MIA

I haven’t touched this thing in a long time! I set it up originally to do cross updates and then got carried away updating it like I was Todd Wells or someone who actually is fast on their bike. Since I went to Europe I have not had a ton of time getting updates on, but I will be good from here on in.
So, I hit my first cross race of the year this year. I raced down in Seattle at South SeaTac. This is my second time racing out there and it is a super well-organized race. I went down with my friends Brad and his wife…actually not wife, but close enough, Kelly and we all raced.
The course has a ton of sand on it and it is pretty technical for a cross course with a lot of fun swoopy single track. The course had 2 run ups and one run up that you could ride if you were a solid rider. The second run was a ball buster for sure that put you in the hurt locker for about a minute after the run. There were also some good paved sections to recover or hammer depending on how you were feeling.
Kelly was the first to race. She did not kill it off the front, but she was in the top 3 for the women’s A race. She rolled in 3rd dangling off the back of the first 2 women by a few seconds at most. She was riding the hard ride/run and catching them back, but they would get a gap after. I think she was losing some time on the twisty track to Kristy Berg…Alec Berg…. (Forget it no one will get that), but as they came to the finish Kelly was right there with the other 2 but effectively needed another 1 lap to take the win. She had a strong race, there was only 5 seconds separating 2 and 3rd and then multiple minutes to 4th.
Next me and Brad line up to roll the Master A men. We start about 1:30 behind the Senior elite men. Our laps will be based off of the times of their laps. Great! I get to have my race based on the times of one of the fastest guys in the US, Shannon Skeritt, so I knew I had my work cut out for me. Only about 15 masters racing today and one junior that was staged with the masters.
Start goes okay and then down the start finish area this little guy punches it and everyone is going full gas to a hill that is loose and a bit rocky. I go into about 3rd from last as I got chopped a bit by the junior making a bit of a dumb move. I gotta start throwing elbows more if I want to do a bit better. Anyway, the junior wads it up going up the hill and I have to run about 10 meters while everyone else rides away. I get going and I am pinned struggling to keep my bike going in a straight line. My saving grace is that when we hit the ride/run up, I ride it clean and make some spots there. I get another here or there and don’t ever give anything back. Brad is up a bit, I can see him early and he must be in the top three. On lap 2 I ride better and on lap 3 I am riding everything fast making more passes. I hit the run and I can see Brad in front of me. He has about 15 seconds on me. It is deceiving because it looks like I can reach him by digging in deep, but when I get to the top he his gone. I drill it on the pavement and I am making up time and then as we hit the start finish he wheels in and grabs a wheel. Makes sense, as I was catching him really quick and I thought that those million dollar carbon wheels he was using might have let out some air. Turns out that it was not flat, but really soft.
Last couple of laps went well, but as I was getting close to finishing off my second last lap I could see a guy in Team Vanilla kit coming in on me. Damn! One of the Elite men. If he laps me I am done. I get placed, but I am done. I start hauling ass, hit the long run up and giver, but near the top he comes by me, just flying! If I can get on his wheel and ride to the finish and ask him to let me go ahead of him, before we cross the line, then I can finish my last lap! The things you think when your brain has no oxygen. When we hit the paved section after the run the only thing I was doing was praying that I did not blow my entire load right there.
I finished 6th. Brad rolled in about 2.5 minutes later in 7th, very respectable considering the wheel change.
I wasn’t great, but not bad either. The race was almost all single track, so with the exception of the run and the ride/run sections I did not feel like I was on the rivet. It was more about being smooth vs. killing it.
Bike rode perfect. Big thanks to Brad for helping me get it all set up. I am on a Redline, with Dura Ace, this year and it a step up over last years bike.
We hit Langley next weekend for the start of the BC cross series. Should be good. I should be suffering a bit less on the run there seeing how I have done some stair running lately! I figured in Rawlyk can run 2400 km by June, that I could bust out 5 flights of stairs 6-8 times once a week…
R-Enns is 40! Nice work buddy. I am sure that you were puking at some point last weekend.
Went to the most bizarre Asian wedding the night before the race. I have never seen anything like it. Their MC was a hired gun! They had Karaoke going during dinner. Man it was Super Fantastic!!!
Oh, so my loving wife mentioned to me that the bride, for a small girl, had the big rack, well her sister goes that gene as well!!!! I have never seen 100-pound women rolling it with that kind of natural talent. I thought that when she walked into the room the should have busted out some INXS “guns in the sky”