S.C.X.#5/Steilacoom

On Sunday, we once again headed down to Steilacoom Park for the 4th round of the Seattle Cyclo-Cross Series. After a good race the day before, I was anxious to see how I would feel the following day in a the "Big" Series.

The course was laid out similar to usual with lots of fast grass with some wet greasy tight turns, a paved climb, and a loose gravel road climb, high speed descent, and more fast dirt trail. We only had to dismount once at a double set of barriers down in the start/finish area. For this race, the course designers decided to take out the legendary "Knapp Time" Run-Up (Thank you 'cross Gods). It had rained significantly over the days leading up to the race, but this course is famous for its ability to drain well, and only leaving behind a few greasy turns. The Bicycle Centers/Collision 1 team discussed race plans and tactics before the race and the idea would be to start out hard with our guys setting the pace high to string things out for our team Captain, Todd Morse Tucker who could go for the win. After that, the goal would be to go for our own and work together to move up. We have a good team, and seem to really trust each other, and nobody thinks twice to sacrifice themselves to better a teammate. I love it.

I chose to run a new set of tires/wheels we just glued up; Challenge Grifo 32mm tubulars with 32psi in the front and 35psi in the rear. This was a good choice on both tread and pressure and made a big difference during the race. We lined up by series points which put me on the 2nd row with a 15th overall ranking. The whistle blew, and we were off. I got the hole shot headed around the barns through the pits all the way out to the paved road climb. Just as planned, the pack was strung out in single file, and people were already hurting. Just as I was peeling off, teammate Phil Oppenheimer took the pace/lead and kept it high. All the while, Todd began to move up on the narrowing course. The plan was working. After a couple of laps, I caught back up to Phil, and he was not having his best day, and I had to go for it. I got in a group that worked together that included the legendary Dan "Snortin' " Norton (7 time National Masters Champion) and we began to pull clear and catch racers getting shelled off the lead group. On lap four heading up the paved climb, Norton put in an attack and got a gap. The other rider, couldn't hang on and dropped back just as Norton passed another. This enabled me to bridge back up to his attack, and once again we had a group of 3. We took turns the entire 2nd half of the race pulling and sharing the load, to stay away from a hard charging chase group from behind.

Kristi was in the pits for me, and was giving us information that was helpful and we knew that we were in the top 10. With this in mind, I knew that I could outsprint the other two riders for 8th when it came down to the finish. On the final chicane through the grass, I positioned myself 3rd wheel with Norton leading the group. I knew that the other guys were gonna start their sprint once they hit the pavement to the finish. I also knew that we were gonna run out of real estate with the paved section to the finish only being about 50 meters long. With that in mind, as we were weaving through the turns, I punched it and started the sprint earlier than the other guys expected. The move was perfect as I was already in full sprint 3 gears higher than them as I came around. I got them by 15 meters at the line, and earned a solid 8th place.

I was super happy with my ride and raced a very strong tactical race. With many of the guys ahead of me in the overall, having not such good days, the overall series points took a major twist, with me moving from 15th overall all the way up to 8th Overall! Wow, seven places in a single race? I finally had some good fortune, and now I'm back in the game for my season goals. Not only that, but our team plan worked perfectly and our team Captain sprinted for the win with 2 other racers, and came up with 2nd! He was happy, greatful, and the team came away with 4 guys in the top 16.

Congrats to Kristi, for an early crash and resulting mechanical that put her dead last and nearly out of site of the next girl. She remained calm, cool headed and savvy in her pursuit, and within 2 laps was back in the top 6. Over the next half of the race she worked back into the lead and walked away with yet another win! Very impressive, and she now leads the Series for Pro/Elite Women convincingly.

Next weekend we head to Maris Farms in Buckley for the 5th round of the S.C.X. Series. I'm looking forward to a good week of training, starting with a good easy spin today, and tomorrow Kristi and I are doing stairs in Arlington for some high intensity workouts.

Talk to you soon.