After a really hard effort atop the dump on Saturday afternoon, we went back to the lake house for the night. I had the night planned out in my head and brought DVD's and a book in anticipation of doing absolutely nothing in order to recover for the next day. We hung out for a bit around the dinner table overlooking Whitewater Lake and then retired to the couch. We then proceeded to watch Transition, Transition 2, Cyclofile #1 and one episode of the Simpson’s Season 8 before passing out. There was a whole lot of talking mixed in, since Jen and her brother were staying with us and I have not had much face time with her in a while, and I wrote up the Whitewater race report as well. Time well spent if you ask me. Slept comfortably in the dungeon and awoke around eight to take Molly out. October 21st, 8 A.M. in Southern Wisconsin and I was standing outside, only wearing shorts and I was comfortable. Where is the cyclocross weather? Anyway, we sat around for a while, had a cup of coffee and decided to go hit Southern Kettle. Dan just finished his hot new Indy Fab and wanted to test it out on some trails. I wanted to go on its' maiden voyage so I switched to my spare wheels and went with. Lesson of the last few months; do not ride 30c tubular tires on a rocky trail under pressured. For all intents and purposes I ripped the rear tire and after trying to patch it with sealant decided it is not repairable. Not the end of the world, just a mistake to learn from I guess. So after a whole lot of trail hiking with a bike on my shoulder we were in the car and headed back to the lake house. We were taking it easy since none of us needed to be at the race until after noon . We left and made it in time to watch the "3's" race finish up. Lyle is really keeping Casey on his game finishing just seconds behind him. I see wins coming from Lyle once he can figure out how to trick Casey into doing a little work. I am just kidding, sort of.

I got a pre-ride lap in as the race was finishing up and the course was incredible. And coming off of a day at the dump made it even better. A wooded course, smooth, twisty, a pretty good hill and a huge natural barrier made for laps from heaven. The lead-out was pretty short considering how fast our group rides and off road, but was really smooth considering. Around a tree of a 180 into this really neat turn that looked like this " '-, " a 90 degree left followed by a 90 degree right. The dirt was a little washed out and the trees made it so we couldn't lean too much. Down, around and back up to the first set of barriers, a triple set. They were spaced really well and could be run really fast. Up and around a corner put you on a flat, smooth wide trail that led to the most fun part of the course. A huge tree had fallen in a storm and instead of routing the course onto the beach they changed it at the last minute so that you had to dismount and go over the tree. Of course the path of least resistance for the bike stuck you squarely in the middle of the tree, at the highest point. It was probably about 3 feet off the ground, but every lap I hopped it there, sometimes not even stepping on the tree. Flying like superman. Around a tight right turn and the start of the hill began. Not super steep, it was pretty easy to hold pace and mash up the hill. Then it had this really short steep part right before it basically leveled out for a few hundred feet. Then a left turn and up a steep section out of the woods and then another even steeper section to the top over grass. So happy we were going with the wind at that point. The top of the hill hurt, period. But alas! Off the top of the hill was immediately down a fairly straight long section giving your legs time to recover a little. And my legs were very appreciative as the race went on. At the bottom of the hill the trail swung left and rolled though some soft single track fire road type trail with both up and down sections. Out of that section was a fast hard pack short sprint along a parking lot. Around the parking lot and through a couple posts put us in a section that was hauntingly similar to Whitewater the day before. Bumpy, grassy and slow. It was all up a short incline that led to a really soft almost muddy corner that sent us back down the hill. Again more wonderfully smooth hard packed single track. Through the meadow into a right hand turn that was rutted enough that you could hit it really fast and use the rut as a burm. So fun! Twisted through the woods real quick and back out into the picnic start area. Around a wide left and up a short incline to the last set of barriers. Easy. Right turn and down through a series of switchbacks with badly washed out corners that needed to be taken pretty slow. Then rocket down towards the finish line around some trees, that with speed, you could pedal through and carve hard. It was an amazing course!

I went out and warmed up with Jeremy a little bit, drank a shit ton of water and got on the start line. I have stopped getting hand-ups in anticipation of UCI races and nationals where feeding is not allowed. There were familiar faces on the line from Whitewater, but a bunch of people I did not recognize. So I did not really know what to expect in terms of competition. Jesse and Kyle to my right. Brian to my left. They had a preem for the first rider through the first set of barriers so I knew the start would be fast and competitive. I didn't care about the preem so I just planned to stick with the front group. I actually had a plan for this race, which was a first. I wanted to try to stick with the front guys, but not to attack as much as I did in Whitewater. Save a little energy for the later parts of the race and be a little more consistent. Still go hard off the start line and stick with they guys up front, but not worry so much if there were a few more people ahead of me and grab them when they pop. It was nice on the start; most everyone at this level is still pretty friendly, which is really cool. Everyone could be real dick heads and try to be intimidating, but that is totally the opposite of how it is. Some of those guys know they are fast and don't need to be jerks about it.

The rules were read and the whistle was blown. The start was aggressive, but I was at the front of it. I rode cautiously into the first corner to avoid tangling up with guys. A couple riders went around me on the left going fast and choppy. For some reason, their riding style just screamed inconsistent, so I did not sweat it. After the barriers, I was sitting in 6th or 7th place. The train was tight and I wasn't worried. Kyle was right behind me and I could feel his intentions. He wanted the front and at almost the first chance he nudged his way right in front of me, which I did not mind at all. After the first hill climb we were already loosing riders and Kyle made another move to get up front, and I followed him part of the way there and got on Jesse's wheel. An aside for a moment. I would like to comment on what it feels like to ride a wheel like riding Jesse's wheel. It is strange to get behind someone and ride within inches and know that you can follow that tire where ever it leads you. I knew that he was going to pick the right line; I knew he was going at a good pace. It was just really strange to have so much confidence in someone I have never ridden with. It felt great to be riding with Brian and Jesse, whether or not they were going slower than usual. Anyway. At one point on that second lap Kyle took off. Early enough that I even thought it was too early. He was always within sight, so we were keeping a good pace on him and Jesse and Brian must have not been too worried either. We rode like that until just about the forth lap when Brain and Jesse decided that Kyle was getting a little too far off the front and they really turned it on. I did not catch it and slowly fell off the back, I was able to keep it within ten seconds for a while, but as soon as they caught Kyle, the three of them worked me off the back a little more. I was riding by myself again, but as opposed to yesterday, the course was enough fun and protected well enough that I was just having a good time going fast on my bike. I had Kyle within sight and well ahead of 5th place, so I was pretty comfortable. I knew Kyle was fading a little so I was concentrating on keeping a steady pace and readying myself for a 2 to go fast lap to try to catch and gap Kyle. Coming up on that two to go lap I got really close to Kyle. He noticed and got back into gear and pushed hard, putting a strong effort to hold me off. Coming into the start of the second to last lap I was feeling a little tired and rode slightly slower. The hill started to hurt pretty badly, but I made it up strong. Kyle kept the heat on and started to pull away from me again. So, I settled into 4th place and was very happy with it. I concentrated on staying upright and riding smooth. Enjoyed riding the last lap and finished strong. I am pretty sure I rode a lot of that race with a smile on my face which was in stark contrast to how I looked the day before.

So this wraps up my first year of racing cyclocross. Next weekend in Washington Park I will be in costume and am pretty excited to revisit that venue. And hell, to finish the race next weekend in the same fashion as I did last year will be pretty sweet as well, here is to giving these races everything. I am pretty excited to have the chance to earn enough upgrade points to upgrade to Cat1 this season as well. Using some of these guys as a gauge as to how I will do at the national level is good. I should not get completely destroyed, but I have my work cut out for me. I am hoping at these really large UCI races there is less of an ability gap. All of the elite races I have ridden in, I find my self sitting between the leaders and the pack behind me. Riding alone and struggling to make time on the leaders. Hopefully the UCI races will have a more solid gamut of riders so there will be people to work with. I guess we will see. The east coast races are going to be highly attended by some of the best. Julie got plane tickets for the east coast on Friday. I am in the process of reserving a room for Jingle Cross. In the last year I have gone from spending money on airfare to fly to far away cities in order to ride my bike like a brakeless speeding idiot through red lights and traffic jams to having a fancy licence, national level goals and support. Who would have thought?