Cross Nats 2010

So you think I would be more excited then I am to write this post. Truth is I'm not really that motivated. It's been an amazing season capped by a 6th place at nationals. I was firmly in fourth place closing in on 3rd when I had a ill-timed mechanical at the flyover that involved the wheel pulling out of the dropout. By the time I fixed the problem I had fallen to eighth place. With only 1 lap left to go I managed to fight my way back up to sixth place missing out on the podium by just 45 seconds.

Overall it was an amazing trip. I drank some amazing coffee thanks to Stumptown Coffee roasters in PDX. Coffee will never be the same after drinking a cup of their brew. I also got to hang out with some amazing new friends and got to see some amazing scenery. The couple I was staying with invited me back in July to race the Cascade Classic road stage race. Free room and board and an airport pickup is sweet music to a poor bike racers ears! Check out all my photos here!

So as hard as it seems to believe I'm already making plans for the 2011 season. As I just said I'm going to throw in a few strategic road races to help me develop the top end power needed for cross. Most of the cat 4 road races around here are only 30 miles in length and last about 1.5 hours. This makes them perfect for cyclocross training. While I'm not planning on doing too much upgrading to the road bike this season - save for new chain, cables, and tires - the CX bike is getting a full makeover courtesy of Sram's Apex lineup and a variety of FSA goodies. With the planned upgrades I'm hoping to get the bike down from 20lbs to 19lbs. I'll post the full build specs once I hammer them down.

Thanks goes out to everyone who followed my blog and twitter feed this year. The support from you guys goes a long way ATMO! I'm already hitting the base miles to be prepared for my first road race that is just 3 months away at the beginning of April. Also on schedule is still one more CX race - the Mid-Atlantic Regional championship race out in Emmaus PA. Then it's just long slow base miles after that.

Thanks for reading!
Captain Crunch

P.S. That picture at the top is hotel room bike cleaning 101 :-). I totally destroyed the tub in my room. Don't look at me like that - you would do the same thing :-)