Shorty

Just a short little update since I can't think of much to say. The Abraham family visited us this past weekend from lovely GF, ND. It was a fun, but short, visit. We hung out around town, got lost in the State Capitol, and watched some movies. Nice and relaxing.

On Sunday night Team Green took on Team Blue, who we were tied with in the standings going into the game. We ended up winning 3-2, and I got all 3 goals for the hat trick. That win puts us in first place in the league after 5 games. Crazy, I never would have expected that. Shame on me for being so pessimistic. Next week we take on Team Orange again...they are the only team to have beaten us so far.
This Sunday afternoon is the last cross race of the season for me, the WI State Champs. Hopefully I'll do better than last race!

Nail & Crash

Every now and then you have one of those races that you just want to forget. Last cross season, it was the state champ race in Sun Prairie. This year, it was once again at the course in SP. I like the course; it's a good mix of tight off-camber turns, run-ups, and flat power sections...but I don't think the course likes me. :)

It was a pretty good size field, and I had a pretty good start sitting in 4th-5th for the first few laps. Around the 3rd lap a group with Casey, Chris, Lance, and another rider got off the front a bit and I hung out in a group of 4 a little behind them. It stayed that way for a couple laps.
Here's the grandstand run-up...you came off the speedway track and ran up the stairs. Notice the new hbar tape and saddle combo.

The hill run-up...this was steep and forced you to run up it with a barrier at the bottom.

My cheering section comprised of Heather, Trent, Mario, and Tonia.

I was halfway thru my lap with 4 laps remaining when I heard a noise coming from my rear wheel, like something was caught in it. It didn't take long before I could feel the air pressure coming out of my tire. I rode the rest of the lap on a flat tire to the wheel pit where I switched out my rear wheel. I probably lost around 12 places before I was back out on the course. After the race, I saw what caused it:

That's one rusty, gross nail! I was trying to make some ground back up and had passed a few riders on the next lap when I took a corner too fast and crashed. Now I have some nice road rash on my thigh and elbow. At this point, there was only one lap left and there wasn't anyone close behind or in front of me, so I just coasted for the rest of the race and finished in 17th place. It was frustrating to lose that many spots due to the flat, but there's nothing you can do about stuff like that. Hopefully things will go better in 2 weeks for the state champs.

We had a nice visit with Tonia, Trent, and Mario. It was too short though. We planned out the new electrical outlets for the basement and they got to experience their first ever cross race. This upcoming weekend we are getting a visit from the Abraham family. Can't wait!

PS - Brooks has to update his blog now. A guy after the race bribed him with a pumpkin cookie to update it. :)

Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving!

Weekend Retreat

The family had a good time on our little weekend retreat to Black River Falls, WI. We stayed in a cool little cabin in the woods and just relaxed. Felt good. Also did some hiking with the doggies in the nice county parks in that area. Here are some pics from the weekend ... Heather said that she would post more on her blog as well, maybe some of the cabin.

Vontoux loves obstacles. Going down slides at playgrounds...stuff like that. Here he is after a nice leap.

Little Heather and Little Slick Willa, both bundled up.
On a beach with Vontoux. Evidently the lake behind us is the deepest lake in WI.

Playing in a river.

Willa with her hood up, like Rocky (is that her in the link?).

All that fun makes the doggies very tired.

Team Green played Team Gray on Sunday night. We won 5-0. I didn't get a single point, no goals, no assists, but I did clang 2 shots off the post, both in the 2nd period. Sometimes those are the breaks...but the team didn't need the extra goals anyway. :)

This weekend it sounds like Trent and Tonia are coming for a short visit. That should be most fun. They are going to be spectating on Sunday for the cross race right here in Sun Prairie. I like those races that are 5min from your house. Hopefully I'm over my cold by then!

Milwaukee CX pics

Here are some pics from this past weekend's races.

Leading the group over the barriers early in the race on Saturday

The leading group of four (Casey, Lyle, Lance, and myself)
The nice steep climb with the barrier (and the crowd) at the top
Pre-race chat at the start line on Sunday

The six leaders on the runup

Venga! Venga!

Here's Jesse making it look easy bunny-hopping the barriers on Sunday

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Kletzsch and Estabrook Park CX

Saturday:
This was a new course for this year in Kletzsch Park in Milwaukee. I really liked this course after doing a couple warmup laps, and I think it suited me well. It had a nice steep climb with a single barrier at the very top and some good singletrack sections. We need more cx courses with steep climbs on them. :)

I lined up on the front row for the start and got a decent start, sitting in about 7th or 8th for the first section. After the first lap there was still a good size group at the front, so I moved into the lead to try to shed some riders. About halfway thru that lap, I looked back and saw just Casey and Lyle with me, with another rider chasing close behind. The other rider, Lance, bridged up to us to make a group of 4, and after a couple laps we had a good size gap to the riders behind us. I felt really strong, especially on the climbs and singletrack (despite tripping over the barrier at the top of the steep climb on one lap). With 4 laps to go, Casey put in a hard effort and moved away from our group. I still felt good, but I didn't want to go with that many laps remaining. His time advantage kept growing, and we never saw him again. On the last lap, Lance and I got a small gap over Lyle before the last singletrack section. Lance went thru the last set of barriers faster than me and I couldn't catch him before the finish. So I finished 3rd.

Good result on a cool course. I really hope that this course is on the schedule next year as well.

Sunday:
This race was also in Milwaukee in Estabrook Park. Milwaukee really has some badass parks. It was setup similar to last year's course with a couple small changes. It rained a bit before the start, which made it just a little tacky.

My start was almost the same as the day before, and I was in about 8th place or so. After the first lap or two the lead was dwindled down to 6 riders, the usual suspects. The pace was very up and down for a few laps...riders would attack and the pace would get high until we caught them, and then the pace would slow down until someone attacked again. I could tell after a few laps that my legs didn't feel as strong as the day before. I was having to work just to stay in the group. With about 4 laps remaining I lost contact with the lead group and was riding by myself. I realized I wasn't going to catch back on to the 5 leading riders, so I was just going to try and stay ahead of 7th, which I managed to do, finishing in 6th place.

I was hoping for better, especially after Saturday's result, but my legs just didn't have it in them. Casey got the victory again, taking his 5th or 6th win in a row I think. With the results from this weekend, I am now in 5th place in the standings.

Sunday night:
Team Green had a late game on Sunday, playing at 9pm against Team White. We had a pretty good game, winning 4-2. I had 2 goals and 1 assist, with a nice deke around a dman on the 2nd goal.

Random:
It was a really busy weekend...it wore me out. Now I am battling a cold. I don't have any pics yet from the races. If any get posted on the Madcross website, maybe I'll post them here later this week. Brooks had a good weekend of racing, maybe you'll find out about it if he ever updates his blog. Only 2 more cross races left; one on Nov 18th in Sun Prairie and State Champs on Dec 2nd. Heather and I have a fun weekend planned. We rented a cabin a few hours north of here to play for the weekend with the doggies and just to relax.