Manion's CX Double Up

Good past week at the Jones' ranch; here's some highlights.

Wednesday: 2hr road ride spinning out the legs after Tuesday's A&B Dirt Crit. Met with insurance guy on the pop-up and sure enough it was totaled. The below picture is just the entrance so imagine the entire inside covered with this type of river mud.







Mounted the Challenge XS's and it completes the look of the Blue - I'm loving it.






Thursday: Rest.

Friday: We all shut down the office early to take in BHS's homecoming parade and it was a beautiful afternoon of sitting on a blanket with my sweetheart. Jake and his XC crew came through and he stiffed me on the candy, said something about being fat... Afterwards got in 1:45hrs on the cross bike working turn after turn at SBU and Bolivar city park, which we have used little in the past but will incorporate it much more. Took a couple dumps as I was getting a feel for the file treads and how far I could push them in low and high speed turns; ended up tweaking my hanger at the end but a little manual force seemed to get it back to functional.

That evening was a home football game (if you call it that as we won something like 1,000,000 to 0) which is always fun with friends and family (sat with Jim and my mom & pop).

Saturday was a nice sleep in as nothing was on the agenda except for Ian's soccer game at 10am. Jake was off to Hermitage cheering on his XC team (still not competing yet) for the day. Off to E-ball's game in which they won; he scored a goal (see video) and played really good. Much of his skill, like in basketball, is seeing the play develop, knowing other players placements, and making plays not only for himself but mostly passes for teammates. If he plays football (we hope not) in the future he will make a sharp QB.

After the game it was yard work, a light ride with some openers on the Frisco Trail with Dale, watched 1/2 of a BHS soccer game, and generally being a bum around the casa. Oh yes, picked up the insurance check on the pop-up in the mail (that was quick). Deb and I (ok, mostly Deb) knocked out a ton on the dining room re-paint job and it is looking great. Little bit of finishing touches and one more project done. One and a half weeks before she gets her new kitchen (granite counter tops, sink and faucet, double oven, and tile back splash) and both of us are really excited about the upgrade.

Went to bed with a 1/2 grin knowing Sunday was 'cross racing and what better way to drift off to sleep then with instead of sugarplums it's tubulars and race kits dancing in your head....

Sunday morning Deb and Ian hopped in the car with me heading to KC for the Manion's CX. Jake had some youth church activities in the afternoon and didn't make the trip with us. I had read Sunday's course was a bunch of climbing and immediately when we pulled up it was verified. Very similar to Augusta Bubba race last year (broke pedal in first lap) but longer climbs and with recent rain it make for sponge-like dirt/grass pack. The temps were perfect for the CX (could have even been a bit cooler) long sleeve kit. After a couple warm up laps decided to go with my Piranhas as the course was a tad loose in some corners, but overall grippy.



During the warm up I couldn't get the rear to stay on the 27 cog and since I run a single 42 up front I knew I would need it so Ryan McCormick (master mechanic and all around good guy) gave me a hand and got it dialed in (with about 2 minutes to spare. Turns out my hanger was tweaked from Friday's fall, but we got it working (and didn't have a problem all day). Lined up for the Masters 40+ which was a super solid field of 26 or 27 riders including my teammate Mike G, Songer, Fish, Yielding, J Taylor and the list goes on. Decent start from the second row and before you know it I was sitting around 10th. We can skip all the suffering and simply say I felt good and rode (at least for me) decent and nabbed a 7th place; Mike had a solid 4th and JY killed it up front for the win.

The bike and tires worked really smooth and for that course I felt solid about how I drug my carcase up that hill, but time to get loosened up again as I signed up for the 2/3 race 1 hour later. Totally told myself to use the 50 minute race as a training session as I knew I had no competitive legs left to compete up front. Strong field since it was one of the only times Cat 2's get a shot of victory without battling the 'big boys'; I thought the race promoter did a solid job with breaking up these categories.

So there I am at the back of the 2/3 race and wondering why I doubled up, but it's just for training... keep telling myself this. Whistle goes and off the field flies and I am way out the back (it's just a training ride, its just a training ride) for the first couple laps, but then my legs starts loosening up and I actually was passing some folks and gaining on others. A handful of times as I passed Deb and Ian (who are A number 1 cheerers) she let me know I was moving up, but I didn't realize it was going pretty good. By the end I finished 8th and felt like a truck had run over me. I was so glad I stuck it out but was way happier to be finished with the day.

I am mildly disappointed with myself, although I rode well in the Masters race, with my mental prep prior to both starts. Upon arriving at the course I already told myself that I can't climb and that today was about survival, and while much was true I needed to have more of an offensive mindset instead of defensive. For the 2/3 event I convinced myself to simply ride it not to compete, but to get some training in and I should have again been more assertive and not settle in. Oh well, it's done now and I take it as a learning experience.

The drive back home, which included stops at Gates for grub and the H1N1 factory outlet in Osceola, was pretty uneventful; I was beat tired.

Jake had some friends over playing the new Hal0 Reach while I worked a little more on the dining room trim and Deb and I catching episode 1 of Amazing Race before turning in for the night.

Big news out in Wisconsin for Andrew Coe (SKC rider) with a 2nd on Saturday and a win on Sunday at the USGP men's 2/3 races; solid!

Today Dale and I snuck out at noon for 1:30 easy spin on some favorite back gravel/dirt roads east of town; felt good to flush the legs.

This week has the last of the A&B Dirt Crit series, some easy spinning on Wednesday, Thursday rest, Friday get out and spin with some openers, Boss Cross #1 on Saturday and BC #2 on Sunday. On the home front just finishing up the dining room, routine yard work, and hanging with the boys.