CX recap

Ok, got a little slow with this thing again...

Green Mountain Cross- Day 2:

So the second day of Green Mtn Cross went slightly better than the first. Thanks to Colin's slow leaking front tire, I had one less contender to be concerned about, and the damp/loose conditions made for a more decisive course.

After a couple laps of slowly losing riders, I made the selection with James Tosca and Jeremy Dunn, and we kept it together for most of the race, holding a pretty solid gap to 4th. With 1.5 laps to go, I put in a half-hearted dig on a power section to try and increase the pace, but I just ended up towing them around. In retrospect, a harder attack was needed.

As we got to the final log run/ride up, Jeremy and I dismounted and Tosca rode it, as he had for the previous laps. I was hoping he would slip on the logs one of these times, since he was clearly the strongest rider among the three of us and it's always nice to whittle down the competition. As we crested the top, I hear "to your right" as Tosca thrusted his bike over the last log. Without thinking, I moved over and let him by (and Jeremy), forcing me to attempt a remount on a bumpy rooted section. And that was it. By the time I could remount and find my pedals, I was gapped and they held it to the finish. Game over. I just couldn't make contact again, and I cruised in for 3rd place. Gotta say, I'm pretty happy with that, given that I actually rode well in pseudo-slippery/techincal conditions (not really technical at all, but I'll pretend).

Gran Prix of Gloucester 1 and 2:

Both days at Gloucester went pretty much the same for me. But given that I had not ridden since the previous Monday and had just recovered from food poisoning hours before, I didn't have great expectations. I had a front row spot, but couldn't find my pedal quick enough and slowly slipped into the interior of the field before the hole-shot. However, I fought my way back to the front, actually making contact with the front group on day 1. Unfortunately I couldn't ever comfortably stay attached and eventually I slipped off, barely holding off Colin's late charge to slot into 8th place for the first day. It just wasn't a great day for me...my legs never felt good and I had a couple minor incidents with tripping on the barriers. On day 2, I could see the front, but was consistently 20m off the last wheel of the front group and never actually made the bridge. Another case of mediocre legs. However, a late crash allowed me to pick up another spot and come in with 9th place, maintaining my 3rd place in the overall season standings.