what up? holiday week was super busy with family stuff so sorry for missing a few days of posting - have to catch up with everybody when i can and it seems like this is the only time of year i really have some time to catch up on everything.
turkey day was good - got to see my family. and jennifer made her world famous chocolate cake, not to be topped the pumpkin and apple pie. mmmm... yummy.
ok - cleveland cross race updates at ya now..
november 25th
winds at 40 miles per hour, temps in low 20's and about 10 inches of snow was enough to have the race cancelled for the day.
november 26th
temps warmed up to the mid 30's and the winds died down, allowing us to race. i was 2 points down on zak from bike authority in the series at the begining of the race, with myself in 3rd, zak in second and paul martin in 1rst.
jerry pfluge turned up from pittsburgh (old buddy from my days down in pittsburgh) with a cross single speed and took off from the gun never to be caught. paul would get second MINUTES down on jerry.
i battled on through the mud and melting snow and managed a 3rd place - zak had a little bit of a rough day and ended up 5th on the day, thus putting us in a tie for second after the race.
november 27th
temps in the low 40's melted the snow and made the course a total mud pit in some sections, and thus must of been a factor for some people not showing up today. with only 9 racers, the most noteable "no-show" was paul martin.
gun went off, and i got a good start. i was first into the woods of what would be a 12 lap race (with a total race time at one hour two minutes). i was careful not to show my good lines in the technical areas and stomped down hard on the gravel and road climb sections.
soon, i was off the front with a good gap with another rider. we would switch the lead back and forth for about 6 laps, but i sensed he was not climbing well as i kept on catching him on the climbs.
on about the 7th lap, there was only one dismount on the course and that is where i made my move. i dismounted, ran and jumped back on the bike with a little gap. with this gap, i then showed my good lines and put more time into before the first little gravel climb where i put more time into him.
the gap stayed steady at that point and we were never out of eye sight of one another, but i was holding the gap. i lapped a few riders, won the race and now have the lead in the series with one race to go.
that's it for race updates - just one to go in the cleveland series. for the last race, we are back down in the akron area for the flat cross course that i always seem to have issues with. the course is rough and with all this snow/rain, is sure to be muddy.
also wanted to say thanks to brett and his crew this weekend - they stuck around after their race on saturday and were screaming their heads off on the gravely/ice covered climb. made the climb a little easier...
that's it - gotta run. hope you had a good turkey day, and for all you guys heading out to cross nationals, rest up -- i hear there are a CRAZY field sizes already.
sologoat out.
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