Bloomer Park CX - My Streak Continues

Photo courtesy of Curt Potocki

This was going to be the race. The one where it all starts to come together and I'd see some improvement in my standings. So it was with high hopes but low expectations that I toed the line on this foggy Sunday.

This course is pretty flat overall. There's a downhill section of single track with a sharp little climb after it and another climb on a grassy hill followed by a two off-camber turns, just to make it suspenseful. Throw in two barrier sections with 90 degree approaches and you've got the course highlights. In other words, it's pretty much up my alley.

From the start, I knew it wasn't in the cards. My start was terrible. I tried to clip in not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES before my feeble muscle memory allowed my cleat to find the pedal. That put me at the back of the group by the time we hit the first grass section. Now I had some serious work to do. As everyone started to string out single file, I started passing. I managed to bridge a gap near the middle of lap one and settled in with a group of three. We didn't really work together, I just moved to the front and rode at a tempo just on edge of my threshold. I was feeling great! My legs were there today, no shortage of power and my lungs felt better than they had in about a month. That shitty start must have killed it for me. Our grupetto stuck together until lap 4 or 5 and then I started to pull away.

And that was all she wrote - 11th place. In the last 4 races, I have finished in either 11th or 12th place. Now, I finally feel like my form is coming around, and there's only one race left on the calendar, the State Championship. I've run out of runway...


Photo courtesy of Curt Potocki

Props go out to:

• Dan G. - another second place! Nice work. Clint better be shaking in his compression socks...
• Mark C. - for running Bloomer with no brakes (essentially). You are one crazy sonofabitch!!
• Curt P. - for the nice photo work, making us B racers look better than we actually are...
  
• Dude riding the velodrome (I believe your name was Bruce)- you sold me. Next summer, I'm gonna give track riding a shot. Maybe it will be good for the CX...
• Anne S. - Welcome back, and first place nonetheless!
• Zdenek Stybar - nope, he wasn't at the race... but just wanted to give him props for his back to back victories this weekend!