Its official I’m done with the cult of CrossFit. I have not wasted my time with the program for over six months now and after reading a few threads over at the Irongarm forum it motivated me to throw up a post and officially announce it here. I was a kool aid drinking member for a few years and would like to give my apologies to my family for wasting the money that I did while on the cool aid and to my friends who no doubt wanted to just scream “shut the fuck up” at me as I droned on and on about the CF way.

The program did nothing for me in the long run, but beat me down and make me weaker than I was when I started. As far as being sore all the damn time that shit got old quick. I’ve been doing the Wendler 5-3-1 strength program for my “lift heavy shit” needs and have seen great improvements without feeling like a truck had run over me week after week. And if a picture is worth a 1000 words then the photo below sums up why I say good bye and good riddance CrossFit.

Now how to make up the grand I pissed away on my Level 1 cert.? Maybe I can set up a booth at the next CF games and sell Gin martinis. I know of at least one guy that would belly up to the bar.

Since I don’t live in the Netherlands or California I guess I’ll have to use the safe drugs.

Over all some had worse days than I had but I did finish last in my class. Learn from it and move on I say!

It was fun while it lasted! Day one started off with a fast burn prolog to determine start position on day two. After two 10km sprints down the beach in groups of 15 riders I earned a starting slot of 63rd which would see me off the start line at 0854 the next morning.

We had a riders meeting that night at 2130 to receive our brief for the next day and get the road book issued. I ended up going to sleep at 2300.

Next morning was warm and sunny with temps in the low 70′s. Great weather for racing! I woke up at 0630 to get ready for what I anticipated being a long day. I was thinking 7 hours on the bike oh how wrong I would be!

I took a shower while my bacon I had bought from the local butcher a few days prior was sizzling in the pan! I have been playing around with breakfast combos for the last month or so and found that 5 eggs and a pan full of bacon and some almonds would carry me thru the day until 1800 or so before I even thought about eating again, as I would be on the bike all day with no time to stop and eat.

I arrived at the start line 20 minutes before my start time. It had been a long time since I have felt butterflies in my stomach. It took me back to the days when I use to race mountain bikes. It’s a feeling I think I have been lacking for a long time from a career getting in the way as happens with most adults.

0850; I reach for my helmet and put on my gloves take a deep breath and say to myself “Steady is fast Sieg” and throw a leg over the seat and settle I for what would be my longest dirt ride to date!

0852; plate number 21 rolls to the start line and waits for his whistle 0853 he is off I then move into start position and start my one minutes check list.

“30 seconda”

“15 seconda”

“10.9.8.7…”

“3.2.1 GO!

And I’m off left out of Kymi square and headed down the coast towards my first turn. At 2.25 km I turn right then proceed for 3 km and this is where I make my first navigation error. Looking at the tulip I had a left turn then right but I miss read the turn and did not account for the 5 meter stretch of road that would have been my first left so I end up going 180 deg the wrong way. It took me a few minutes to figure out what I did wrong. “Don’t panic work the problem” I say to myself and make my way back to my first turn so I can start from a known point and rest my distance. The next time around it goes according to the roadbook. Ok back on track.

The first leg was the liaison to the start of the first special. I arrived seven minutes late of my supposed arrival time due to the navigation error at the second turn. No big deal I was learning how to use the road book and was happy I found the start of the SS.

The views were amazing some of the best trails I riden ever. The problem was I could only enjoy it with fleeting glimpses. All my concentration was looking 100 meters up the trail and glancing at my distance to go on the ICO.

I was feeling good when I arrived at the special section but had no clue what to do next there was a line at the SS start,so I asked a Italian rider what to do as this was my first rally and had no idea!

He was very helpful and told me to take my card up a guy with a clip board and he would give me a start time and that I should take rest and drink some water. Great advice as this would Be the last time for me to cool out!

I had 20 min before my start of the special which was going to be 120 km of riding.

The next start was not as nerve racking this time around I think due to having confidence in using the roadbook and navigating with it. I should have known what was ahead of me with the start going straight up a mountain. So off I go working my way up the side of a mountain. The first 10km was easy going wide dirt road, but the higher I went the more rugged the trail got. At the 30km mark I was passed by a German guy on a large displacement bike heading down hill. Around the next corner I came across the same rider on the side of the trail with 4 other riders helping him. He was holding his shoulder and four hours later I saw him on the side of a hardball road being loaded into ambulance. The reality set in then that someone could be in a bad spot if you were hurt really bad. This stage took me 5 hours to complete and I think this was when I felt the flat tire starting. When I came out of the mountains and turned onto a cement road I felt the rear wheel slide out. I wrote it off to the tire being dusty but ohhh that would not be the case.

The rest of the stage was a blur. A few falls but, my navigation was spot on.

The pack was spread out by the end of the first special. I only had to wait 4 minutes to start the second liaison. Good in that I did not have to wait long since I knew I was/would be running out of day light but bad in that I could not get off the bike and rest. I forgot to mention at the very start they handed us a sheet of paper for a new add to the liaison stage. So once I got to the end of the liaison on my road book I had to stop every turn and pull out the paper and see where the next turn was. A real pain in the ass just to get to the 2nd special.

I forgot how long the the second special was so I asked and was told 90km. Damn! It was 1500 by now and I was already smoked! 3,2,1Go!

So Off I go. By now the quads have passed so I know I was way behind the pack. I just kept to the task at hand which was navigation and not falling off the side of the mountain. Time seemed to stand still and no matter how fast I went it did not seem that the distance traveled was increasing.

On one particuarly nasty up hill I felt the rear tire was for sure going low and I was only 40km into the the special. At 50 km mark I had to pull over and do something. I have Goo in the tubes which kept the tire from going pancake flat.

As I’m sitting there fixing the tire a three man team on motos from Turkey went by. Oh shit I thought I was dead last. Ok the task was to get the bike back home my options were to pull the rear tire and use a front tire tube which is a fix but this would take maybe a hour which would have me on the mountain after sunset. Or I could use a old trick I was told about from the guys I ride with in FL. Zip ties will keep the tire from coming off the rim and get you home. This is the option I went with. After I got the zip ties on I shot a co2 cartridge into the tire after I found a piece of metal that looked like a chicken foot sticking out of the center of the tire.

So tire patched up and only 40km of down hill nasty ahead of me. I was only able to make 20 km a hour so I had to stand on the pegs and get to it. I have to say it was like time stood still. Counting down one click at a time will drive you crazy.

As with all things time will pass and around the last turn I see the end of the special stage 100m ahead. And then just when it can’t get any worse another rider passes me! Damn it now I must be dead last.

I get my card stamped and ask the guy how far the liaison is to the finish? He responds 10km. Ok I can do that of course I’m dead tired, so wrong turn and I get lost. Screw this I pull out my back up GPS and drive to the finish! When I got to the finish there is no one there to stamp my card!,,WTF So I head back to the HQ and hand my card in and ask, “soooo is this the finish line”??. Now I have not eaten all day and was tired and anyone who knows me knows that I’m not the most personable person in this state so I just shut my mouth and headed back to the room.

Short clip of one of the prolongs today top speed was 103 mph. for the pros. I was going faster than I should have been but fun as hell!!

Receiving out brief for the start of the race this morning. It’s only a 25km prolog to establish the race start order for tomorrow.