Monday, October 31, 2011

BC #3 - Doubling Up

Boss Cross #3 was yesterday and for the first time this year I doubled up (Masters and Open). Scheduling has been the main reason this hadn't yet happened, but with a single day of racing instead of two this past weekend and a little extra time I jumped in the pain cave...

Sunday I picked up Ira bright and early and we headed to KC for a new venue; Raytown BMX track. The layout was fun with a semi-technical section on an actual BMX track (high bern corner, rhythm section...) then the rest of full on open flat pedaling (full gas).

Parked next to JY, got in some good warm up laps, then off to the start line. Gun goes off, David H drifts my way a tad, Jeff and I almost lock bars, and by first turn I re-gathered myself and set on David through the BMX part, then BOOM! Once we got to the open area he flat took off. Shea Bergman and myself kept it steady with Jeff on our tail and we were not closing anything on David. Jeff jumped around and I went with him (with Shea on my wheel) until I fell off Jeff's pace. From there Shea and I worked some together until he dropped me. I worked for a good 1/2 lap to trying to close it to him, but it wasn't happening. 5th place was wayyyy behind us and knowing I was riding the Open in a couple hours I backed off the pace to save what was left the legs. Ended up 4th (DH won, JY 2nd, Shea 3rd).
Kicked back and watched T Jay and David race the Masters 40+ Cat4 and then got ready for round two.


Funny thing between races, Jeff and I are chatting and he checks out my air pressure and make a 'holy cow' comment referencing my 'over inflated' pressure and I had to remind him that 32psi for a 173lbs guy is a 'tad' different than the same psi for a 135lbs guy; HA! And no, Ira, he doesn't ride a 42cm bike...

Regular fast kids lined up in the Open and settled in 8th-15th (pretty good group just stuck together) for the first couple of laps. I pushed the effort a couple times trying to break it up, but felt the efforts of the Masters race and decided to 'hide out' for a couple to see if I could make it to the end. During this time Micheal Gaherty, my MWI teammate, started mixing it up and so for the first time in forever we actually raced as a team and took turns firing attacks while the other covered all the moves behind. Mike made a strong move with about four to go that shattered the group while I sat on a Dogfish rider who was trying to run him down. A Colovita guy jumped the group next and I quickly moved to his wheel as he was moving pretty good and with three to go he had caught Mike with only I on his wheel. This guy tried to attack us in a gravel section and went down (hard!) so Mike and I quickly buried ourselves swapping pulls and opened a big gap. I grabbed a second wind just about the time Mike started to cramp. He moved backwards to the chasing Dogfish rider while I held on for a couple laps to get 10th. Some of the funnest racing I've done in a while and big thanks to Mike for such great teamwork.


As we loaded up my body was completely drained, but in a good way. Don't know how many more 'double ups' I have, but it was definitely what I needed for this one day event. Solid day of racing!

Ira nabbed 3rd in the Cat 3 so it was his treat for food on the way home (we have a deal that whomever wins cash buys the eats afterwards).

Up next is 360 Cup on Saturday and Blvd Cup on Sunday; cash payout for Masters which is a rarity these days.
So for you non-racing types here is a run down of 'family' activities for the past couple days:
Thursday night was District football play for our HS and it was a great game, but sadly Helias beat Bolivar with 1:30 minutes to go..., but the night was 'saved' when Freese blasted a homer to send the Card to game 7!!! Ian and I went nuts!!!!
Friday needless to say was all about Cardinal baseball and they didn't disappoint. During the evening some pumpkin carving went on and while D chose a traditional look for his Ian went with the crowd favorite 'up chuck' pumpkin look.
Saturday morning we caught the SBU homecoming parade from the cozy breakfast eating flat of Tom and Sarah Jones. Right afterwards it was off to watch BHS girls and guys teams qualify for State Cross Country - great job Coach Bandy and crew!
Saturday afternoon I got in a lite spin with Dale and got my openers done, before heading back home for some yard work.
Deb's parents showed up for their early winter (from Blackhills SD area) stay and the evening was spent catching up with them and getting the little guy familiarized with some new 'grandparents'.
Great weekend!
**Photo's courtesy of Roger Harrison, Mark Breeding, and Kat Gaherty**

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