Lapham Peak CX

I signed up for the Cat 3 race as usual, hoping to do well. Tried to shoot the hole out of the line, that didn't work though. I spend the first half lap chasing down 31 riders to make a good group by the end of the first lap. I got as far as 5th wheel, dismounted for the 2nd set of barriers and somehow managed to step on my valve stem and break it off. What a bummer. FLAT ON THE FIRST LAP TWO WEEKS IN A ROW!!! What bad luck.

I was shooting for the top 5 and really didn't feel like doing a wheel change and gaining all those spots back again so I dropped out. Not really an honorable thing to do, but I thought I could salvage a race result in the Cat 1/2/3 field.

I registered for the 1/2/3 race and re-pinned another number on. 20 minutes before the race I was trying to find a pump because my tires were too low, I feared that I would pinch flat again. I was not going to let that happen. I finally got a hold of a pump, but the riders were starting to line up in the shoot so I

had to hurry. Rushing back to the start line, I find my group and I start to unbuckle my helmet to take off my cycling cap. The gun goes off while I am doing this. Just my luck. I quickly scramble to get my bike going and buckle my helmet. Another crappy start. Sweet.

I don't know how many laps we did, I just remember being tired

already and seeing the official tell me that we had 5 laps to go...thats 10 miles. I finally get into a group and start to chase

the group in front of us. I pain-boxed for about 3.5 laps until I

started to feel good with 1.5 laps to go. I really kicked it into gear on the last lap because I lost

the group I was with and the next rider behind me was only about 10-20 seconds off my tail.

I finished 8th out of 15 riders. Not bad for a cat 3 in a 1/2/3 field. Well, truthfully, the field was missing some of the top dogs who were at the WORS race or just missed the cross race. Well, I'll take 8th to start off the year in the WI cross series.