Velo CX November 5th 2011

Velo cross is a grassy, twisty, fast race by the Velodrome in Blaine, Minnesota. It starts on tar, and rolls over slight inclines and downhills and around sharp 180's on fast, mowed grass. It has two up hill barriers that are about 5 inches high and very hoppable, two 3 inch barriers right before you dive into the center of the velodrome (also hoppable), and two close-together, 14 inch high barriers that are definetly NOT hoppable. It features two off-cambers, and seven 180 degree corners. I just came off of a large training block, but I am determined to race smart. The whistle goes off and I am in 4th wheel. I work my way up to Jeff, who is in second place. I work with him for a while, but Ryan is strong, and the gap is still at ten seconds. Jeff bobbles on a corner and I seize the oportunity. We battle for the better part of two laps, but he is strong and I can't shake him. We come into the 180 corner after the tar on the last lap, shoulder to shoulder playing a high speed game of "chicken". I have the outside and am at a disadvantage, but am also more confident in my abilities. I come out of the corner a fraction ahead and attack with everything I got. The final corner is off of a ditch and you can either try and stay on the top of it and dive down for more momentum, or you can stay low and take the corner inside-outside. I had taken the high line every time and Jeff knew what I was going to do. He took the corner extra wide to cut me off, but I had more momentum from the ditch than he had figured and I slipped up beside him. Shoulder to shoulder, we went towards the finish line, but I had more momentum and he couldn't match my attack. I won the sprint and finished second place! I was very happy at how hard I battled with Jeff. and while I didn't beat Ryan, I knew it had not been in the cards that day. I recently upgraded to cat 3's, so this was my last cat 4 race.