Ok,...first before I do the cross post I wanna post a comment or two on another issue...poaching riders from other teams. The Battley guys are losing juice from one sponsor and reforming under another money endorser....cool good for em...They are a large group with overall dominance in the road racing scene here and also a player in national scale events. Not a surprise they got another sponsor. But one annoyance is my hearing of their trying to dislodge our up n comers who have proved their abilities and moved to 2 status. Now the Speculators have crossed lines and made offers ..or so I have heard. This is annoying to me. This core of riders does not need any more on their side. LAME. If these two teammates of mine on the Bike Rack, or just one moves, then thats on them and the pull can be strong. But, it seems early in the game for this miniscule roster to be pecked at by the powers that be.I have not pressed for facts but I am not impressed if this is true...Trying to build a small elite squad is tuff in such an environment.
Small ventilation process there. Ok Granogue...Faster pussycat!!!...Well..I dunno ? I was givin it all she had Scotty ! The Granogue cyclocross event was a new one on me. I was in the middle of the bunch at the start. I knew this to be foreboding with 100 plus entries participating. That I was there at all was good because the google directions were off ..no doubt . I was pinned and overdressed..stressed and anxious to get it over with....really. I saw very little enthusiasm in me at the idea of slogging in mud. There I was though.Pop and its off. Sprint sppeed hurtling towards rain and pain. I give way often in these few intial turns in the mud. Not good but tryin to meter the pain and not hit the trough below. Sortin and thinnin of the race ensues and I am losing ground...not very in shape and movement restricted by surplus gear...LAME. I was wishing for more gears for spinning and much more tread ...you know like a mountain bike...really. Right soo that insight out of the way...I was dropping like Herbie the Love Bug on a bad day. The mud weighed the bike down like carrying an eighty pound bag of sand but more cumbersome over steep mud . slicing the incline with my feet angled for vertical traction. At this point are you wondering if I am still describing a supposedly semi road racing event..Like it might have some bearing if you race on the road as a cat one ? In other words I should not be a cat two in cross or this event was unusual in its vast sea of torment or both I dunno.The wisdom of wearing less dawned on me...but vaseline and shorts in weather like that...44 degrees with rain and wind , seeemed like madness. OK, so I wore too much and I paid the price for this overdressing mistake. Up this really steep climb with a tower atop it like trying to seige a fort, I was being really bogged down by my rain gear...and shades and rain coat. At the start this other rider asked me if I was really going to race in my pants..I said I was not feeling well already and didnt want pneumonia.Later into the race I uderstood his curiosity as I said screw it. I want these dead weight pants off and so I stopped and rid myself of them. This cost me the few competitors left I was against as they went by. I went up that tower climb and the descent from that height is tuff as hell. An off camber rutted steep drop. Where the spectators line up with beer like vikings and hoot and howl at the fallen. Racers who hit the deck and raise thunder with their attempts at glory. mud laden..slipping and sliding down and continuing on persued by the jests and roar of the gallery. Nice.
later the first, second, and third place guys went by at around the same time as my rear deraileur went up into the back wheels spokes. I was done for the day with twisted metal to carry back to the car. Fun Stuff.
I spent a long time in the heated truck awed by guys with hatch back open as a sort of awning and showering with water from containers. I was like ...?/@!no way crazy. Cold beer maybe but more cold water and all the time still exposed...OK soo no arctic polar bear here...sorry.
I did go spectate though and also got some great chicken noodle soup that was real thick. Another booth/tent was the Dogfish one. The free samples were like 8oz of dogfish ale..60 min but you could choose.. pretty sweet. So to watch Ryan Trebon and his boy on Kona Brad Wicks roll away ( or slide ...run...maneuver) each with a huge gap pretty quick, was impressive. Trebon was away from Wicks and Wicks was away from the chase groups by far, respectively. The field was staggered in chase . Bunches of twos, threes, and larger went by. Jared Nieters and his teammate in the front groups close to top ten. Last I saw of jared he was near tenth position and looked to be in good shape. His Junior teammate having been passed by Nieters eventually and J Nieters was on the move. Serious attrition factor here. experience a must. Dave fuentes was in my race or the elite 123 35/45 plus field and he did much better then me, but no idea how he fared. He had on a skinsuit from the bike Lane...maybe some cross help from them. Good for him he is a nice guy who obviously gets huge results on the road . Has not done bad in cross either. Ryan Dewald was in the Harley kit. Doing well in his UCI elite mens event.holdin like twentieth and seemed to be having fun as he always does. cool dude. Anyway ...good stuff out there and Kudos to all participants, Volunteers, and even the mud,...THANKS
MUCH RESPECT to those who can rock in this mayhem. Photos will be adde dsoon to this post but gotta figger it out...camera to computer and so on...
