Made it down to Lawrence on Saturday and doubled up the singlespeed race and the 3/4's. I knew this was going to be pretty tough after pre riding the course and it was pretty opposite of my strengths (man I love Manions)... I need hilly and technical, this was straight up power course... Thought to myself, "dude, the roadies are going to be tough to beat out here"... And you know what, I was right.....
On the line I saw the usual suspects... Kent, Mark and Joe Fox putting his hat in the SS ring... Roger who is always tough on his mtb... Whistle blew and I got my usual good start and took up behind Kents wheel. Plan was to get on his wheel and hang on for dear life... Turns out that is not a very long time... Here comes Joe by me, then Mark, then Roger... 2nd to 5th in 1/2 a lap... Roger and I held the leaders close for a couple of laps till about lap 4 or so when I finally noticed Mark pulling away from us.. Damn, there goes the elusive top 3 I can't seem to get... Played cat and mouse with Roger for a couple more laps till he started to pull away from me, so basically I sat up from that point. Only went fast enough not to get caught for the last lap or two... 5th place... Owe well... Time to get ready for the 3/4's...
So on to the course, Saturday had some twists and turns, a nice little dip-to-hill thingy by the pond.. Yes, that is the technical term for it.. Not very much climbing, and a long straight to hammer out some watts in a headwind...
As the race got closer I noticed my Quad wanting to seize up on me a little... What the hell? This aint a MTB race... I guess we put in a bigger effort in the SS race than I thought...
Got my new rig out and headed to the start.... Running disks and gears...First time ever to run gears in a CX Race... Should get interesting...
Started the 3/4's and immediately lost ground after the starting whistle. Legs are spent and the race just started...Right off the bat on a kinda tricky corner a dudes front wheel got away from him and he hit the deck pretty hard... Took out the two guys behind him. Not me though, the combination of my awesome disk breaks and going slow as hell allowed me to avoid the carnage... Hung out behind the mid pack dudes for a while till they gaped the rest of us remaining.. After about a couple laps I did find the strength to pass a couple of dudes including my bud Roger. Started to feel okay around lap 3 and tried to catch back up to the mid pack group... Was doing well for a lap and was making ground until I hit a wall... Legs were done.... I put it in cruse control for a couple of laps until Roger came by me... Just had to make it interesting, didn't ya!!
Well, it came down to the both of us to sprint to the finish to take a whopping 14th and 15th!!! Yah... Worst finish I have ever had since started racing cross... And the SOB out sprinted me on a effing SS MTB!!!
That stung a little bit... This race was a disaster from the start... Owe well, its too early in the season to take them all seriously... Right? Well, crap...
Will post about Day 2 later, I have to try and be productive today....
RESULTS HERE(DAY 1)
ROGERS PICTURES HERE
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