Crossin' it up

So, in this edition of cross race-STL, you basically ride around in circles just like any other race. Here you can see me taking a pull w/ my buddy Jay...Jay and I have seemed to find each other the past two weeks and work our way through the field together.



This was a major difference in the other cross races so far...there has been many nicknames given to this beast (that one may work too), but I like to call it the moveable mountain.



Ok, so it isn't as tall as Everest, but after a few laps, I bet it is close to the demands of the Asian wonder of the world. This is me ascending the stair-case.



And preparing for descent... notice my landing gear is not attached. You see, the flyover (aka platform on top) was not very long, so you had to remount immediately, put your feet in the vicinity of your pedals, and get off your seat as quickly as possible in order to clean the transition at the bottom of the down ramp. Otherwise, you may find yourself on the ground, snapping a fork, or the day's favorite... destroying a seatpost. The stairs claimed several victims on Sunday, thankfully I wasn't one of them.



As Josh came around me, I dug a bit deeper and tried to hold his wheel for a bit. I kept him in sight for about a lap, and with his help I moved up a little. I was beginning to fall into a little groove; Jay and I were closing in on a few peeps. Jay crashed or mechanicaled (wow, what a word...almost as cool as bikleing) and I pulled away for just a minute or two. He caught back on in the sand pits and we began rocking again. Next lap I dropped my chain just before the pits, which was the pits, and I had to get off my bike to fix it. Come to find out a lap later I had kicked my front D and couldn't shift into my big ring... that made the chase very interesting.



A lap or two later (mind you we only have 3 to go at this point) I really began closing in on Jay, spinning @ 200+rpms... he held me off through the pits, the start/finish, and the barriers, but I caught him and passed him on the asphalt climb on the backside of the course.



I kept on the gas and managed to hold him off, unfortunately it wasn't for much...9th place is all I could offer my efforts. This is a good peak at the sand pits in the closing laps.



The good:
- I am feeling better each week
- my riding is getting a bit better each week... I am sure Josh would argue I use my brakes too much still, but I am working on that. When I get my tubies back on, we will start talking no brakes!
- I get stronger throughout the race

The bad:
- my starts still kind of suck; I need to change this before state, as I got myself a sweet starting spot.
- I am on the brakes too much, and not pedaling enough... hopefully the tires take care of that.
- my back is still pretty weak. I better get that in check before Herman too!

All in all not too bad. K and I kind of hunkered down over the weekend and chilled around the house. We had a gang of leaves to rake, which I may have some pics of somewhere. This coming weekend we are staying in a cabin that my siblings and nieces reserved for us last Christmas... should be fun. It is in the heart of wine country out off Hwy 94. Suson is next weekend, so that should be good as well. I haven't been to Suson Park since I was 9 probably.

I am really boring these days. Maybe if I didn't stay up so late studying this eve, I would be wittier.