Wireless=Pics

And now off to ride in the rain! Better than snow.

Lower Huron CX

What a nice day for a ride in the park. That's what my day turned into. I rode a few laps of the course before the masters race and before our A race. Nothing special besides a steep run-up after the barriers. It was a rathe bland course that favored a power rider. Not many turns that had to be accelerated hard or any climbing. Just pedaling into the wind. I started off in a good position for once. Then going into the sandpit, I followed a 2 guys attempting to ride and a runner. I ran into them, so I had to get off and run it out. A few passed and I was chasing. Just before the second set of barriers, I wiped out on an off camber section. I was riding the top and was coming off the ending of it when WHAM, I was down before I knew what was going on. One of those quick falls where you think back to it and don't know the cause. After that it was more chasing, almost everyone was by me. I just kept pedalling and enjoyed the day of high intensity training. A few more slips here and there and that was the story of the day. With 3 to go, I came into barriers #1 and down-shifted late, which had me getting off the bike just before the barriers. I didn't have time to get my hands off the bars, so WHACK, the rear tire smacks the barrier. Running the bike up the hill I notice the wheel isn't spinning. A looks at it and a forced spin around shows the rim is true but the brake it slammed into the tire. I tried forcing the brake pad down, but no luck. So on I went in a jog over to the pit to grab a tool. I got there and decided to take the wheel out and try to re-align it. Luckily that worked out, so on I was again, almost last. I ended picking off another spot before I was caught by the flying Wissink. He had a huge gap.

One thing I noticed with this power course and maybe the wind was that all of the riders were spread out. There was no riding in groups and working to chase down others. For the most part it was every-man-for-themselves. I ended up 12th. Not close to what I was looking for, but not everything went my way. Oh well, I still had fun and was able to ride my bike hard today. Not to mention the 78 degree temperatures. Ocotber 21st, huh? Lets keep this weather around another 20 days or so. After that, the cool weather can come in for a short bit if necessary.

Stony CX

It all started off on a blistery cold, almost snowy fall day. Well almost. High 80's and humid. Sounds like summer MTB weather, not 100% all out cross.

I did my normal race thing. Start at the back and pick riders off in the hour. I was in 18th on lap one and finished 9 laps later and 9 times through that friggin' beach up 8 spots. I was closing in on Robert and another rider on the last lap, but couldn't close the gap. Good race, fun times, lots of water weight lost, and no barrier mess-ups. My CX skills are getting better. Now only if I could start the race out near the front and not taking the caboose.

Pics up later. Oh yeah, no crashes!