Yet another two race weekend - 7th & 7th!

Another two race weekend. This makes 3 in a row now. I'm not complaining though; I'm having a blast! This weekend I raced in the Killer B's at...

These two races were #'s 3 and 4 for the Mid-Atlantic Cyclocross Series. There are 4 more left in the series I believe.

Saturday...

Saturday's race in Delaware was a mud fest. It was quite chilly and very wet which is typical during cross season. Luckily, this time around, I was running a narrower tire set up which allowed for more clearance between my mud caked tires and frame - always a good thing.

I enjoyed the course, and managed to wipe out only once on a very slick off-camber turn. Riding this course involved a lot of one footed pedaling and a lot of pushing the bike. The course was really scenic, however, and it routed you around the backside of a really mid-evil looking water tower before dumping you onto an insanely washed out off camber series of switchbacks. Then you had to make your way back up the muddy incline, over a set of barriers and then back down the hill. When you reached the bottom it leveled out and there was a nice road section to help you make up lost time.

I fought hard to gain a finishing position of 6th place but lost it as I was pipped at the line by a blur which was a rider behind me on the finishing stretch. I made the classic mistake of easing up as I rolled to the line thinking "there's no way that guy's going to catch me"... foolish! I'm happy with 7th place.

!Download the video I made of the Pro Men racing this course!

Sunday...

Sunday, was much drier than Saturday, thank God! Although, it was much cooler with morning temps in the high 50's. I was just happy to feel the warm sunshine and actually be able to get some traction on the race course. This course was very fast.

There were more turns in this course than any other race, so far, in the series. The promoters definitely had a good time routing the racers through a maze of TIGHT turns and dizzying spirals. There were a couple short gravel road sections which you could really motor on and the also some fun short and steep hills which you could dive into and roll out of without even touching the brakes! The barriers were placed in the middle of a short steep climb but didn't seem to be too difficult. I shouldered the bike and charged through them as fast as possible.

I stayed in the front of the group, which seams to be my usual routine, and managed to pull away from my group of 4 or 5 riders and get a good lead on them in the 4th lap or so. I held this break away for the last couple of laps and managed to earn 7th place.

!Watch some phresh phattire video coverage of the Pro Men's race on this course!

I want to thank Kevin Dillard (DC based freelance photographer and cross rock star) for taking all of the photos which are linked to in this post and also my girlfriend, for her unending support and encouragement!

Next week: NO RACES!! Road trip to NY!!