Well, day 1 of the Cycle-Smart International race weekend is in the books. What a day! Couldn’t have asked for better weather. Coolish for those watching but perfect for those racing.

My day can really be summed up with one word: people. I ran into so many people that I’ve met over the years of traveling down to New England to race and attend ‘cross camp. The coolest thing was meeting Kathy.

We were parked across from Kathy and her husband and she came over to introduce herself. We were just chatting when all of a sudden – she and Marc were hugging. Yep – just like that! It turns out that Kathy and Marc went to university together. Talk about a small world!

The day kicked off with Marc and Steve racing at 10:30. These guys both rode super well. The early part of their races were filled with crash avoidance and crash avoidance recovery. But in the end both of them dug super deep and rode to great results. Next up were Josee and Karl racing at 11:30. I did not see these two race but from what I heard both rode super well. Congrats guys on some good racing.

I raced later in the day at 2:00. Marc and I got out after the women’s 3/4 race to run lines and practice a few key sections of the course. This helped so much. Thanks Marc. Especially the line through the gravel corner at the top of the course – practicing this helped my confidence a great deal. I’ve written a race report.

After my race, I chilled out a bit – got a recovery drink and took a little spin to flush out my legs and brain. Tough one today. But in the end a good one. I watched a bit of the elite race and spent time catching up with some folks. Great day at Look Park!

The real treat of the day was a little side trip we took on the way back to the hotel. Don’t know if you know this, but I’m a knitter. So when I realized that Northampton is the home to Webs. Wow – what a place. Pure heaven. I could have spent hours there. I’ll spare you bike racers the knit geek details but suffice it to say – I can’t wait to go back to this store.

Just relaxing in the room now. Supper is done. Lunch and pre-race food is ready for tomorrow. Race bag is good to go. Tea is ready. Time to relax. Looking forward to another good day at Look Park. Thanks very much for the cheering and support out there today. It really did keep me going today. Have a good one. See you tomorrow.