Kansas State Championships Dec. 5th

Its been a while since the race, I haven't been riding much just relaxing for a bit and am just now getting back on the bike. I went to Topeka for the state championships and it was cold, about 30 with a good wind. I thought I would weat my lobster gloves to stay extra warm but that proved to be a bad idea. The race started fine, I stayed with the leaders, Andrew Coe, Shadd Smith and Brian Jensen for a lap or two then I started to over heat. At this point I started sweating too much for being that cold out and my head was becoming super hot, I had forgotten to take off my winter riding beanie too. I should have stopped and taken off the layers but then I would have been too cold and sweaty. I labored on through the race pushing myself as hard as I could without blowing up too bad. For the first time all year I was caught by the Cat 3 racers, thats how slow I was going. I caught back up to all but one of the Cat 3s and finished 4th in the Open Race. At the end of the race I wiped my mouth and there was some blood I had coughed up, I think it was the cold and dry air since I hadn't ridden outside much before the race. So I ended up 4th in Kansas, all the guys that beat me are Pro's so I guess its ok. I may race a couple more races but I will be out of town for the Grote Prijs Shawnee which is a cool race and no good for the Series 60 points, I'm leading it now but only by 9 points and even if I won out and miss the Grote Prijs I still can't win the series so I sort of lost motivation to race right now. I'm ready for MTB season to start and will begin base miles when I get back from Texas, I'll be there around a month for work.

Manions Cross II

Manions Cross II was the weekend before Thanksgiving and was a great race. The course was perfect and suited me nicely, a lot of climbing. I started the race in dead last like usual and on the first lap got past about 5 or 6 guys then passed 1 more the second lap and that was it. I finished 5th and only lost to Pros, and beat one. My CX racing is getting better but now that its finally getting cold I will be racing less. I am a wuss when it gets too cold, maybe I need winter bike shoes?