Waterford Hills CX State Championships

Today was the last race of the year. It was a cold, and snowy day for a race, but it was a blast. This was my second cross race of the season, and was a real test for my knee. It is a bit sore but not too bad at all. All the snow on the course made it a real grind. I felt going into the race it was going to come down to tire choice and of course bike handling skills. I rode my Challenge Fango`s today, wow is about all I can say. Last year in similar conditions I rode maxxis raze and they sucked. The fango`s today were great, I never slid out going up or down any of the hills. I did have to get off and run a few times, but that wasnt any fault of the tires, it was all the people not riding fango`s. :) There were some deep areas on turns that I slid around in a bit, but that was expected.




































The course was similar to years past, but with only 1 dismount section. Some of the areas though were quite tough with all the snow, but all the snow made the infield nice and smooth.
This was the first race that I have ever done that Robert had to come out and plow it between all the races. The course was tight, mostly because all the drifting snow, so there was only 1 good line and everyone wanted to be on it.


TSB had 6 racers out today. Lee, John, Ben, Jason, Joe and myself. For some reason they started the 39 and over with us "younger" guys today. Traffic jams were going to be bad with such a tight course and it got a whole lot worse with twice the number people all starting at once. So myself, Joe and Jason all moved to the back of the pack to let the faster riders move up. We were just out there fun anyways. John got the lead off the start, and rest of us were on the back with Ben and Lee somewhere in the middle. By the first technical section it turned into a mess. The three of us, Jason and Joe were all toghether, Joe said he was getting a flat tire by the first straight away then I hit a big frozen clod of dirt that the plow picked up. He was able to get around me, along with a few other guys. I didnt endo, but it was close. By the time we got back to the start line I passed joe and jason was on my wheel. I didnt know that joe dropped out, but the two of us rode the rest of the race together. Sometimes running was better than riding, just depends on who was in front you. We were able to get around some people, and passed a lot of crashed riders. My laps times got faster each lap even though I felt a lot worse. My first lap according to my computer which I stopped by accident for a few seconds was 9:53, Lap 2 8:41 and the last lap was the fastet at 8:26. Not flying by any means, but I will take it after the way this year has gone.

The big winners today were John and Lee picking up 2nd place. This was Lee`s first time on the podium. Ben got 8th I think? Myself and Jason were either 17 & 18 or something like that. Joe had to drop out with the flat, but it was good riding with him. John also won the series for the C race.

No more races until the waterford spring training series starts back up in April. I have a lot of work to do in the off season to get myself back where I should be.