11/24 - Norge Ski Jump CX

Following a week of time spent with family and friends eating and drinking more than my fill was a CX race in Fox River Grove near Chicago.  This was to be my last CAT 3 race and what better way to do it than have my dad and one of my best friends there to watch.  The course was at the base of a full size ski jumping facility, no snow at this time though.  Russ was there as well so the CX race of triathletes was on.

The course was simple with a few run ups, 2 sets of barriers, and some technical sections.  It was a pretty cold day but the ground was not frozen, so it was setting up to be a fast day.  The CAT 3 field was 44 guys and I actually got a call up which was unexpected, but I will take it.

The start went well and I made the first few turns in the top 10.  Russ was in front of me most of the race.  I was impressed with my new Challenge tires as well, but maybe a little less pressure for the next weekend.  Throughout the race I was feeling pretty good, I think mostly attributed to the racing at lower altitude.  There were a few crashes around some slick turns, and I heard one guy crash trying to take me on the inside of the turn and I boxed him out.  That was close to where Brian and my dad were watching, Brian was laughing, I think he got a kick out of his first CX race race.  There was ample heckling and red licorice hand ups.  I passed Russ with 2 laps to go, he was in third and caught the leader before the last lap.  All I had to do was not make a mistake or crash for one more lap.  I managed to hold the 2nd place guy off and took the win, Russ took 3rd (the kid in the picture was picking up his dads 2nd place medal).

 I was surprised my average power was about 40 watts higher then racing back in the thin air of CO.  My last CAT 3 race, from now on its racing with the big boys.  Was a great Chicago race, thanks to Brian and my dad for coming to watch and Russ for the great race.

11/10/12 - Sienna Lake

Finally a race with no mechanicals, major crashes, or setbacks even though the conditions were by far the worst this year has brought to the CO CX scene.  Sienna Lake is in Broomfield about 15 minutes from Louisville, the day brought dropping temps, rain, snow, fog you name it.  Race time was early afternoon and the temp was about 32 degrees, snowing, and the course was a complete mess, but hey this is how CX goes.  Here in CO it is usually pretty well fair weather CX much of the season, hey it was 77 degrees on Wednesday.  There were about 25 to start for the CAT 3 race, the first lap was quite dicey with many slippery corner crashes, myself included.  I watched Craig literately run over one guys bike on the ground and keep riding, nice move.  By the third lap I found myself in 2nd place, on the 2nd run up the leader slipped and fell flat on his face and slid all the way down the hill.  I hopped over him and ran right up, the key to this race was toe spikes.  I kept pulling away the last 3 laps, only to be caught by one single speeder.  Over the course of the race my brakes kept getting looser and looser, only to find out by the end that the pads were completely worn from the sand, muck and ice.  On the 2nd to last lap I did run right into the tape as I could not stop in time for the turn, I had to back up and start again.  I ended up finishing right behind the single speed winner and 55 sec up on the CAT 3 group.  It was a great race, tons of fun, cold, muddy, snowy, what a mess, I was glad to take the win on a tough day.  Also with Lucky Pie and Sweet Cow on the podium, Louisville was well supported.  I got out of all my wet muddy clothes as quickly as possible and home to clean up, I was so cold.

Lap 1 08:15   
Lap 2 07:43   
Lap 3 07:40   
Lap 4 07:50   
Lap 5 08:00   
Lap 6 07:53           

Total - 47:24.43

11/3 - Schoolyard Cross

After a few setbacks in the last cross races I was finally ready for a good race.  School yard cross was in Brighton CO about 1/2 hr away.  I got there in time to get in 2 good warm up laps and dropped my wheels at the pits.  On the way to the start I rode through a rough field and picked up 3 goat heads in my tires.  I did not know this until we started, I started first row but quickly discovered my rear tire was flat and fell back.  The pit was only 1/2 mile or so from the start so I just rode the flat there.  Switching out the wheel only took about 1 minute, along with riding slow on the flat it left me 2-3 minutes or so behind the group.  I ended up chasing the whole race just like last week after the crash.  Manged to get back to 18th place overall but I think there were only 25 or so racing.  The rear tire on my pit wheels sucked as well, it was washing out on may turns, I will have to make that one into a training tire for sure.  One thing I did like was the course, it was so much better than last years with a few steep climbs, a flyover, and a fast surface.  Too bad I choose to ride through the field of goat heads, arriving home there was one in the front tire which I rode the whole race and 2 in the rear which flatted it right at the start.  Oh well its CX racing, there is always next weekend.  Craig ended up 3rd this race though great job, only beat by some speedy juniors.