Sunday? Must be time for some CX!!! Time to make good use of an opportunity to do a pair of races in large fields. Off to GR for some
KissCross, yes, the home of racing for beer. Founders mind you.
What a blast. The course: Start, hard right around the pool house switching from pave/brick to dirt to grass, around some fenced area, 180 degree around a tree (and its roots) directly into the first pair of barriers. Some flat twisting grass stuff and bam: in the face wind on a long pavement section, hook left onto some two track, a bit of mud and water, some singletrack, a couple of nice patches of sand, grass, fast stuff, then the climbing. A nice little bump (Danielle, is that where I almost put you in the stairs? It's all a blur), gradual rise to take the edge off ya, a 90 around a tree and that's that where three (or was it nine) logs to run over and then run to the 'top' (read fake flat) to remount only to have the final climb left. Over the top, off the back side with a 90 left around loads of roots on to the whoop of the course: off camber and downhill to the next ride em cowboy 90 off camber, up hill, downhill off camber turn one final sweeper and haul butt baby and charge for the pines. Take those too tight and it's a face full o' limb but what a line! This section ruled. A couple of quick turns and right at the pond on the slick stuff (glad it wasn't real wet) and ground hog field to the final choppy sidewalk, one last set of barriers in the sand. A fine uneven section of broken pavement and dirt to remount on and a short sprint for the line.
B Race: there were 50-60 of us. Super cool. Had a good starting spot and got a pretty good start. Loads of riders and lots of fun ensued. It was over all too soon. I was 14 or 15th. Cool. Second gal (Danielle was up ahead).
Nikki from the Huntington Challenge came up for the race. She's been bit by the CX bug. Andrea and Chris from Lansing. A couple other new faces. Shivering. Glad to line up for the second feature.
A Race: Took a spot that I thought we be near the back of that group. Turned out to be three-quarters back or so. Ended up being about right. More madness ensued. I remember thinking that the first five laps of this race didn't take much longer than the original five. Otherwise it was mostly a blur. The off camber section was shaping up nicely and the two tree 'wraps' were getting darn near 'flowie' by then. I was in the low 3os for a finishing spot. But the real deal was having done a pair of these in a day. Wow. Danielle was great company to have out there for the rinse/repeat too. Don't know if any of the guys did a double.
Overall great day. Super course. Huge incentive to make sure you grabbed a wheel before the wind/pave section. Making time on the singletrack and sand. Sweetness.
Just a few short weeks of CX season left.
