Altoona Cross

Had a math conference in DM today, so I figured I would kill two birds with one stone-IA CX Championships were just 20 minutes away in Altoona (what a great name for a town-you couldn't make one up that good). Cut out of the last talk in time to head over and race the cat 3 men.

The course was really nice-90 % grass, with gravel, pavement, a couple of nice climbs, plenty of turns for accelerations-just what a cross course should be. The only thing missing was a little sand or mud. I think that some courses, especially in KC, tend to get too cute or mountain-bikey--it would be nice if a few promoters would take lessons from the Altoona guys. Anyway, got off to a decent start, then proceeded to struggle badly for the first two laps. I figured out that I was too cold, both from the weather and from insufficient warm-up, so bringing a trainer is critical for some of these late season races. After the first lap and a half, I was in 8th (out of 10-a very disappointing turnout for a state championship). Once I got warm, things started to go well. Over the last two laps of the race I went from 6th to 3rd, which was pretty sweet, especially picking off the guy in 3rd during the last half lap, who had a 10-15 second lead on me beginning the last lap. The crowd at the top of the boarded run-up was loud and really plastered, doing beer hand-ups and setting out dollar primes sticking out of empties on the ground (I tried to grab one but missed). Looked and sounded like they had been knocking them back since the first race 3 hours earlier.

I was pleased with the race, since I beat some of the guys that beat me at Spooky Cross, and felt quite comfortable during the last half. If the race had gone on for a couple more laps, it would have been interesting to see how I would have placed, but I'm not complaining. Ten races so far this fall, on the podium in 6 of them (2x1st, 2x2nd, 2x3rd), in the money for 8 of them (previous plus 2x4th), one DNF because of a rolled tire, and the other was an open race for training after my main event. Good times.