On Sunday we all packed in the car and took off for the Gibbs Lake cross race. The course was fast and dry with a couple good climbs and some fun singletrack sections and switchbacks. I got a front row start position.
But that was screwed up when they played that Kentucky Derby song on a trombone to start the race instead of saying go. I didn't realize that and was back in midpack before I was even clipped in fully.
I starting catching riders around some of the first few switchbacks, and when we hit the first decent climb I put in a good effort to try to make it up to the leaders. I caught them right at the top of the climb and decided to just keep on riding past them. I saw that I had a gap, so I pushed a little harder to try to win the first lap prime. I ended up taking that (and winning some HEED energy drink for my efforts).
Soon after that, a group of 4 riders (Casey, Lyle, a young Baraboo Sharks rider, and a guy on a sweet IF Ti Planet Cross) caught up to me and we ended up riding together for the rest of the race. It wasn't long before we had a pretty big gap on the rest of the field.
On the last lap, Casey and Lyle upped the pace, and the rest of us couldn't match it. The last section of the lap was all switchbacks, making it difficult to pass or sprint for the finish, so I came across the line in 5th place, making it on the podium and winning some cash. That moved me up into 8th place in the standings, but only 6 points behind 5th place. Coming up this weekend is the Halloween cross race in Milwaukee on Sunday and then my first league hockey game of the season later that night. Exciting times.
Thanks to Heather and Alane for the great pics!
7 comments:
Great photos of the race.
Do you like the way the XO fits, or would you like to go up one frame size now that you've done a couple of seasons of racing? A second cx bike, one for flat and dry, and the current for mud?
The important thing is you beat the guy wearing pink.
Congrats on the awesome finish, to bad that you couldn't have had more a stretch at the end to get some ground with. Maybe next time.
You the man Brian! Way to push it for the prime lap. Keep going strong. Not to jinx it or anything, but I'm feeling a W in your future. You heard it here first :)
i've been telling him all season he's going to win one. nov. 4th he'll get the win.
what wheels are those?
Pat - The 54cm seems to fit fine. I guess if I wanted to get further stretched out, I could replace the non-offset Thomson post. A 2nd bike would be fun (that new XO-2 is sweet), but probably isn't in the cards.
Greggie - Indeed.
Squez - Thanks man. I miss my little Mijo!
Dave - I felt really "Vino-like" on that first lap. :) And nice job jinxing it.
Brooks - I do like that Estabrook course. We'll see. They're Race Lite wheels.
Good job bro. I'll have to break out some cheers for you... Awe, memories. I'll write one for you like I did for Heather.
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