Bubba #3

At the start, behind Boz is where I would significantly stay.

Heading towards the tennis courts, Dodd Slausen in position

For the record, Slausen kicked my ass minutes after photos

Yes, my first cross race post mountain bike season. I had a bit of an issue with my health but it really wouldn't have mattered. I had been sick, yes, but the first race of the season is always the most eye opening. The B's now have 35 riders, that's a lot of young-ins in that race, I was thinking at the start, when Mike Weiss called me up to the front for giving a little bit of chili and meat for the races, this is going to be "not good", and it wasn't.

I stayed put in the back at the lineup, knowing my ass was sure to be handed once things got to commencing. And it was. I went out hard and tried to stay with Kent and Boz, knowing that my fitness should compare. I missed the gather up with Boz and 5-6 others, simply could not hold the wheels. This would be a pretty good chase group. Boz was out ahead for most of the race in this group, to get reeled in a little later. He is riding real good, so is Kent Jones, who made the selection of the group a little further up. I suppose I will work on Boz first, then, if time permits, get Boz and that group to help real in Kent. I think Kent is fairly animalistic right now. He is always that way. Boz is full of power and can hold it like no other. I had a piece of him last night at Castlewood and worked to keep him behind me on the Roller Coaster and Lone Wolf (umm, coffee), before he shredded his rear derailer with about a million pounds of torque. He was able to limp back home, we picked up Slausen along the way for more shreddedness. Thrasher was on his little bike, so I don't know how he faired. All in all I felt pretty marvelous last night, back with the plan.

There is nothing better than "doing" cross races for doing "better" in cross races. You have to get a couple under your belt in order to be competitive. I have missed two so it is a big ladder to climb. There is a big difference in what's required, the power and cadence. There is no recovery, it is balls out. I slipped to the back before the last lap and likely finished last barring a couple DNF's behind me. That kind of sucks. But I was not feeling 100 percent, couldn't take the pain. The damn cold was still in my head and I felt it all the way until Tuesday. I do feel better now and am planning on hitting it hard today with my secret training weapon.

Steve Kaspar, all 145 of him!

Yes ladies, Kaspar will be my secret weapon. He has been off for 5 months with some family stuff, but he will be back, starting today on our weekly power training in West County each Thursday at 11:00 AM. Just a couple hours. Just enough to one-up you'ass.

I have a new frame, it is called kick ass. See you Sunday.