Jingle Cross Weekend

Jingle Cross was pretty awesome this year. I haven't been able to make many big races this season but Jingle CX was an easy choice. Janelle's family was in town for Thanksgiving, but they were willing to come up to the race as well.

Friday Course:

Friday was a perfect night for cross. The wind had died down and it was about 50 degrees out. The main obstacle of the night was the long run-up

Podium Insight Photo

Running up Mt Krumpit on Friday night

I didn't get a very good start as some guys started to drift into me on the gravel section less than 100m into the race. I stopped pedalling for a second and was immediately in last place. From there I just tried to get by people as best I could. The run was actually going pretty well for me which gained me a spot or two for the first couple of laps. About halfway through I rode up to a group of 5-6 guys, hung out for a lap then ran past them all on the hill. I ended up in no-man's land for the rest of the race, which put me in 21st overall. It turns out the guy ahead of me was a junior, so he got removed from the USAC results.

Saturday course:

This was a real CX day. Raining all day, windy, and a very muddy course. We went up the hill the way we rode down the night before, but it was only half-way rid-able for me before enough mud accumulated that I would have to run the rest of the way. There were two other sections that were rid-able the night before, but were now faster to run. Even the descent was faster to run down. This was pretty fun and made for some good highlights.

Saturday start

Up Mt. Krumpit

The first lap on Saturday down Mt. Krumpit

The second lap down

Somewhere in the middle of the race. Sorry to whoever I hit with my wheel, that almost knocked me over though!

Fun in the mud

The other run-up by the bleachers.

Up the climb near the end of the race

I haven't had too many super muddy races in KC - so it was a blast to race in the mud again. My Challenge Limus tires were the perfect rubber for the day keeping me upright throughout the day. I had a good day and ended up 16th.

Sunday course:

Flyover

Sunday it was still muddy, but of the accumulating type. The course featured the run up from Friday, plus a new descent down the hill that was rid-able but challenging. People were losing derailluers all day from the grass and gravel that would get into your drivetrain and completely stop things up. Janelle and Ryan (brother-IL) were my awesome pit crew that provided me with clean bikes every lap, so I just had to focus on getting around without putting myself on the ground. It was a big advantage to get a clean bike since the mud added a couple of pounds to the bike. I was feeling pretty worn down from two days of hard racing, but felt like I rode well despite the fatigue. I ended up riding with Dan Miller from Columbia for the last couple of laps until we got pulled from the race. It seemed like we still had quite a bit of time before the leaders were coming through, so this was a surprise, but they do tend to pull people early in the C1 UCI races. So I ended up 21st again. I'm very content with how the races played out and with my fitness so far this year.

It is hard to believe that Nationals are still over a month away. Time to get really focused for this final stretch.