Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Back on the "Program" - Bloomer CX

Since the USGP weekend, I have started to feel more like myself on the bike. I stayed with the “Program” and things are back to normal. The next race was Bloomer, which is a cool course. My plan was to stay towards the front at the start, be smooth in the corners and hit it hard on the hills and long straights. They decided to add a holeshot prime at this race, so the start was fast. I was about 5th wheel as we hit the wood chip pile (Yes… wood chip pile), when the first incident happened. The 3rd or 4th wheel guy lost it as did the guy in front of me and as I tried to split the two of them, I got “hooked” by a saddle. As I was trying to pull it off, he was pulling it back. Eventually we broke free and I was somewhere around 8-10th, but wasn’t 100% sure. I started to pick people off, then unclipped on a technical downhill and couldn’t get back in on the climb out, letting some people pass. Shortly after that, I hit an uneven patch on a climb and pull the bike over crashing on the hill and more people went by. I think I was 13th as we finished the first lap. At this point I wanted to quit, but as I started the second lap things began to click. I started closing the gaps and just focused on each group that was ahead of me. With 2 laps to go a younger guy on a mountain bike passed me on the downhill, but I was quickly back around him on an uphill pavement section. I attacked a few times to try and drop him, but he was stuck on my wheel. I kept a steady hard pace on the last lap and punched it hard on the long flats and uphills. As we approached the last straight to the finish, I ramped it up and pegged it as we hit the pavement as I know he was going to try to beat me in the sprint. But it wasn’t going too happened today… I rolled in for 6th on the day about a bike length ahead. Next up is the Tailwind Michigan CX Championships at Springfield Oaks on Dec 4th and it is looking like a muddy one. Osgood is going to be excited!!

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