Buffalo Bill 'Cross Daily Double

With a much disappointed skipping of Trek CXC weekend in WISCO and nothing local (for me that means 3 hrs or less) on Saturday it was a double up day in Leavenworth, KS at Buffalo Bill Cross on Sunday.  Never been to this course/event before so had no idea what to expect from attendance to layout, but its a race and lets get it on.

Left the casa around 6:15am and pulled up to the venue 2hrs 45min later to find the 360 Racing crew had our compound dialed in and ready for the day.  Great support from this group.  Unloaded, pre-rode a couple laps, and found the course short, non-technical, with only one dismount, (double barriers), and two significant climbs (and descents) with a couple short punchy climbs thrown on top.  It was going to be a day of hill repeats which would make for a great workout.

Good warm up done and toed the line with most of the usual KC Masters field (minus a couple notables).  Although there were only 10 in my 40+ field turns out the whole masters group was 32 strong (that's pretty cool).  The race started with a straight climb up asphalt then down then back straight up a grassy climb before leveling out a tad and at the start I go into 3rd or 4th up the two climbs to get a feel of the field and found I was feeling pretty good.  So I went to the front and pushed the pace and 45 minutes later finished with a win and a pretty decent gap to 2nd.  The only real interest of the race was with 2 to go I was passing a lapped rider and thought I had a ton of room on the right so I made the mistake of passing without saying anything.  This startled the rider who immediately steered into me and we both went down in a heap (almost comical if you were watching I am sure).  I apologized, got our bikes separated (luckily no damage), and went on our way.

 

 

 

 

 

Kicked back under the 360 roof with legs up until the Open race a couple hours later.  Good turnout for this field considering CXC was going on as 25 racers lined up but the duration was only 50 minutes and not the typical 60.  Not sure how my legs would do in a 2nd race (especially one with climbing) I jumped in mid-pack at the start and after a couple laps noticed I was feeling pretty good and moving through some of the field.  By mid-race I was in 6th battling with 4th and 5th place.  Weird thing in a good way was I felt better and better as the race progressed and by 2 to go I was in 5th duking it out with 4th place, but it wasn't to be as he rode away on the last 1/2 of the lap and I rolled in 5th.  That was a good result for me. 

 

 

 

Loaded up, cheered for a 360 rider in the women open, then headed home.  Great racing/training day at the end of two solid thick weeks of bike work (with one more to go before a recovery week). 

Next weekend there are lots of events from which to pick: COMO in Columbia, Cliff Drive in KC, but the one I am heading to is Oakley Night Cap (and following day) in Des Moines.  This event is thick with great competition and atmosphere - crazy!  Support/attend which ever you want but Oakley is a bucket list type of event.