Charm City Cross weekend

Wow is all I can say. I got my butt kicked hard. It's tough going from the top of the results sheet in the 4's to mid-pack in the B race (2/3/4s). Saturday the course was fast but gave plenty of spots to pass and I finished 37th. On Sunday the course was changed to be even faster and more flowing, but places to pass were really limited and I finished 51st - only 4 spots higher then where I started.

The result on Sunday doesn't really reflect how I felt. My legs recovered really well from Saturday but I kept getting caught in slow traffic. There were several times where I had to coast since the guys in front of me were going so slow and there was no way to get around. Fortunately there were several dismount/running/barrier sections (4 to be exact - 1 sand pit,a set of railroad ties, barriers, and run-up) that I was able to make up two or three spots a lap.

Sunday was also the cleaner of my two races. The only time I went down on Sunday could not have come at a worse time. I had just made up three spots through the railroad ties remounted and was preparing for a fast right hander on the second to last lap. Feeling confident with my cornering I really pushed the bike hard and lost it on the lose dirt on top the grass. I had enough of a cushion to not lose the spots I made and quickly remounted. It was only then that I discovered the chain had jumped off the front ring. This made me have to dismount, fix the chain, and then remount. By this time the three guys I passed went by me as did two more.

Overall I'm pleased with how the weekend went. I'm facing a much better level of rider in my new category. My goals for the season have changed with that in mind. Now I simply want to be consistent and finish in the top half of the field each race and try to cap off the season with a strong showing at Nationals.

A nice highlight of the weekend was seeing Joe Mallis again. Joe is a awesome photographer (www.joemallis.com) and all around good guy. It's always nice to run into someone like him. He's not making much money off his photos (if any at all) but he shows up to support the mid-Atlantic cross scene and see some great racing in the process. I also ran into Ben Kiel of House Industries. House is a really cool font company and is another sponsor of Richard Sach's team. Who knew there were some many different types of font available to publishing houses.

Another weekend has already passed by. This CX season is simply going by to quickly. Sunday brings the arrival of the last CX race for the month of September. It feels like just yesterday I was getting off the plane from Boulder. Speaking of Boulder, on my way home from Nationals I'm stopping back in CO for an extra 6 days. That means I'll now be gone from December 2nd to the 20th.

Thanks for reading!
Captain Crunch