This past weekend was the 'Missouri Cross Opener' in Hermann at Jeff Yielding's Dogfish 'Cross weekend. Haven't miss this weekend for several years and don't plan to for years to come.
Darion had a soccer game in SGF at 2pm on Saturday so it wouldn't give me time to jump in the masters race so I opted for the Saturday 'under the light' in the Open race. So upon arrival in Hermann I joined up with several 360 teammates at 'the compound'. They were getting ready to race while I unloaded and warmed up a bit. Chilly (not really, but compared to recent days it was) and lots of dew on the course had it a tad slippery; opted for the PDX setup.
360 guys all raced solid and before you know it it was go time for me. Course was a typical Yielding layout with 1,000,000 turns, the stairs (bottom half), and a sandpit with a turn (ridable, but faster to run). Toed the line in a 30 racer field (and tons of these guys are really fast) and started on the 2nd row. First lap was lap and after that it just got faster and faster. I felt ok, but made three stupid mistakes in the first 2 laps that had me off a group moving quickly; I was pretty much on my own. An hour later I finished 14th (top half of field - barely). That's about right for my ability and fitness; I'll take it.
Strung up the hammock and off to sleep.
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| Solid field in the Open event Saturday night |
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| Sand was ridable, but faster for me to run. Shortly after this pic I dumped it |
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| Riding solo for 80% of the race - boring... |
Woke up to a beautiful morning and Nate, Dale, and I headed of for a 1:15hr cruise around town and on the Katy to loosen the legs. Got back, cruised the course to find a couple changes (course backwards on Sunday and the upper stairs were used which are tougher and longer - good for me).
Decided to move my race to the 45 minute masters race as it would get me home 2 hours earlier (not a tough decision). Couple of solid racers lined up in the 40+ and 50+ (started 30 seconds back). Dry course for went with the MXPs for the day.
Had one of the worst starts I've ever had as I missed the pedal three times and finally got going (way off the back) after laughing out loud. Quickly moved through the group and slotted into 4th for most of the first lap. After that I moved forward and before soon Jose and I had a gap on the rest. He and I swapped some pulls and then I increased the pace with 3 to go and opened a sizable gap. Kept the pace solid until the last lap where I let off the pressure and soon after Tom Price of Trek Collective (50+ category) caught up and we rode out the last lap pretty much together. Snagged another win.
Take a look at the below picture: Jose knows what he's doing on the stairs. Sunday's stairs were a bit tougher/steeper/longer than Saturday and the biggest 'assistance' on getting up these quickly was the use of my free hand pulling on the rail. Always took the right side allowing the rail to come into play.
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| This might have been lap 2 when I put a little effort in the stairs and pushed the pace for 1/2 lap to see who was where |
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| Good guys sharing this podium (Tim and Jose) |
Ira Brown, long time friend, was back in MO visiting some family and showed up to race the 3's. I hung around and caught his race (7th), chit chatted during part of the open then headed home. It was a good weekend of racing.
Got home with enough daylight for D and I to take on Ian and a friend in some backyard football (we won by 1 TD is what we tell D). From there it was a quick unpack, put D to bed with a story, grab a bite, and then crash in bed catching the last of the Bears vs 49ers - awesome weekend!
Up next is a little open, but Oakley Night Cap weekend in Des Moines is the next good one in two weeks
***Most photos from Nate Bethell, with some from Dan Singer Photography***
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