Pig Lap Peak

Sunday was Lapham Peak cyclocross race as many of you know. I had managed to get a ride from Mike Garber who rides for H.C.C. and teammate Jason Ludtke. A huge thank you goes out to Mike for heading to the race a couple of hours before the start of his own race, so I could race. I feel somewhere in between great and crappy about my performance. I had been with the top two guys in the race until the second lap where I dismounted a bit late resulting in hiting the front wheel on the first barrier leaving my bike behind it and myself on the otherside. The racers in front of me asked if i was alright which was awesome since they were fighting against each other for first. My response was yeah although that was just phyiscally. This mistake had left a huge gap between them and myself. I had started to gain on them a little, but am not completely sure. Most of the time they were in my sights, but well ahead. Another errorI made and need to work on is clipping in. This costed me alot of time during the race. After the first lap I began to take count of how many times it would take me to clip back in. The majority of the time I was looking at 4-5 attempts at getting back in. I definatley have to work on everything else as well such as mounting, dismounting, cornering , running over actual barriers and a number of other things. This race was good reality check to see where my cyclocross game was.

At the start of Jasons(cat 3) race the cycling gods had opened up the clouds and let a hellish rain come down setting the stage for an epic cross race. I had wished that this would have been the weather for my race, but was not so fortunate. Everytime I saw Jason he was by himself, while looking strong. He later revealed to me he had not been feeling that way. At the end of his race he was absolutley covered in mud and grass. I have pictures that will come soon, since I don't have the cord to put them on the computer. Jason rolled in for 16th place, which is amazing for not feeling strong and riding the race solo. Mike's race was next which I was unable to watch because I was starting to get cold and was exhausted from my race. I did not want to risk the chance of getting sick so I kicked it by the truck and bathrooms. An awesome feat Mike accomplished was riding up a steep, muddy, and wet hill that I had to run up when it was dry. He had pulled out of the race early because of a flat and didn't have a extra set of wheels. What is even more impressive was he flatted about a mile and a half away from the wheel pit. He ran the whole way to the pit only to be informed by Jerry Pearce that it was not the way it used to be, where you would just take any wheel in the pit and use it. When he rolled back to the truck he had told Jason and myself he forgot to fill up his back wheel. My jaw dropped when I heard this and was speechless as was Jason. After seeing that we were incredibly gullible he told us the truth. We did not stick around for the 1 and 2 race, which James Lalonde of Trocadero absolutley crushed finishing behind his brother for 2nd. It was his first race as a cat 2 and since the field included the 1's his competition was some of the best.

This coming weekend I will be venturing down to Hawthorn Woods in Illnois for a cyclocross race. In an attempt to upgrade to the 3's faster. My race is at three so if anyone needs a ride down i will be willing to leave early to accomadate people. Until then I will be getting used to the high five in hopes of racing it to its full potential.