Parkville Weekend

Wow, what a whirlwind weekend of racing in Kansas City. The Boss Cross crew lived up to their legend with two spectacular events in the idyllic little burg of Parkville, MO.

Day One was overcast and even a little chilly. My new bike arrived Thursday, and it truly felt like cross season pushing away from the house Saturday morning with long sleeves on and a crisp clean bike underneath me. It was a fun day of watching friends and cheering on teammates before my race rolled around at 2:00. It was perfect racing temps when we took to the line. The start as always looked pretty sketchy but my new light solid bike inspired me to a good third place out of the first corner start. I was happy with how I rode for the most part, I just needed some strength to follow some of the guys that went around. I pretty much sat glued to Chris Wallace's wheel, I went around a couple of times and tried to inject some speed, but it was not really helping anything. In the end Chris out sprinted me for 8th place and I finished 9th. Up at the Joe Schmaltz destroyed everyone, and Jeff Winkler went man style once again for a superb 2nd place finish ahead of Steve Tilford in 3rd. Kansas City is flying fast this season.

Day two was more of the same, more great weather, and the course was in reverse which felt even faster. I got a decent start but not as good as the day before, I was somewhere towards the back half of a 10-12 rider line up. The first couple of laps I was keeping in contact, but after digging up out from the river bank, I could not get it into my big chainring fast enough as the sprint down the back side began and lost those few critical lengths I needed to hold on. I was caught by Studnicki and Mills and rode behind them until Stud dropped back and Adam and I saw that Jonathon was dangling ahead of us currently in 6th place, I made a hard charge up and got onto Jonathon's wheel very briefly but the effort took a toll, I slipped away and was just beginning to regroup myself, when I decided to toss my glasses, that were completely sweat glazed, over to Travis. Well I made a little to exuberant of a throw jerking my handlebar sideways and sent myself sliding across the ground, I stood up and was just thinking, "you have got to be kidding me." That pretty much ended me riding worth a crap, I fought all I could but never really regained good speed. I think I was 10th in the end.

It was good last night, knowing I got those two great races in, and that is about 10% harder than I will be going next weekend in Moab, it is just 6 of those efforts. This is a rest and travel week. Amber and I leave tomorrow morning. The game plan is to ride in Fruita on Wednesday and then pre-rding the course Thursday and Friday. I am so excited not only to race but just to drive through the mountains and see friends that I have not seen in a long time. This trip is a very appropriate chapter marker for myself, when I get home I begin training for a new career. Tune in to the race at Granny Gear's website, I think we are in for a 24 hour dog fight.