Not one of the cool kids...

I never was one of the cool kids. But this weekend, I'm still not. Over 600 (yes, 600!) people are racing cyclocross within 2 miles of my house, including some people who are sleeping here tonight, but I'm not one of them. I'm a bit sad - Charm City was my first cross race and I was immediately hooked. It's been a year - I know I'm still addicted but have to wait a week to join the 'in' crowd.

Tomorrow (Sunday), I'll be taking the Superfly out for a little spin that we'll call the Michaux Terror of Teaberry. I'm racing the 10 miler still - if I finish, I'll be the only female to do so for all three races and therefore will win the series. A bit of a hollow victory if it happens, but I'm hoping for a good race. And really, I'm the only one who came back for more after the mud and rain soaked fest that was Michaux Maximus this year - I probably deserve it just for finishing that one.

Anyway, we pre-rode there a couple weeks ago, so I have a good idea (barring mechanicals) of a goal time. No, I'm not telling. Sometimes, I just don't want to broadcast my failures. Or my own mental sandbagging by setting goals that are too easily achievable.

Speaking of goals - I'm having trouble setting some for cross. I know I'm a ton more fit than I was last year going into the season and my skills are way better. I've even mostly deleted the double-hop from my remounts - last year I barely even had a remount. But where to set my season goals?

I'm planning to race the local series, which has a Cat 4 only women's field. Can I make it consistently into the top 10?  Do I shoot for the earned upgrade to Cat 3? Then I'd have to race with the big girls next year... will I be ready for that if I do? Will I even want to? Does that mean I'll have to take this bike racing thing more seriously - like, get a proper training plan and such? Is it even realistic to think that I can podium in a reasonable field of Cat 4 women on a good day? I'd like to think so, and hot laps at practice the other night with some other Cat 4's were encouraging, but I tend to think they were not pushing as hard as I was. So in all this nebulousness, I'm forced to be patient. I won't know a reasonable goal until I go out and have a decent race. Or two. Or three. I'm not good at patience...