran up behind the two 'crossers, holding my spot for a while until I got a chance to pass. Funny that I hadn't been in a race situation for YEARS but that's where I was, looking for room to pass. The dude let me by and I finished my 3rd "hot" lap at 8:45, 18sec faster than #2, and with the slow traffic behind the 2 'crossers. 

I spoke to Lithodale later and he encouraged me to do StormtheGreens in late October, the weekend after our RiverRiverGorge weekend. The Cat4 race is 30min, which is basically 3 of my "hot" laps plus a bit. The challenge, I guess, would be to avoid the DFL (google it if you need), but if I feel good and have a non-injury race, who gives a crap? Mas training? Maybe?