Spooky Cross

MSG Spooky Cross:
This is my favorite cross race. The costumes or lack thereof are very interesting and make for some interesting racing, i.e. I am not sure how you race wearing a dress or wearing your whitey tighties, but these were some of the outfits that were seen at the Spooky Cross. I chose to show a little less skin(which I am sure everyone appreciated) and opted for a fro wig, white knee socks and my Honey Smacks Jersey…oh yeah my good friend Hairry went along for the ride also. More on Hairry later. What made the race even more awesome was my daughter Amber (recently engaged) came to watch me race. Thanks Amber you made my day!!!

45+ Race
The race itself was great. I was on the front practically the entire race. I felt great and countered all of the attacks. Two errors:
· Mistake #1:
I fell on the remount at the top of the run-up, popped back up quickly and had to put forth a bit of an effort to get back to the pack. Once I closed the gap I attacked again and went to the front. I kept attacking but was unable to crack the last 2 riders. This led to my 2nd mistake.
· Mistake #2:
Last lap I let Jeff Haase around me thinking I would sit on his wheel for a while, we went through traffic and he was able to get a lapped rider between the two of us and open up a bit of a gap that I was unable to close. Martin Visser came around me in the sprint to take 2nd , that left me in 3rd
I felt great about my performance but was disappointed in my results.

SS Race

I also participated in the SS race. I always enjoy racing the SS no shifting you just have to hurt. This race I was going to sit back and relax. I did not want to finish last but I wanted to have a comfortable race with the least amount of pain as possible…approximately 2 laps into the race a certain person came tearing past me in an attempt to rip my legs off, not wanting to loose to the aforementioned person(I have already been gurled more times this year than I care to remember) I countered, passed and opened up a gap. After this it was on, no more “sit back and relax”. I tell you I get no respect as an AARP member. My legs were screaming in pain, I was not about to give up. Last lap, my legs were burning but I went as hard as I could hoping I could open enough gap so I would not have to sprint. Hairry and I finished the race just 2 seconds in front of our adversary (friend) and my legs were ripped. It felt great!!! After the SS race I packed my bags and Hairry and I headed for Asheville. Once home Diana and I had a wonderful dinner at Apollo Flame, then it was home and off to bed for me.

Sunday NCCX #3

I left the house Sunday morning @ 7 am for the trip to Lenoir and the 3rd race in the NCCX series. This course was a mix of pavement, off camber, grass and a couple of hard turns thrown in. The course had very little elevation change which was one of my many concerns, the others were: how well had my legs recovered after being so brutally punished the day before and what tires to use. After pre-riding the course I hopped on the trainer and did 2 mins 15 on 15 off in hopes of clearing the legs. After these short intervals I did several high speed spins and then it was off to the start line.
The gun sounded and we were off and racing. I had a great start and was sitting in 3rd place. There were several attacks which I countered and continued to sit in 3rd 4th places. The last lap was almost a repeat of the day before as 2 riders came around and I was unable to counter. I finished 5th but was really happy with my finish and with my fitness. After the race I went for a ~1.5 hour road ride came back to the venue talked with some friends (the best part of x) and then Hairry and I packed up and drove back to Asheville. Once home I showered let the dogs out ate some leftover pizza and relaxed.

Monday

Diana and I took Monday off and went to Panther-town Valley hiking. We had a wonderful day. We hiked a couple of hours then it was off to Cashiers to Carolina Barbeque for lunch. The main reason we made the trip was to eat barbeque, the hike seems to make it a little more justifiable. A great day spent with Diana.

A great 3 day weekend spent with some great people.

The remainder of the week I plan to mtn bike with Saturday being somewhat open. Dupont perhaps?? long gravel road ride on the cross bike or road ride from the house?

Have a great week!!!