Cross Race and Trip de France

Last Sun was my first ever cross race, held in Milwaukee. I wasn't expecting much being that I had only ridden once in the last month since moving here. It was a cool course; some cool pavement sections, two barrier sections, some good little singletrack, and one hill runup. I wasn't sure how my legs and lungs would feel, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good my legs felt. My lungs, on the other hand, were burning from the start. The start was a madhouse, about 60 riders all racing for the first corner. I got caught behind quite a few riders (I didn't have the best starting position, as you can see from the pic), and there were a few bottlenecks. My lungs finally started to feel better right before the start of the last lap, so during the final lap I was flying and passed about 8 or 9 riders. Ended up finishing 24th, which is alright I guess.

Since I won't be able to race the State Champs in SP, I decided to go to a different cross race (also in Milwaukee) this upcoming Sun. I'm hoping to do alot better to make up for my last race ;) . I've ridden a few times already this week, so hopefully that helps. I also hope to warm up a bit more before the race and to get a better starting position. We'll see how it goes....

On to some big news. Last week Trek was offering a 2 for 1 employee Trek Travel trip incentive program. And being that Heather and I were already thinking about going on one, we decided that we couldn't pass up that offer (as a Trek employee, we get 30-40% off TT trips, plus the 2 for 1 deal made it A LOT cheaper). So we officially booked our trip! Next Aug 13-19, we will be in France! Riding our bikes over some of the classic climbs of the Tour, such as the Glandon, Madelaine, Telegraph, Galibier, and, of course, Alpe d'Huez. Here is a pdf file with more info about the trip for those interested: Classic Climbs of the Tour Itinerary
Check out Day 3 and 5. Those are some doozies!

That's about all I know for now, talk with you all soon!