Royale with cheese

What's up everybody? Today was the last bike race of the season, the WI State Cyclocross Champs, right here in Sun Prairie. I had a 4min drive to get to the venue. Nice, I can handle that. It was a nice day, a bit cold with the wind, but sunny, so not bad at all.

The race was held at the Angell Park Motor Speedway, and it was a fun, challenging course. Some good climbs, fast chicanes, some fun off-camber stuff, and a stair run-up. Brooks entered the race 11 points up on Greenblatt in the WCA standings, so it was close. The field was much bigger as well, with a lot of MN and IL racers showing up. They did call-ups at the start, so both Brooks and I got front row starting positions. The first lap was hectic with all the tight turns and chicanes. A lot of rubbing bikes and racers. But then it got more strung out. I didn't feel bad, but I didn't feel good either. Both my legs and lungs just didn't have it, which I was pretty much expecting being that I haven't ridden in a week and a half. Finished up in 18th place. The real fun was at the front for the state champ title and the series title. A guy from MN ended up with the win, with Greenblatt coming in for 2nd. Brooks finished in 5th...which left them TIED for first in the standings. Wow. From what I can remember, they use number of wins as the first tie-breaker (Brooks got 2, Greenblatt got 1), so Brooks should still be the winner of the series title. We'll see I guess. Great finish to the series though, with it being that tight. Nice job, Brooks. I think that I ended up 10th overall in the series.

Right before the race. Lots of racers going for that state championship!
Me going down a fun little downhill before a good climb.
Part of the TBB support crew is pictured below. Vontoux was at his first cross race of the season. He seemed to enjoy himself.

We had a good size cheering section there for this race with Heather, Mary, Brooks' parents, and a co-worker of mine (the other Brian) and his girlfriend all there.

Tonight I had my hockey league game as well. It didn't look good from the start, as only 8 of our players showed up. So we only had 3 players on the bench at a time. The worst part of this is how tired you get by the 3rd period. The good part is all the ice time that you get. I had my best game of the season so far; I felt comfortable and my passes were connecting. I ended up scoring 2 goals and assisting on 3 others for a total of 5 points in Team Gray's 8-5 win over Team Black. That puts Team Gray at 3-1 so far this season. Nice.

And with today's race, that concludes the 2006 racing season. It was a fun season. Maybe I will post a season recap with my goals for next season sometime soon. But now it is time for a month and a half vacation off the bike before starting base training for next spring's road season. Sounds very relaxing.