CX Nationals - Masters 40-44

The weather gods must have something against Kansas City hosting the cyclocross championship. Just like in 2000, racers were greeted today with snow, cold weather and an ice rink for a course. I like Thursday's condition much better than todays for sure.

After a short warm-up to go watch my teammate Tige Lamb out on the course, I went back to the van to finish my pre-race warm-up. My feet were frozen so I opted to race with my Lake winter shoes. A good choice as it turned out. Unlike my upper body, my feet remained toasty warm.

I had about a 9th row starting spot which put me about mid-pack. I stayed upright for the first lap picking off riders has they either crashed or had troubles in the slick spots. I was running my Ritchey tires around 29 psi and they were hooking up very well. I was actually very impressed with them. I was having trouble on the up hill spots, but seemed to do well in the downhill sections and turns. At the end of the first lap I was just outside the top 50. Not bad with over 163 competitors in the Male 40-44 class.

It was nice to hear a lot of supporters. I could hear them cheering me on. Thanks to my wife Carolynn, son Christopher, Tige, Gerard, Brian, Rich and all the others for helping be get 54th place. I really needed everyone's support today. The only disappointment was having the race winner James Coats pass me at the line and putting me 1 lap down.

CX Nationals - Juniors

Christopher competed in the Junior Men 13 - 14 today. Man some of the kids are huge. Still waiting for the results. Here are some pics below of the juniors.

CX Nationals - Men's B 40+

Course was a mess. Mud, frozen ruts and slick corners were all the course was. Very little time for recovery. HR was was in the 180's to 190's the entire race. I started about mid-pack with will over 100 riders signed up. I did great the first lap and worked my way up to a top 20 position passing dozens of riders in the first half lap. Things were looking good until I crashed while crossing this muddy ditch. It took me a lap to regain my form and by then I had gotten passed by about 1/2 the field . Really bad 2nd lap for me. I started to bring riders back on the 3rd and 4th laps and felt good at the end. On the 4th lap I had slid out on the off-camber section and lost a top 40 placing. Ending up 46th on the day out of 118 starters. Not as good as I had wished for, but it is about what I expected with my current fitness level and the health issues I have had to over come. Patrick Morrissey of N.M. won todays event. Here is a video of the first lap of the Men's B 40+ where I get caught by the helmet cam dude.

Tomorrow is Christopher's turn. The course will most likely be icy for him. It will be interesting for sure.

2007 CX Nationals

I hope I am ready for this. Tomorrow are the 'B' events at Nationals. I am registered for the 40+ division. Get this. My race number is 2007. May be it will be a lucky number for me. So far this cyclo-cross season has not gone my way. At least I have not got the results that I am used to.

So I go to packet pickup to get our 'Goody Bags" , race numbers, etc. I was a little shocked when I arrived. A very lame setup, no banners, no 'welcome racers', nothing. After a little walking around the hotel, I finally found packet pickup. I go up to the table "What class you racing?" he asks. "Well I'm racing 3 classes and I also need to pick up my son's packet" He just gives me the race numbers and has be sign the photo release. He doesn't ask to see my license nor does he check my age which he should have done. I ask if that is it and he says yes. "What about the goody bags?" I ask. Oh yea, here you go. He gives me one bag. I respond with "I have 4 entries so I should receive 4 goody bags" He replies "You only get one. One person one bag" Let me get this straight. I pay for 4 and only get 1. Well what a cheap ass promoter I reply and left in disgust.

This past Sunday was the Kansas State Cyclocross Championships. After set-up was complete and since sign-up was running smoothly thanks to Margaretta I decided to go ahead and race. I am still not feeling 'race ready' but decided it would be good training and help me relax some to get out and ride. Actually had an o.k. race and took 3rd place on the day. Thanks to Cameron Chambers not racing the Single Speed class I am now leading the division in the De Stad Cyclocross Van Kansas Series. I guess consistency pays off.

Kansas State Cyclocross Championships

This weekend the De Stad Series continues with the Kansas State Cyclocross Championship Saturday will be course set-up and Sunday we will finish things off in the a.m. The weather forecast for the weekend is looking great for an epic cyclo-cross race. Light freezing rain to a wintry mix is on tap. I just hope the ground is not frozen. It's going to suck trying to pound in stakes into a frozen ground.

Cyclocross is cathing on. Locally it is catching on as well. Maybe not as much as I expected, but the number of racers have grown along with the number of events. Event number are still rather low compared to other areas. We will see who show up this weekend in Leavenworth.

This will be my last event to promote for the year, and maybe ever as I am not going to promote any Spring events next year do to some health reason. I am looking forward to getting healthy again and spending more time with my family and just riding.