The sweetest skinsuit in the world's American debut didn't go exactly as planned. It started out well enough. We finally got some real cx weather: -5 when they blew the whistle. The sweetest skinsuit in the world handled that nicely. I think I was the only one in shorts. Most had jackets on. Suckers. The plan was to use my Nordic Cross hardened psyche as a big advantage. Decent start off the line. After the first lap I was hanging in the top 10, or at least close to it. But two dumb crashes on the second lap quickly altered the plan. First, some dude in front of me slammed on the brakes heading into a tight corner. And I went through the tape while trying to avoid him. Then, only a couple of hundred metres further, trying to make up the ground I'd just lost, I overshot a corner and went through the tape again. Dumb. All of a sudden, the goal changed from a top ten finish to seeing how many people I could catch. I think I was up to around eight or so in the next two laps when my left crank arm came off. I'd felt something a little loose, but assumed it was my cleat and kept riding. Apparently it was not my cleat. Dr. DNF. Damn. Hopefully things go a bit better tomorrow. The course was super sweet. Fast, but still lots of fun. And easily the best set-up course I've ever ridden. I can't wait for another crack at it. That's the nice thing about double crosses. You don't have to wait a full week to try and redeem a crappy day.
Jeremiah Bishop won the
elite race. We didn't stick around to watch though. It was back to Asheville for the Santa Claus parade. I dropped off the rest of the gang and went in search of a bike shop. They got it all fixed up and ready to go again for tomorrow. Made it back for the last few floats.
Asheville, by the way, is a sweet town. Lots of bikes, artists, musicians, good restaurants, galleries, etc. Of course, the mtb trails are pretty awesome around here too. Definitely worth a visit. Hint, hint.
This is what a Santa Claus parade in a bike-friendly town looks like.
The dude was playing Freebird. Sweet.
Special edition Haiku Jeff wool jersey?
Belt buckles are awesome.
A bar specializing in Belgian beer. Right on.
2 comments:
well your race reports are exciting and I appreciate them but hows the family holding up down there in gun country?
Good luck at todays race and showing that jersey some love.
Dallas " working my way to a hundie in April." Sigurdur
The family's doing great. Other than the cops chasing a shooting suspect through our back yard a while back, we've managed to avoid the guns.
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