My first ride over 2 hrs in a long time(4.5hrs) and my first trip to the gym in a year. Ouch… After a long cross season and walking pneumonia over the holidays keeping me from Nationals…
I was on a good road after getting more UCI points at Jingle cross and NBX in Providence. Then wrapping up the Texas season with a State Title. Im already fired up for next year!
I got some good eating done. As well as 3 mountain runs and some sweet Snowboarding back near my hometown at Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia. Many good things to follow.
This Coming Tuesday Dec 13th. New course features to simulate Parts of Cyclocross State Championships. Lots of prizes! Primes! Hot Beverages, Good Music, and great times. NEW Schedule to allow for longer CX Races. Cat 4 race will be long enough for upgrade points!
Schedule: Short Track /Same Schedule. Cat 4 Cross 7:15pm 30min+2 Then 8PM 1,2,3 Race 45min+2
Please RSVP and Dallas Bike Works Facebook. I am working on a Food Vendor and Possibility of 3rd light if we can get a good RSVP by Monday. So please do it if you can. Price will $20 race all you can race, $10 for Juniors.
The 2/3 Short Track will have 4 primes, Cat 4 Cross will have 6 primes! Cash for 1/2 with cat 3 bonus to top cat 3(Green Plates)
Thanks to all who have raced, and hope to see you Tuesday! Bryan
I want to give thanks to all who came out and raced hard. Then the huge thanks to all the sponsors who make this possible! Please support our sponsors…
First, I want to say thanks to everyone who came out and raced! Then a special thanks Dallas Bike Works and all the other sponsors who make these series happen. Another huge thanks is to everyone who helps set-up and clean-up. I am already looking forward to next week and what I can do with the course, as I see the reach of the lights and how the park races. ***The biggest thing to note is next week we will be moving categories a bit. With the huge number of 4′s we are going to do the races like this with same schedule as time concerns
Same MTB races. 2/3* short track with *top 3′s winner prize bonus, followed by cat 1 short track.
Then for Cross. *Cat 4 only cyclocross, cat 3/4 cyclocross, cat 1/2/3 cyclocross. As always you can race up but not down. points will only count in class on license. Plate Colors: Green -4′s, Orange-3′s, 1/2′s white
So since the last post I have taken a flight to Cross Vegas, then back to attack the Charm City Weekend in Baltimore, MD.
I made it to Vegas with my file treads on, only to have a little surprise awaiting me.. OK, so Vegas gets 2 or so inches of rain a year. Well they got that the 2 days before and on Cross Vegas Race day. As I was out loosening up early in the day, I took shelter in a grocery store while flash storms made streams a foot deep running down the street and the lighting was striking on both sides of me. After an hour of shelter I got a couple trash bags and headed out to make my way back to the hotel. A quick ice bath, snack, then off to the race. I had a relative good starting spot and was running in top 25. The course was slick and shiny.. ice like mud that you could only pedal in a straight line. After a grass sample(hitting the ground). I fell back close to 50. Then battled back to a 34th place finish. Not to bad I guess.
Then back to Baltimore where my host family(the Merriam family) and I prepared for a weekend of racing. The morning came early after prepping bikes all night. Off to a course where I have great memories. Last year had solid results. Well again lots of rain created a heavy course. After a strong start I faded back to 12th, then late in the race made a big charge to finish 6th.
The top American on the day!
The Euro invasion had made getting a podium a bit tougher this season, taking the top 5 spots. While making the charge from 12th to 6th, I was digging so deep I would almost get dizzy at the top of the step run-up, then pushing hard through the heavy mud toward the finish. Grabbing my first uci points of the year. The next day was a similar course in reverse. This made for long slogs up muddy sections that sent my crushed legs into hiding – finishing 15th.
Now 900 miles from there, I am sitting in a coffee shop having breakfast preparing for the gateway cross in St.Louis. This a stacked field as everyone is headed to Madison for the first weekend USGP cyclocross.
Things are going fast! With racing in full swing and the promotions firing on all cylinders there is not enough time in a day. Racing has landed me on a 3 week journey of UCI cross races. This past weekend leaves me tired and sore. With mass amounts of rain here in PA, the course was heavy with mud bogs that even a 4×4 truck would have a hard time navigating. With around 8 to 9 min laps and a full minute of off the bike time each lap, I have soreness that I can’t explain. The worst was a mud pit close to 100 yards in length of super thick 8” to a ft deep. Then had a climb after either way you hit it. Each day I was off to a great start, taking the front both days. Day 1 was UCI C2 and had a large powerful field. After a strong start I was cross chained standing out of a corner a dropped a chain that left me on my back and close to last. I battled back to 25th for the last money spot.
Pretty disappointed I look to day 2 for another crack at it. I again got to the front, but quickly settled into 3rd and 4th. For close to half the race staying in the top 5. Then the wheels came off as I was caught by a group of 8. Trying to keep the gap in the windy, muddy conditions to a minimum I settled for 11th on the day. I will give my Terra’s (my cross bikes) some serious love and get my Vittoria file treads ready for Vegas!
Time for an ice bath again..ouch. I will keep posting between each race. Schedule from here on out. Vegas-9/14, Baltimore 9/17-9/18, St. Louis 9/21, Wisconsin 9/24-9/25.
Check out this mess! That is the T-town velodrome in the background to put it into perspective. Epic.