I am Pack Fodder

 

Two more cross races are in the books.  I can see very small improvements in my form but not much.  Having said that, it keeps me motivated somewhat but my results have not shown the hard work I have put in which is depressing.  Still, even being Pack Fodder I have enjoyed my cyclocross season.

A review of my last two races starting with the 360 Cup two weeks ago.

Day 1 of the 360 Cup brought cooler weather and high motivation to do well.  Course had a few cool features, but overall was a real power course.  Power is something I am down on now so my results were around mid-pack. 

A rider went down in my class on an off camber downhill section with a tight turn.  It was a little slick but nothing bad.  He ended up breaking his Fibula and Tibia clean through.  Pins were required and he should heal up fast.

There were 3 really tight sections of the course that caused havoc during some of the races.  I really did not care for these sections as it did nothing more than slow everyone down to a crawl and require a rider to accelerate hard out to get going again.  There were plenty of long fast straights for the power riders.  I like turns that allow a rider with skill to make up time or pass.  Corners that are narrow and tight do nothing but slow riders down which is fine if you need to slow them down for  scoring, but not to stimulate racing.

Day 2 of the 360 Cup saw Christopher test his legs again in cross.  He gets the award for the ugliest socks.

Christopher is focused mostly on school and girls.  The only riding he does is at the cross races and is hoping for a muddy cross race soon. 

Doug came out to race with me on Day 2.  He continued his strong cross season with a 2nd place against a solid field of racers.

Dan Hughes raced 3 events on Day 2.  Got up on the podium in two of the races - Cat 4/5 and Single Speed. Dan has a huge engine and endurance.  Two things I need right now.

For Day 2 the 360 Team changed up the course and put in a new section of turns.  The only problem was they were still very tight and only allowed one speed. 

This weekend brought us the Robidox Roundup Cyclocross in Saint Joesph, MO.   What a breath of fresh air.  The course was awesome and even had some short single track sections.  Christopher really liked the course.

The barriers were tall.  Even Christopher's tall frame had trouble getting over them.

The descents were a little slick but that was the fun part.  If you took the right line you could flow through them nicely and allowed a bit a recovery which you would need on the climbs. 

Course was great up in Saint Joesph.  Even the start was nice.  Kind of a "Moto" type start with a short sprint to the first turn.  Here Eric Burch gets the holeshot on the Masters 40+ field.

Corners were really setup nicely.  Lots of flow and they allowed you to keep your speed and pass.

There was an ass kicker of a climb.  I am sure glad I decided not to race in the single speed class because I think I would have broken a chain if my fat ass had tried to climb this monster on my single speed.

I went out hard at the beginning but could not keep up with the likes of Tige, Eric and Terry Higgins shown here passing me on a climb. 

Tom Price and Tige Lamb won the Masters 50+ and Masters 40+ respectively.  Tom killed it today.

I had two good laps in me on Sunday.  That was it.  My goal was to keep John Williams behind me during the first part of the race.  At least I accomplished one goal :-).  John had another solid race and finished in 5th place.  I would fall back to 8th by the end.

So far my season has been very unsuccessful.  Basically I am just Pack Fodder right now and I have to live with it.   I kind of feel like the Alaskan Pack Fodder.