Running Late...

Busy couple of weeks. Last weekend, we buzzed back to KC for a good friend's wedding. Didn't bring a bike but ended up getting 4 days of riding in on a 4 day trip! Did 2 days on Giant Anthem 29er at Landahl. I'm sold, get me a 29er. Did a road ride with a bunch of the ol' peeps and the did Boss Cross #2 on the way to the airport.


The race was just like I remember, good stuff. It was missing the key technical feature from years past, but had two sand pits to make up for it. It was a big Open field, almost 30. Heavy hitters included Joe Schmalz, Mark Savery and Andrew Coe. I started from the front and hit the first sandpit, about 300m from the start, fairly well placed. The bunch was following a rut on the right behind Schmalz. I ended following Savery to the left and we scooted right by everyone but Schmalz. In the second pit, another 500m later, I got by Schmalz and on to Savery's wheel. He took it hard to the barriers and bunny-hopped them. I expected this and didn't panic to close down the gap he created. Things settled in over the rest of the lap and heading to the barriers the second time it was Savery about 5 secs ahead of Joe and another 5-10 back to me. Then Savery botched the bunny-hop the second time through. This was to be the defining event of his race. He ended up having to run to the pit from the barriers. It wasn't too far away, but enough to take him off the front of the race.

From there, Joe lead it for the rest of the day. I hung close at about 12-17 seconds the rest of the race. I might have been able to close it down on my own bike. My borrowed bike was just different enough, and then for the last 3-4 laps it wouldn't shift into the big ring. I'm not saying it was the difference, but I definitely wasted some seconds trying to get it to shift. Not to mention the annoyance factor of the chain rubbing on the front derailleur the second half of the race.

So, that was basically it. Joe was first, I came in for second about 15 seconds later. Savery chased up to third, but could never make any ground on me. After hovering about 25-30sec back for most of the race, he sat up on the last lap and drifted further back.

It was fun to be back in KC and see everyone. I guess it had been at least 9 months! Time flies when you're having fun...

Next weekend (this weekend) is off and then I'll race Saturday/Sunday at the USGP in Ft. Collins. Looks like some stiff 45+ competition will be there, might be a Nationals preview...