Jingle Cross. Part 2. Jingle Crossed

Well. Now it's been quite a few days. My side doesn't hurt any less. I don't remember much. Got to the race. Yelled myself hoarse with Ben, Dan, and Mike. Was joined a bit by Spencer (drawn to us by the Mortal Treason, I figure) with Little Guy, Tuffy, Leslie, and Sarah just standing across the course laughing. The ladies got into the act a bit later though. Damn them. Almost gave myself a headache from yelling at people. Very good times. Best part of Day 2, for sure.

Well, the race. Lined up next to Mike again. Heard the start this time. Didn't have a good start again. I guess my strategy for the races that I really don't care about that much is just to go at my own pace and pick people off throughout the course. Works for decent finishes. Not so much for great ones. Felt ok. Not great. Far from bad. (So far). Went out the starting straight. 180. Over the barriers. Back on bike. Left turn. Avoid a half dozen fallen riders. Yep. Someone decided it would be fun to pile up some riders right in the middle of the course. GENIUS! I will say that it makes for a nice obstacle. Didn't have to stop. Slowed, worked between a couple of them, and kept going. I guess that made up for my above-par start. From there a few more turns and straights. Up a fairly steep off camber 180 then across more off camber (picked off people here throughout the race) followed by a fast left veering downhill. A very short easy section to a sharp 90 degree turn into some logs (meant to create a run up. Damn Todd Wells and hit ridiculous power output and skill level!) Followed by a pretty long run up. I managed to get back on my bike a good spot consistently. (Although not very cleanly, nor very quickly some laps) A lot of people ran much further than I did and that made is fairly easy (as easy as riding/running up a big hill can be) to pick off more people. This is also where the ladies mentioned above brought out the superfan for me. SO LOUD! It was pretty nuts. Thanks! I definitely know why people are always smiling when I'm yelling at them now.

Yeah. Top of the hill. Wind a bit down the other side (the long ride up from yesterday) went down at an ok clip. not super fast, cause I'm a wuss. Caught the rider in front of me right at the bottom (normally a good thing, right?). Went to take the inside line. Got a little bit too far up inside his wheel. He went inside as well. (We all know how that works out, right?) Yeah. You guessed it. At this point I'm already looking for a soft spot to land (witnessed by Tuffy). Too bad it was a gravel "road" and there are nothing even resembling soft on this part of the course. Oh well. By the time I had the above thoughts out, I was on my way down. Hit the gravel. Slid for about 10 feet (a distant Tuffy described as "surprisingly short, considering") Managed to voice "That hurt." and started to get up. Didn't get hit while I was down, which I was more surprised about then actually falling. Yeah, Oh well. Enough of that. Got back on bike. Got rolling. Everything works. Nothing broken. Keep going. Hurt really bad. Knee and hip mostly. Keep going. Yeah. So I did. Didn't really have the heart to try for a good position, So I just kept riding. Every time we turned into the wind it pressed my jersey against my skin (where there was no more skin) and it really hurt. Going up that hill hurt a lot, too. oh well. I lived. My goal at this point was just to finish. Crashing on the first lap kind of sucks.

On one of the next few laps, I managed to work back up to Fil (who got the wholeshot both days) just before the sandpit. Through the sandpit some other dude yells something about "don't be an asshole". I don't know if it was to Fil or me, but we both took it a little personally (Sure, I passed him on the outside through a narrow doorway, but that's racing, right? You can only go as fast as the person in front of you, and he was going too slow.) He and Fil had a few words. I threw some of my own in there (but mine where things like, "that's racing" and "A cross race is a bad time for a fight". Not fanning flames). Oh well. I have no real idea how that ended, as I kinda pulled away, but I heard nothing else about it, so I assume all is well.

On the second to last lap I was riding a bit behind Super Rookie. The official was counting out spots. I was sitting at 31st. FUCK. You know what that means? No? It means I get a new goal. I wanted to hit 25th. Passed Tim a bit later and tried to up the pace. Some things happened. I passed some people. Paul (Schoening?) was in front of me with about 1/2 a lap to go. As I passed Dan he yelled for me to catch him. I told him "Not yet". What is that!?!!? I was thinking I could catch him on one of the straights after the multiple 180's. NOPE. He managed to put quite some time into me through that section. Coming out of the 180's I knew that he'd beaten me. That's O.K. If I couldn't finish well, I at least wanted to finish strong. As soon as I hit the last straight, I just gunned it. Shifted up to my biggest gear (which was only 42-12) and gave it all I had for the last bit. Crossed the line. My season was over!

Turns out I finished in 23rd. Mission accomplished.

Sat around. Changed. Watched the Elite race. Todd Wells is a monster. JESUS! Tristan rode a hell of a race. That was cool to see. I don't know him, but he's from WI as well. I feel a kinship. Marko killed it, too. Bergemann bettered the previous day by a position. Bjorn lost a spot (to Tristan). Ben finished 20th for the second day in a row. It was a fun day.

Said my goodbyes, loaded into Jake's car. Went to Wal-Mart for a plunger (Menards was closed). stopped at the co-op for some food and we left town. A very fun weekend. I can't wait until next year. This is gonna be great.

Dewey and Dan pulled in another 1/2 today. Reversed, though. Linda came in 4th in her race. Dewey finished 10th in the Elite race AFTER racing the 35 plus earlier in the day. phew! that's all.