JP-A long day on and off the saddle

Like last year the day started early with a group of hearty souls showing up at Jackson Park at 6 in the morning for the yearly event of devising a course that would test a riders lungs and bike handling skills. This year we had these sweet new stakes that made course setup a breeze. Anyone out there thinking about hosting a cross race these stakes are well worth the investment. As the first race of the day neared streams of riders enterd the parking lot. Excitement was in the air for the first cross race of the season, and it was great to see all the hard work was going to be worth it.

Photo: Jeff Kao

After watching the start of the Masters races it was time for me to get ready. By ready, I mean getting my skinsuit on and making sure the tires had the right air pressure. A real warmup was out of the question for me. I still wanted to make sure registration was running smoothly and answer as many questions as possible before my race. So after about a 5 minute warm up and almost missing the start of the 3's it was go time. I did play the sympathy card and was able to get a front row spot for the start. Thanks everyone!! Last year was about the same thing in terms of warmup, and attempting to ride with the leaders had me popped early and moving backwards throughout the race. This year I decided to have a more conservative start. Not what you normally want to do in a cross race, but in this situation I thought it was for the best. Heading into the first technical section I was probably around 18th out of the 36 riders. After the first chaotic sections of the course I was able to get into a groove, jumped on a train with Adam Clark (Cuttin Crew), Jeff Holland (XXX) a couple of other guys. We started moving up through the pack, and after a couple of laps I found myself riding by myself around 13th place. I was then joined by Tim Yuska of Get a Grip Offroad. I am not embarressed to admit that I wheelsucked him for awhile as we caught a couple of more riders.

As we came through with one lap to go we had one more rider in our sights, and we worked really hard trying to catch him. I knew we had to catch him before the last asphalt section, but it was not to be. Coming into the finish Tim was leading, I tried to jump around him on the left, but missed catching him by the difference between a semislick and a knobby cross tire (phrase stolen from Stiggity) In the end I rolled in tenth, with a really good possibility of that being 8th. Considering a week before Jackson Park I could barely walk, after jacking up my back I am really happy with with this result. I know with a better start I have a Top 5 in me. The legs are there and I can't wait for Madison UCI this weekend.