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First of all I must say John Lefler and Sean Craig, put on hell of show for everyone. The course was nice and technical, spectator friendly  and hooligan hill was of the hook… as always.  Last year I spend both day watching various people ride away from you me in SS race. I was determined to make amends  for that this year.   I signed up for SS party cause of the reasons mentioned above partly because I will be riding  SS  for Midwest CX championships also known as  Jingle Cross cx…

Saturday

We were lined up behind the 3/4 guys we had 30 second gap.    The whistle blew and we were off, it wasn’t the best of starts and I found myself  following Ryan and Skip into hole shot. However after the prime, they sat up and I was left loose.  I started to see 3/4 riders pretty much instantly  I decided to ride through as much of the field as possible.  Eventually i worked myself into 3rd spot overall.  I stayed  there for most of the race, until 3 laps to go when my front wheel out from underneath me on one of the turns and I went down. Jeremy and Aaron caught up to me and I kind of lost my motivation to catch the other two guys.  I eased into a pace and actually stopped for beverage  at top of the hooligan hill. That was the race  I rolled in first.  After the race  I rolled home… MK sister is 40th so high five on that. I had some scotch and some swedish meatballs  rolled home and went to bed

Sunday

I was a bit nervous on Sunday, the course was the same but we had addition of Clarke Dolton and  Johnathan Neve. It was going to be a battle of Nature Boys  as it seems. After less than spectacular start I had to work myself  chasing Clarke. Worst of all I was so mesmerized by him jumping barriers that I forgot to get off my bike on lap one…. Duh!!!! I did manage to close the gap on him and his spill before the run-up pulled me in right to his wheel.  I soon found that I’m stupid  enough to ogre the giant climb after the run up. I was forcing the pace and trying to use the MTB section in the woods to get my heart rate down. It  worked I got good 30 second gap and I was working on keeping it steady  for rest of the race.   2 for 2…  Congrats to Jeremy on his championship and Mod for back to back wins as well as second straight year for NE State champ…. I will be the rogue lantern on that train next year

Jingle is next and after that long deserved break…. And some race registrations. Looks like I might dip my toes in more regional races at cost of the local series … alas part of  human experience is about new moments in life. But for now it’s all about jingle and winter base miles on gravel…

Happy Thanksgiving  to you all

My Sweet metal skin suit kept me nice and cozy in cold windy weekend

After attending Spooky Cx last year MK an I knew that we have to make our way back this year.  The only bummer was missing a pub crawl and unleashing MK awesome glue gun skills to use.  Maybe next year would be more gooder.

The venue is pretty sweet  and DM peps are super nice, free food after the race.  Quick result turnaround  and just over 90 minute drive from Omaha.  What’s not to like..

Day 1

Day one was marked with warm sun  and good amount of climbing.  The start of the race was pretty mellow.  Being in 3rd row wasn’t going to be be easy to catchup to the leaders. Luckily I was on the outside  of the start and I was able to work the boundary  and progressed to the front. By the time I got to the top of the long climb I was sitting 7th  wheel and by the time we hit the first down hill I was sitting pretty in 3rd.  By end of the lap  I was in 3 man break away with some roadie from DM and John Rokke.  The pace slowed down quite a bit and we just traded places up  front and building that gap.   Eventually the zoom guy and Rokke pulled away from me as I was running a  big hill and they opted to ride it. Looking back at it I probably should of rode it as well, but you don’t want to try something new if what you are doing is working okay…  With about  3 laps to go the zoom DM guy got a flat and I was left in second place. I kept the gap to John about the same until i dropped my chain on after one of the barriers.   That was the race… Dave Randleman finished 3rd.  All NE podium for cat 3 on day one. Before our race Shim, Randy and Ted got on a podium in the master race.

All NE Podium Day 1

WE spend the night eating ice cream and drinking beer.  We also watched emotional roller coaster that was Noah, watching the Wisconsin game…. they lost and sobbing kept going to late at night… ( just kidding)

Day 2

Second day was a lot cooler and winder. The course was bit more rugged and we were joined by Vaugh  Pierce.   Weirdly enough we were almost offered front row start  with all Omaha/Lincoln start line.  At the start it was familiar affair 4 of us Rokke, Vaughn, Dave and I got a bit of a gap.  A guy from Rassy finally bridge to us and Dave fell off the pace. I was having hard time staying with the Kaos guys and was marking the Rassy guy really well, until he got a mechanical. At that time we had 5 second gap to the front and about 10 seconds back to  rest of the chaser.   After the Rassy guy dropped off I kept the gaps consistent, until l botched remount and  was in matter of speaking riding for 3rd.  That’s how the race finished.

This was a pretty nice power climb. It could of used a barrier at the bottom of it.

This weekend, I shall try to race my SS bike in KS good bye  friendly confines of IA. Hello elbows, off camber turns and long power sections of KS cx racing… Ohh there is also this wed business at Seymour Smith… Hopefully we get nice turnout. TMCX boys put together a nice course for everyone to enjoy….