My First (official) CX race!

My first race was the 2nd round of the OVCX series. It had a little bit of everything including some awfully bad luck. All was going well until staging started. I grabbed my front brake for one last check and the cable pulled all the way out. Awesome! I panicked a little and headed back to the car for some emergency surgery. Luckily Fred was there to help. I got the brake fixed and headed back to the start line assuming they waited. I was wrong!! The race was on! I ducked under the caution tape just before the start finish line and the chase was on. I was at least 30 seconds down which really sucked. I quickly made up my mind to chase as hard as hell. I wrecked the very first corner and then again going into the first barrier. I guess it was pretty dramatic and I even took out part of the course. This crashing was not getting me any closer to the race. Luckily Adam Rodkey got my attention and told me to get my head back into it. I calmed down and rode as hard as my body would let me. I got some stragglers pretty much immediately and then set my sights on a group of 6 about 20 seconds ahead. I caught them and decided to go right on by and continue chasing after thinking briefly about staying with them and recovering. That seemed like the pussy thing to do with so many people still in front of me.


photos by my awesome Girlfriend Caitlin, let me know and she will be glad to take some shots of you if you would like. She comes to a lot of races with me.

Thanks to Fred, Ben Weaver, and Rodkey for the encouragement. The bad luck sucked hard but it gave me the opportunity to see just how hard I could push myself. It was awesome. I ended up sixth and now know that without a doubt I can compete with the people who are winning these races (aka Ryan Knapp haha).

And lastly big props to Knapp and Fred Rose for winning their races and a big thumbs down to truesport.com for leaving Bikereg.com off of the results. Coincidence? I think not.

The course was sweet and I am quickly falling in love with this 'cross thing. I am looking forward to the rest of the OVCX series.