new beginnings, CCC Jackson Park race.....

Wow, can't believe it's been almost a year since I last posted. A lot has happened since then. I broke up with my girlfriend of almost five years a few months ago. That's all I'm gonna say about that one. The road season kind of came and went. I didn't do as many races as I would've liked, but the key was to be ready for cross season which just started yesterday, I'll have more on that later. I also got a new puppy to add to my pack. I named him Ovi, after the hockey player Alex Ovechkin. I now have Skates, Teemu, Ovi, and Wilma, whom I didn't name. Ovi is a welcomed addition and should help out Wilma in two-dog bikejor racing and to our clubs team in general. He's a happy go lucky dog. He just turned seven months and has already started light training. He's coming along nicely and is turning out to be as advertised. He's starting to fill out his skinny frame. He's all legs right now, but over the last month I've been able to notice his strength when he pulls. It's kind of tough right now to fit dryland races in with the cross season in full swing. I currently have a couple on the calendar. The Dirty Dog at the end of October and then Woodstock in November. There are a couple others that I'll try to squeeze in. The cross season officially began yesterday with the Chicago Cross Cup series race at Jackson Park. I hadn't ridden my cross bike other then a stroll down the street the other day just to run through the gears. There was a race I wanted to do last weekend near Champaign to get the cobb webs out, but wasn't able to make it. I hadn't done any races or really hard training rides for about a month and was anxious to see how I'd do. With 72 racers in our field I was lucky I pregistered so I'd get a good start. They went by Crossresults.com points and it was good enough to put me right in the middle of the second row. I was a little worried at the start because it was warm out and I didn't take a water bottle. I usually need water to clear out my dry throat I usually get during races. I took a gel at the start with nothing to wash it down. At the whistle it started fast and a paceline formed. I was around 10th place or so. The course didn't really play to my strengths as there were a lot of power sections and not much technical stuff. I'm glad I made an adjustment to my handlebars after a few practice laps because it made a difference. A few guys were able to gradually roll off the front. I maintained my position with two or three guys for a while before swapping positions with several guys. During the switchbacks I could see about five guys breathing down my back. A guy washed out behind me and I told the guy in front to pick it up and he did. We were able to put some distance on those guys. The only incident I had was later in the race with three or four laps to go. There was a Sram guy I'd been with the whole race and he slipped just before the first set of barriers. I had already dismounted, but it was too late. I buried myself right into him. I shouldn't have been right behind him on the barriers. I untangled my front tire and I was off. I was able to finally put a gap on him, but now I found myself dueling out with another chase guy who eventually passed me. I stayed with him though. We traded positions the last two laps. I don't remember how I got around him, but I found myself in front for the last lap. I told myself I was in a bad position and thought he might try to outsprint me at the finish. I guess I had enough of a gap but sprinted it out just in case he tried to do the same. I ended up 11th out of 72, just out of the top 10 I was hoping for. Next up is USGP at Madison next weekend.