Mo CX state champs

Wow!!! Running a little behind here, but I wanted to acknowledge the good times that were had in Herman. I did the race on Saturday, got worked, but also picked up some good intel on the course.

Sunday, was different. Super cold, but sunny. At one point, I questioned weather or not Knee Warmers were going to be the play. But, I stuck to my MANTRA: What would SVEN do? It ended up working well. The race started fast, and stayed that way. I registered late, so my starting position was pretty much last row, in a puddle of Mike Weiss's urine. Any who, I knew that I could not end the season with regret, and shame, so I laid everything that I had on the line for this race. I went down on the off camber turn section, but stayed in motion while putting the chain back on. I passed a few people, and desperately tried to stay on David Stroote's wheel. I knew he would bring the heat, so I did not want to miss that train. The stairs hurt, but there was some time to recover up top. The race ended with my butt cheeks clinched tight with a stelleto guy close behind. I had lost the war, but this battle would be mine!! Bell lap had me gripped beyond belief, but focused on no mistakes. Funny thing about that guy is we battled at the night race also. I took 8th for the day.

Sad to see the season slip away, now I have to find something constructive to do on Sundays. Off season will be super fun and rejuvenating. Congrats and thanks to all that made this a great season. My first full season of bike racing in the books has me fired up for more.

Laugh hard, its a long way to the ground

Sunday was a good race for all! By far the best weather of the year for cross. The conditions made it slick on the corners, but still let the course have some speed in it. As far as layout, the course was super fast, with two extended down hill secitons going into sweeping left handers. One lead into another drop that ended in a 180 turn. Early in the race, I lost my train of thought and grabbed the brakes way to hard going into the 180 and went down pretty hard. I lost some position straightening out my bars and shifter. I tried to focus on staying steady, but took a few more spills, 4 to be exact. I kept thinking that I can still keep the momentom going and have a good race. Still the grifos held up to the conditions well. The run up was a true grind this week. Muddy, steep,unridable, and a strong cheer section made it an instant classic. I felt really good at the end of the race, but was too far from Dan williams to catch up. Ended up 15th for the day, in a smaller than normal field. I am a bit sad to see the end of the season coming up this weekend. No NAT's for me again this year, though it is against my better judgment. I am going to miss the post race scene alot too. It has been a good year for bike racing, I am glad it is a part of my life.

SACK River Trail

Every time I visit my Grand parents, I take a trip to Sac (sock) River. I have been riding this are for about 8 years now. There is a great network of trails that have a little something for everyone. The trails are tight and twisty, some very technical rocky areas keep you on point. The hardest part about this trail network is the sudden transitions from smoking fast, flowy sections into tight, super rocky sections. It had probably been a year since I have ridden there, and not had mud bog conditions. The trail was in buff shape. I believe the 12 hour race happened with in the last 2 months, so there was a well worn circuit, and the leaves were beat down real well. I rolled up the hill to a new section. This was an extremely well don piece of single track that flowed like SIUE, but had more rocks and roots. I would say it was similar to Landalh. Any way, this stuff ROCKED!!! The main feature is corners that are perfectly set up for carving. Unfortunately, I did not find this part until yesterday, so my Turkey day ride did not include this seciton. It was good enough to ride twice both ways though. The gravy of the area is the front of the park. A slight down hill persuasion, with jumps, and two berms at the bottom.

It looks like this trail has made it onto the 2009 MTB calander. The only other race that has ever happened here is a 12 hour race in the fall. I am looking forward to see how they tie all of this trail together for a pure XC course.

CX: on the grind all the time

CX two banger

Bubba in the dark was COLD! I was in the back for the start. THe start was typical STL drag race style. The long paved strait away into the sweeping left hander was superb for a start. The finish was also a paved seciton with a fast corner. I thought the course was great! The corners were set up for speed. I moved up quick and played defense for most of the night. I was running scared from a few people behind me that had formed a nice group, and trying to catch David. I never caught David, but was able to hold on to 20th place for the night. The flyover was rad. I tried to do the super pro cool down spin after the race, but only made it about 3 minuites before I got cold, and turned around. It took me two hours to warm back up again.

Sunday seemd very bumpy compaired to Saturday. Maybe the back was tight from the night before, but it really wore me down. There was a good race going on in the back of the field today. I made my move early, too early, and lost it all plus some in the end. The last 2 laps were pure survival mode for me. Not sure how I ended up, but it was close to last. There are some fast dudes moving up to the A race, which makes it fun in the back. Better than riding solo for an hour.

Suson Park CX

Man, that was a hard race. The legs were thrown into the fire after a solid week off the bike. The rest was good for the legs, but it has taken a week to get them back. Saturday I rode over to Jeffco for a low intensity ride, and felt really good. Sunday came, and the legs felt good. My anxiety level was high as I went through the pre race routine. I was pretty unprepared for the beat down I was getting served. There was a large pack for the A race, and everyone brought the heat for the start. I found myself in the back going through the first barrier. This course put it to me in the worst way.

I ended up 26th out of about 30.

CX Weekend

Raced at Mizzou on Sat. Not much of a turn out, especially compared to last year. With Friday being Holloween, it was tough to not enjoy some refreshments, but I held off for the prospects of better performance over the weekend. The course was 100% grass with a barrier into a short run up, and another set of barriers on the flat section at the back of the course. The course gave an advantage to those who could carve the corners efficiently. I hung with David stroote for most of the race, trading pulls with him. I took 4th out of 6 for the day, eathen Frose took the W in a great display of fitness.

Sunday was the Faust park race. I did absolutely terrible at this race last year. All I remember was a bowl area, and alot of bumps. Super awesome weather both days. We had a hooligan crew for the C and B race. I jumped in the A race and it was on. I tried my best to hang with Wes B. but he came around me super fast on the last lap. At the same time Nate lapped me. I had nothing left to respond to his move. I was able to get some rythem toward the end of the race by focusing on spinning rather than laying down big power. The course stuck pretty close to my idea of a CX course. The run up section really had me concerned about blowing up. I did not try to ride the W section. There were several high speed corners that you could dial in and barley touch the brakes on. I ended up 17th out of 31. That was a huge field for the A race. The CX fire is burning strong inside. I cannot wait until the next double header weekend.

Check out these pics of the Koppenberg race from this weekend. Agony!