kirtland park cross

one more down, one to go in the cleveland cross series.

the typical twisty and fast course with a long stair run up soon split the field after dan took what appeared to be a horrific crash in the opening moments of the race.

field soon split up and as i caught onto the main chasing pack, matt weeks was already in full flight.

a few spots of shuffling around soon found me with gerry duking it out for 3rd spot only about 10 seconds or less behind paul for most of the race.

as the laps came down, up went our pace as somehow dan made up a lot of ground (since laying on the ground) and was no coming up fast.

up the last run up, gerry got a gap but i closed it back down in the last corner but gerry's quick legs got the best of me. matt won, mr martin in 2nd, gerry 3rd and then i rolled in 4th.

after - i got wobblenaughted my wobblenaught guru jim b. stay tuned. his cross fit is now honed and is guaranteed to get me 15 more watts which i'll need at boughton farm.

sologoat out

11/15/09 - Infermary Mound cross

another day, another race.

cap city infermary mound, stacked field on a fast course.

got a slow start as usual, and somebody stacked it on the hoppable barrier. my skillz got me over the barrier despite the pile up and i somehow came out in the top 10'ish.

a few laps later, i make the lead group only to loose ground after paul and matt take each other down in a slippy corner.

head down, i cracked the whip and bridged up solo style. just as i was about to catch back on, my heel catches my rear brake and the stradle cable comes undone from the brake. i'm forced to stop and fix it - and to loose the gap i fought to get back.

i'm now back with paul and matt - and paul rides through and eventually takes 4th. matt rolls in just a few seconds behind him and i'm literally about 5-10 feet behind him.

great course, super fast and fun - the type where it seemed like you were going to rip your tires right off. and another day where less then 45 seconds was the difference from 1rst to 6th. everything counts this year - make one mistake and that's it.

next up - columbus on saturday, cleveland on sunday.

sologoat out

kent state cross

ah - finally a cross race where when i am done, i don't have to wash my bikes and stuff for 2 hours.

kent state cross, new venue to the cleveland series had lots of twists and turns, gravel and two steep wood sections, one you could ride, the other most times not. it was a technical riders course - you had to be on your toes.

pace went off fast at the gun and matt weeks lite it up only to hit the deck real hard in the first section of gravel.

on the 2nd lap, things split up real quick - dan, steve-o, me, gerry and shawn pulled a gap and it started to grow.

steve-o got a gap, then i jumped gerry and shawn - and almost pulled the gap back to steve-o but i almost blew up doing it. shawn and gerry pulled me back and we rode together.

on the last lap, i had one chance on the step section before the spiral section where i was going to launch my last ditch effort to put a gap on my two race buddies. i ramped it up from behind them, only to have shawn move over on me slightly where i needed to lock it up.

with no other real section to get around them, i rolled in 4th - steve-o won, gerry 2nd and shawn 3rd.

and - my new FOCUS cross bike made her first ride a memorial one - during a race. first time for that one for me.

that's it - time to rest up for tomorrow's cross fun in columbus.

sologoat out

last weeks cross race write ups - finally

solon cross day 1 - clockwise

once again, another stacked cleveland field for the solon cross race. got there early to check out conditions and it was expected - muddy.

field busted open immediately and saw me and paul martin in a two man break. paul sat on my wheel as i tried to gap in the techy sections. i'd pull a gap on him and then he would reel me back in on the the flatter open power sections.

fearing the 3rd place rider would catch up, i continued to pull convinced i'd pull a gap on paul that he couldn't bring back.

on the last lap, he let me have it. i reeled him in close twice, but he got me by less the 3 seconds at the line. 2nd place on the day, good to get my cross legs back.



solon cross day 2 - counter clockwise

same course, but drier and clockwise.

got off the front with paul real quick after a near t-bone into derrick (sorry 'bout that) into the first section of single track. paul ended up on his back side nearing the end of the singletrack and never seemed to kind of recover from it - i nearly ran him right over.

soon, i was caught by shawn, gerry, mike and matt. matt and gerry powered away.

i was right behind shawn and mike, gerry and matt were not far ahead - and then they pulled away.

matt was having some rumored shifting issues and shawn pulled his trump card in the closing laps - a clean bike.

shawn went flying by gerry and then matt, then took the well deserved win. matt was 2nd, and then speedgoat got the last 3 podium spots. gerry in 3rd, mike in 4th and myself coming in 5th.



hats off to brett for a great course topped off by cold brews at the end of both races. nothing is better then feeling like heart is going to burst out of your chest while seeing double and covered in mud - only to get cleaned up to grab a cold brew.

cross season rocks.

sologoat out

update

sorry for lack of posts, house work & work are sucking up major time.

2nd place and a 5th last week.

kent race today, columbus tomorrow.

4 race write up hopefully monday. now - must race.

sologoat out