But first, we had breakfast. Gotta have them grits ya’ll! Stick to your ribs and all that!

V. Richards Market

Once we were fueled we headed out to the park and sheen’d ourselves on up.  I liked the way the Northwest embrocation smelled – less edible than the Mad Alchemy…more medicinal, but in a comforting sort of way.  It was a similar color and consistency and pretty easy to put on.

The temperature was about 40 F – I was pretty cold, but once we started riding it really wasn’t bad.

Sam is much more pro that I am, but he was kind enough to ride slow for me.

Roll ‘em up!

You might notice that I am sporting some new clipless shoes.  Cross season destroyed my converse and made me realize that there are benefits to having cycling specific shoes.  At this point I just have the shoes; I haven’t started using clipless pedals yet.  Strange, I know.  I’m having to ease myself into it.  I’m also having to eat crow since I gave Elisa such hell whenever she went clipless. I deserve it.

Anyway, after we embrocated, we hopped on the bikes and started to ride.  I could notice a difference immediately – no leg discomfort/muscle sluggishness at the first incline!  It was like I had already been riding and had warmed up, even though I hadn’t.  With my first embrocation experience I had expected my legs to be nice and warm and didn’t really think about the state of my muscles.  And who can really think that clearly when you’re doing a cross race?! This time I was more conscious of what the actual point was, and it came through for me most excellently.  Sam was equally pleased.

Unfortunately my power grip bolt broke off shortly after we started, so Sam had to ride back to get the necessary equipment for fixing (i.e. electrical tape).  I think he enjoyed it though because he was able to ride fast and get some energy out!

Bummer

After the power grip was re-attached we rode the remaining distance (about 17 miles total – nothing crazy), legs felt good, and I thoroughly enjoyed riding past the…interesting…Christmas decorations.

Good ride! Thanks embrocation! I’ll now say that I like you!

Sam went first since he was racing before me, but his verdict post embro was that he couldn’t really feel anything. When it was my turn, I noticed first of all that it smells and looks like pumpkin pie filing.  That was nice.  I wasn’t really sure how to use it, so I rubbed it on my legs in three thin layers.  It was about 30 minutes before I felt a bit of a tingling, but not really in a good way.  I was warned that it did not react well to razor burn, and although I had not shaved my legs in about two days, I think it still reacted a little bit with my recently shorn follicles.  It was unpleasant and I sort of hopped back and forth on my feet for a while being sad and looking stupid.

Is this a good photo, or what?! This guy was like a machine

Sam decided to reapply and came back saying that he could feel a little bit of warmth but didn’t seem to be too impressed.  He and Alan raced, and Sam completely dominated – he finished ahead of the pack by like a minute.  It was insane!

Ok this picture is from a different race, but ya know, he was just as happy this time around

Once it was time for me to race, I took a deep breath and rode/ran/stumbled through all of the mud and water – which was over the knee at places.  I don’t really know what embrocation is supposed to be like in this particular situation, but I think I was so cold and wet that it didn’t make much of a different whether I had embrocated or not – I was just numb.  Finished 2nd, hoorah! I was happy.

Honestly, everyone was pretty happy

After the race I could feel a little bit of tingle on my upper thighs but nothing much to mention.

Then I got home and took a nice hot shower.  HOLY HELL.  SERIOUS PAIN. MY THIGHS WERE ON FIRE. It was like taking a hot shower with a sun burn.  My hands hurt too, but the cream must have washed off my lower legs during the race because they were fine.  I was sad again.

So in the end I don’t really know what to say.  Obviously, I didn’t know what I was doing or what to expect.  There was no instruction manual on how to apply the cream and I didn’t read anything about it ahead of time, which was dumb.  I think it might be nice in another situation, but for this particular event it was not a raging success.

Sam said he would like to try the more intense varieties – we had mellow at our disposal, but it is also made in medium and madness. Who knows?! MAD ALCHEMY – SEND US MORE!!!

Wahoo!

Alan Barton took these photos, and aren’t they lovely?  To see the full set, go here.