Manion's CX II

I haven't gotten around to blogging about Manion's CX II yet. With JCR CX coming up this weekend, there have been lots of odds and ends to tie up before the race. As it turns out, all my tires sans my 8 yr old Michelin Muds are too wide for the 33mm UCI std. No worries, I got some brand new Challenge rubber that will fit the bill just fine.

In any case, Manion's turned out to be tough. All I had heard about V1 was how much climbing it had. I missed out on that weekend, but figured that this would be a good final tune up for JCR.

I thought the course was pretty cool. Very tough, lots of climbing, a few technical spots. The Le'manions start was kind of crazy, but fun. There is photo evidence of all the 1/2/3 riders smiling as we run off to get our bikes after the giant firework start bomb went off.

 Running is a good way to start for me. I was second to Steve Tilford onto the course. After a section into the wind, Britton took off and Steve and Shadd followed. They got a bit of a gap to me, Brian Jenson and Justin Grist. After another lap it was just Shadd, Steve and I. Shadd sort of slid out on a corner of one of the descents. Steve jumped and got a gap on me, then Shadd came back and we rode together for awhile until I slid out in the same corner as Shadd. When I finally got back together, Shadd had a good gap on me too. That was the race, in a nutshell.

Great, tough venue. Lots of good food and drink, and awesome rowdy fans.

Looks like the elite field for JCR is going to be stacked. Over 50 guys signed up so far. That is almost as big as some of the USGP fields. Should be awesome.