Granogue, Day 2

Fall days don't get much better than Sunday was. Beautiful blue sky, cool temps. Great day for a cross race!
Had to get up at about 520am since the start was 930 rather than 10 am. Wassup wit dat? Anyway, it didn't matter; I hadn't slept much in the previous 2 nights and Sat night was no different. But once I got into race prep mode, all my tiredness just seemed to go away. Got there in time to get a decent warm up and a lap in. Really tough course. I lined up way back (as usual) and we headed of. At race speed the course seemed easier; it just kind of flowed. I saw Bob Kuhn from HUP ahead in the 1st couple of rows. The next time I would see him was when he lapped me...

I took some chances on the course and payed for it; went down 3x and lost my chain 2x. Got it back on once, but had to stop the second time right before the road section which really cost me time. Then my chain started jumping but it wasn't too bad. Since I was farther back than normal, I just kept picking guys off; my legs really felt good. Didn't matter, though. With about 1/3 lap left the 2 leaders caught me making my day shorter. At least one was a team mate :-) I wasn't paying attention on the finish road and 2-3 guys past me, which I never let happen, although, really, what's the difference between 71st and say, 68th in the grand scheme of things? At least I raced aggressive and had a good time. I also got to meet Bob Kuhn from HUP South East (?) and ran into Scott Rosenthall from HUP/Zanacato Racing; the guy you can thank/curse for my Blanco kit. I am definately making this a permanent stop on my cross racing calender.