HPT Grand Prix

Wow, last night was awesome.

If you won't there (and a lot of you were not) then I hope you have a good excuse because you missed out on one of the best courses if the year. Hands down. 

The HPT race is always great but this year was especially juicy. It was smooth and fast. hilly and flat. good and better. The perfect amount of everything. Lots of wide turns that required a small brake tap followed by extreme throttle punching. 

Plus I was on a good day. 

The morning started out with a soar throat, not ideal, but I put forth an aggressive "get healthy quick" plan which included emergen-c, ricola, zycam, and bacon. It worked. 

X and i rolled into Topeka with plenty if time which allowed a stress free pre ride and warm up. I took brittons advice and re-ride a few sections multiple times. There was nothing overly technical but I need every advantage I can get. 

My tire pressure was perfect during warm up and i knew it was going to be a good race. The open race was small, 10, I was in the 2nd (last) row. Shorts and no gloves with a pavement start... Perfect. 

On the whistle I clipped in immediately and found myself 4th at the whole shot. 4th! Fu*k yeah! The first lap of a cross race is great, everyone is right on top of each other. Usually I miss out on that because I get my but kicked immediately, not today. Today it took at least a lap until I started getting my butt kicked!

Man was that first lap fun. I'd kind of forgotten what that was like. Besides briefly putting my front wheel into Andrew L's skewer I was in the zone. Going hard when I had too, resting when I should, nailing the corners. Sure, I had some rough patches but for the most part I was cookin. Once again I required a little recovery from the fast start, but after that I felt great. 

Issac had some bike problems, same with Andrew ( I think) and I ended up 7th. Plus the 3's started right behind us and none of them caught me (that was an issue last year). But I have to say, I think some of the fastest 3 stayed home. 

Anyway...

There are still a lot if races to go (and i plan on racing all of them) but last night kind if felt like the beginning of the end if the cx season. It's been a hard season but one im happy with. I've had enough halfway decent results that I almost feel like I belong in the open race. 

Last night was big time for me, here's to more races like that. 

Once again X was the ultimate cheer leader. Positive cheering really does help.  She took a ton of photos so we can all bask in the photogenic glory that is me. 

Thanks, babe.

Boulevard Cup

Boulevard Cup is great. It seems to me that it's become a marquee race on the KC calendar and the field for the men's open (22, largest of the year) reflected this.

Two years ago at this same race, different venue, I had perhaps my most exciting cross race ever. Bob C won the 3's but James S and I battled it out for 2nd. I led out the sprint but he came around and beat me. Still, the crowd was great, the course was great, the racing was great, ill never forget that day. For most of us, days like that make it all worth while. 

Anyway...

Did a pretty good job of warming up and scouting the course and lined up on the second row. It was a wide pavement start so there were only 2 rows. (ps, I love pavement starts so please include them whenever you can.) 

They said go and I had my best start of the year. It was up a gradual incline, perfect for me. So fun. Maybe too much fun because after bogging down in the first sand section (which included a sweet hipster dismount, aka swing the leg over the handlebars) i was breathing very hard and getting passed by a small army. 

It was totally worth it but I started a little to aggressively and it took a few laps to recover. 

One more dude passed me mid race and later Issac broke his chain plus and I did chase down Lane (he might of been having bike issues as well) but besides that I was on my own a lot.

I only attempted to ride the sand twice, never making it. That disappoints me but lately I feel fragile. My body is breaking down. All cycling and no other exercise makes Adam a frail boy. I'm worried about dismounting awkwardly and tweaking something. Didn't help that the previous days race destroyed my back. Having said all that, I felt great running, the best I've felt all season, so I ran all the sand. Afterwards X said it was way faster to ride it. I believe her. She was a great cheerleader out there.

Ended up 16th of 20 finishers. I felt good but It's just so f'ing hard to race with these guys. I like it but probably need to get a lot smarter with my training if I ever want to take a big step forward.

In the meantime i need to do some core work, I'm falling apart. But... Fu*k it, cross is awesome and I can't wait to line up again. 

And how about the gal spectator on course with her own private stereo offering hand ups of Tylenol, beer, and boot legged copies of windows xp?!?! Now that's what talking about. Makes me long for the good old days of Colavita Lovin. 

After all the races were done we hung around drinking what had become free beer... until they cut us off, love this town. 

Colavita Cup

Yesterday was the Colavita Cup cross race. Besides being an absolutely great day it was also the fifth race of the year our team has put on. Cathedral Crits (2), Manions cross (2). and now this one. I'm impressed. 

As usual the entire team chipped in to pull it off (we have good people on this team) but I think special thanks goes to Britton K and Kris P. They designed the course and Kris hauled his riding lawn mower all the way from lees summit to Shawnee, twice.

It's always a good thing to have a venue for cross but it can be challenging when it's virgin land with tall grass, sticks, ditches, etc. You never know what you're going to find underneath. 

Thankfully Britton has the balls to design a hard course over crazy terrain (he just doesn't care what other people think) and because of that we got a course that was pretty unique for the area. Very technical compared to most races and a great addition to the calendar.

I was out there around 8am for set up and hung around to watch the first race before heading home to eat and do the race prep. Lately I've been riding the rollers in our basement for a pre warm up, warm up. No word yet on whether the apparently elevated levels or radon are helping, hurting, or having no effect on my fitness.

Got back with enough time to do a warm up lap and then some. Ideally I'd like to ride the entire course a few times and hit a few sections even more, but that never happens. As a result of my last minute pre laps I lined up on the last row. Big field, 20.

I think it's great our race is tied to today's Boulevard Cup, people know Boulevard Cup and they show up, and i bet we got some of the overflow.

Anyway...

This was a terrible course to for lining up at the back. No place to pass. I felt pretty good as soon as they said go but knew the race was leaving without me while I sat in practically last thru the first 1/4 lap. 

Did a little aggressive passing to improve a spot or 2 but for the most part the bulk of the race was already gone. Not that I would have been a part of it anyway but like I've said here many times before, no room for error for a slow guy in the open race.

Andrew L and Brett C were close for a while and gave me something to chase but in the end I had to settle for 15th out of 19 finishers.

I felt like I was riding better than that but I didn't give myself the best chance for success today. Plus the field was pretty strong. 

No matter, I had a blast and am totally psyched for today's Boulevard Cup race.

Took a lot of photos, enjoy. 

Colavita Cup Cross Race Tomorrow!!! (Venue pictures included)

I just stopped by the venue for tomorrow's Colavita Cup Cross race. The designers were still designing and trimming but it looks awesome. Beautiful land with some fun but moderate elevation changes. Should also be a great course for spectating so bring the whole family.

Don't miss out on what's going to be a bad a** race!

Parking is in the grass immediately west if Pflumm. There is a "driveway" into the field located about 61st and Pflumm.

See everyone tomorrow!