More Cross News

Two more races; two more bridesmaid results. Spooky Cross in Des Moines had a great course and really tough conditions. The rain from earlier in the week made for PlayDo mud in several long stretches, which were energy-zapping (but fun). The wind was howling out the west and turned what was supposed to be a rest stretch into the toughest part of the course. Rode reasonably well and was closing in 5th, but dropped a chain in a bad spot on the 2nd to last lap and lost him, so I ended up 6th (out of 18).

Yesterday was Boss Cross in KC on the new Nationals course (there's a great helmetcam video of the course here). Quite technical and very bumpy (a mountain bike would have been handy), it was still a lot of fun. The whole course is on a hill side. There's a lot of off-camber stuff that, if the weather does not cooperate, will not be fun to ride. Two of the descents in particular are tricky-look for a lot crashes in December. Got a decent start, even with all of the team 360 guys hogging the front row. I was still within 20 yards of Steve Songer midway through the second lap, so I knew it was going reasonably well. Had a slight bad patch with three laps to go, so Songer dropped me like a bad habit. I dueled it out with another guy for the next lap and a half, then managed to get a 10 seconds gap on him with a lap to go (he was very slow on the stairs and the hairpin that followed it near the finish-dropped him there), and ended up 4th (out of 19). If I had enough discipline to eat better and drop a few pounds, I think I could more successfully compete for the podium in KC races.

Boulevard Cup

I went down to KC last weekend and raced in the Boulevard Cup. If you're thinking about trying cross and go out of town, that's an excellent race, as it's well organized, and has free beer--Boulevard is a sponsor, after all--and food. We had great weather. I competed in the master 45+ race which was combined with 35+ and 55+. A group of five got a great start and opened up a gap in the first lap. I got trapped behind some slower people, so had to work hard to get up to a faster group (not the top five, however). I opened a small gap between me and some chasers, but they worked together to catch me. Five of us stayed within 5 seconds of each other until the last lap. I made a move to escape from the others, really pushing it in corners and any uphill sections. I dropped three of them, but the fourth stayed on my wheel, and outsprinted me for 3rd in the 45+, so I ended up 4th. Would have been nice to make the podium in this race, but the result is still pretty satisfying.