I was feeling pretty low after Bloomington and the GP. I was nervous about my move to Elite and I was starting to wonder if I made a mistake. I was starting to not have fun.
So the night before Storm the Greens I met up with my patron Mitch at Kings for some opening of the legs. He noticed I get all sketched out around other riders so he told me to chill, keep the rubber side down and work on being a foiler by coming back late in the race and poaching spots.
Race #57 Slow Birdie but back on par!
So my starts are so slow. I need to get some fast-twitch muscles someday! It's like I have a bungie on my back. Anyway, I held on at the start, trying to stay glued to the last wheel. Mitch was coaching me to keep it cool. It worked out and on lap 2 I attacked two riders and made a gap. Somewhere I passed a couple more! Goal #1 a success, out of last place! Unfortunately in the middle of the race my brakes began to mysteriously rub, so I had to jump off for a sec and worked that out. I lost one spot to a LWC rider, but he was pretty full of steam and going to hunt me down anyway. So lap number 8 I look back and I see the Bob's Red Mill Grain Train chugging along. I had to gun it so they wouldn't gobble me up, and I succeeded in Goal #2, I didn't get lapped! After that I just did a victory lap! I sprinted in to the finish to the cheers of my friends, kind of funny since I was so slow! But hey, no slip ups! Mitch's advice got me back on track!
Lap Time Speed
1 6:56.456 25.069
2 6:51.509 25.370
3 7:00.513 24.827
4 6:57.906 24.982
5 7:15.384 23.979
6 7:08.893 24.342
7 7:11.096 24.217
8 7:07.241 24.436
9 7:21.751 23.633
AVG Speed = 24.46 kph
Race #58 Picnic in the Mud
I had a blast going out and pre-riding the course with friends all week. The Gun Club is so scenic and such a unique venue.
A couple years ago my friends and family came out and we had a picnic in the mud. The day before I went down to Findlay Market and picked up a bunch of local ingredients straight from the farmers. Finally got my hands on some incredible Blue Oven bread. I also picked up some aged goat milk Houtz cheese from Blue Jacket Dairy in Bellefountaine. Great cheese, bread, beer and wine are their own religions and I worship at the alter. I had such a blast shopping down there, and I woke up early Sunday morning to make a vegan Apple Tarte Tatin, which I call the Parisienne Powerbar. It's basically an upside down apple tart that is perfectly suited to consuming about an hour before your race. I also made a vegetarian broccoli and cheese quiche. A hearty source of recovery protein post-race.
So to the racing! I lined up at the start with the same strategy as Louisville. But that all changed when two rider collided in front of me and I found myself endo-ing over the top of them. I got up and gunned it to get back in the race. I had to make a risky pass here and there, one was to get around a rider who couldn't corner worth a darn. I accidently blocked my homie Travis in a couple corners cause I thought it was that guy trying to get back around me.
Eventually I made it into a small group with Christopher Chartier and Samuel "The Kid" Dobrozsi. All of us excelled at certain parts of the course but no one could really pull away. Here and there one of of would attack but a bone-headed move in a corner would cause the attacker to be pulled back.
My friends were awesome! There were so many people cheering all over the course, and the three of us were battling for the last money spot. It was so fun to hear all their cheers and sometimes someone would say something funny to crack me up. My team homies were in the woods and I rode the creek crossing and the steep hill after just to make them happy!
It was there that the real drama happened on the last lap. The Kid got dropped and Christopher rode the creek and hill so smooth and clean I thought for a second he was Sven Nys! It was simply beautiful, and I think my dropped jaw slowed me down! He got a 10 second gap I couldn't pull back, and Chartier got the money.
Oh well! I was close! Best cross race of the year so far! Simply a blast!
Another crazy thing is sometime during the race I twisted my ankle but didn't feel it until I quit. Gotta love adrenaline!
Lap Time
1 0:07:39
2 0:07:35
3 0:07:41
4 0:07:55
5 0:07:50
6 0:07:53
7 0:07:47
8 0:07:38
AVG Speed = 26.47 kph
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