Cross Roundup...

Well cross is well underway and the business end of the season is about to begin! COming up are cross Provincial Championships in Red Deer, National Championships in Hardwood Hills Ont. and Aurora UCI C2 cross in Aurora Ont.
After lots of bad luck, form and starts I finally put it all together for this past weekend's Deadgoat Cross on home turf. It was a great course with everything a crosser could ever want. They had sandpits, a fast paved start, only one double, two super muddy decents, wet wooden bridges and the longest most slippery runup in western Canada. I got off to a great start sitting in about 3rd for the first three laps or so. The front runners were within sight that entire time, with them opening a bit on the long runup and me closing it back to a steady gap on the muddy sections. On lap 4 I crashed coming off a wooden bridge and ended up throwing my chain off in the process. After a stop to fix the bike, three riders past me and I was back on in 6th position. The course was getting worse in terms of mud every lap. One section before a shorter runup was becoming almost unrideable, but trying to ride it was better than running through and getting your shoes all clogged up. Eventually this section got so bad that both wheels stopped turning and after the short runup I was forced to stop and pull mud, rocks and grass out of my bike to get it rolling again. I also had to start trying to ride through every puddle possible along the course to keep the drivetrain moving with relatively little restriction. In the end I passed one of the guys ahead of me after he broke his frame, and the Dutch rider in second ended up dropping out due to a broken rear derailluer. So after one hour of pain and thrills it was 4th for me on the day. I have now finished the hard 6 week or so program to prep for nationals. Now it is time to start the taper in time for Provincial Championships (to hopefully win and secure a provincial team spot) and then the race we have all been waiting for National Championships. Nationals and Aurora should be good events. Nationals is on the Saturday and Aurora on Sunday, its being dubbed "the biggest weekend in Canadian Cyclocross History". Tim Johnson and Greg Raien are among the top pros due to make their appearance.
Hopefully some pictures from the mudfest soon!