Ummmm...it's bumpy?

Well if some of you read the twitts? going out yesterday you may have seen the mention of a 'bumpy' course. Just to get this straight, we ALL race on the same course. We ALL appreciate the effort put forth by new promoters. BUT when the question was asked of me ALL I could say was 'ummmm...it's bumpy'? Showing utter politically correctness and gratitude for someone stepping up to make us have a racing weekend.

BUT when there is open field, no pavement, no gravel, non technical, 2 barrier section, spiral of death, one drop in(that was rideable for some people) along with a Jingle Cross climbing style hill added in. (BTW I learned I can climb all of a sudden this year. Can you say ego boost rolling into Jingle?) Not much to say but 'bumpy!'

To the race report. 2nd row start on the grass(did mention this course is grass?) Got a decent start top ten. Finally starting to get my starts of old down. About time now that the season is almost over! People falling down on the bumpy grass corners(why?) Glad I was running my Challenge Fango's at 27 lbs. Only bottomed out once on a bump I didn't see in the malay of the first lap. Honestly I'm not going much farther than that on how the race unfolded. I managed to gain several positions back on the long climb but lost them for some reason in the spiral of death. I OFFICIALLY hate that obstacle now. I finished in tenth which is in the right direction considering the ebb and flow of my season.

So today it's a road or mountain bike ride due to the fact that the race is at the same 'bumpy' venue.

Maybe?

I discovered my big gear today.

And although I still didn't feel good, I was much faster at Estabrook Park, the 8th WCA race of the series. Beat a couple of guys who are strong TTs on the road. But I don't think either one was feeling his best today. There's definite improvement.

I replaced my 46 with a 44-tooth ring, and that allowed me to stay in the big ring all day today. I kept shifting last weekend, and was waiting for the chain to get sucked in.  I rode the Williams wheels with Challenge Grifo XC file treads and flew on the mostly grassy crit-style course.

The previous weekend featured two WCA races, and both were top-notch. Halloween Cross at Washington Park was better than ever. Luke and the Trocodero boys added a stretch and utilized more off-camber technical turns. I loved the course.

On Sunday, Herman and I traveled to Madison for the first ever cyclocross race at a Madison city park. Nice course with some challenging terrain. The best feature was a sweeping off-camber descent of a hill. The only downside was the run-up. I'm not a fan of long, steep run ups any longer! I felt okay on the day, but didn't feel like I was going until there were only two laps to go. I would have liked another two laps at that point.

Tomorrow, Roscoe and I travel to Woodstock, Illinois. I'll do the 30 plus and get my old man's ass handed to me. But it's good training to stay in fields of that size.

And with my new chain ring, I'll be able to hammer along, even though the course description promotes a lot of hills.

I'm getting sad the season is already more than half over. There are only three WCA races left, another three Chicago races, and Jingle Cross in Iowa. That's it.

Can't wait for nationals to extend our season. Even if it is in the middle of the damn winter.

'Cross STL Style

Hopped over to St. Louis this past weekend to see what Bubba (local series) had going on. Saturday night was a 10pm start time for the Open/A race on a fairly open grass crit style course with one triple barriers section and a long sand run (a little surprised to be the only one 'shouldering'). Raced pretty solid (for me) for the hour long effort and finished 14th. STL is really developing on the 'cross scene even though it seems like it's more of a party where a bike race breaks out wherein KC is a bike race with only Crusty getting rowdie. Favorites for the night was the 'money grab' from the mouth of a huge dead fish-on-a-stick during the beach run and the guy in the B race dressed in a fully inflatable Sumo outfit (barriers were hilarious).

Sunday's venue was the same, but the course changed to more technical with still only one triple barrier section (beach run removed). I was looking forward to this as the night before I made time on the little bit of technical stuff we had and lost on the open power sections. Lined up with the Open again and near the end of the first lap I was in a solid position when I goofed on a turn and dumped pretty hard causing my front break and shifter to go inoperable for the rest of the 55 minutes - ugh, I was dead freaking last with a single speed machine. Luckily the course was pancake flat and the one gear I had was a decent fit so off chasing I went. Gave solid efforts for the hour race and was able to bring back some to finish 17th. Slightly frustrating, but really like the strength workout it gave me (lemonade from lemons...).

As always the BLUE was solid and responsive while the Challenge Grifo XS's were the way to go (those things are crazy fast). The kits still get attention and a group referenced the 'pro' setup at the USGP's; nice job boys, keep it up.

This is the halfway mark of my season with 11 races in the books and 10 more to go. Looking forward to the extended seasons in the upcoming years as 'cross is such a short season for such a fun event.