The SuperFan Cometh

I made it to last years Lincoln CX Race and was looking forward to seeing all the shenanigans again this year.

















Pic by Bruce Thornton via Sydney Brown

I got more than I bargained for.

Saturday I raced the 3/4's raceand got to the line a little late. Late enough for a last row start. Right from the start Mike Miles cracked the whip and was gone. I just could not make any headway on the first lap. I could see the lead chase group about 15 seconds behind a blazing Mike Miles. I continued to hang in about 12th until half way thru the 2nd lap. Then I was able to start slipping 'round folks and going solo into the wind. With 4 Laps to go, I managed to make the bridge back to the lead chase group of Mark Lavin, Noah Marcus, and ....... We could see that Mike was slowing down and that we would be bringing him back in soon.














With 2 to go we had brought Mike back and the group was down to Lavin, Noah, Mike and myself.














Once we hit hooligan hill again it appeared that Noah had fallen off the pace. Then a few moments later I heard Miles start swearing and I presumed that he dumped a chain.

And then there were two.

I gave chase on Lavin as we wound our way through to low grassy parts of the course. I was able to hang on but I did not have the juice to do anything more.
After a rather ugly barrier section (that spawned lots of internet ridicule) we got spit out onto the tarmac with a 300 yard sprint to the finish. I was slapping SRAM for all I was worth trying to get some big ring love.


















Pic by Bruce Thornton via Sydney Brown
I am not a sprinter. I always get smoked on road ride sprints, but I can run through some gears without having to stand up on the pedals. I just went through my gears and managed to slip by Lavin about 10 yards from the line. My first CX win since the 2008 KS State Championships in the SS category, and my first ever win on a geared bike. Yeah gears!

Mike Miles finished strong to hang onto 3rd place.

Sunday I brought my SS CX bike out of the barn and put it through the paces in the NE SS CX Championship. I was gunning for Ryan "The Albino Rhino" Albertson, who rode away from Rafal and Keith Walberg in Saturdays race.













Image shamelssly jacked while Facebook creepin!
Any dude that races back to back in a circa 1992 teal gree womens camisole (or whatever that thing was) is a legitimate badass.......don't kid yourself. No one knows what level of depravity someone like that is capable of.
We rolled off the line 15 seconds behind the 3/4's and we all proceeded to get our spin on. I bobbled a few times, and found myself chasing Ryan, Rafal, and TJ Davis. Once we hit the long tarmac section my 42/18 gearing kicked in. I was feeling good so I just tried to stay on top of my gearing. I caught Ryan on the tarmac and he was right on my wheel for all of the next lap. Every time I though I had a gap, there he was, looking as angry as someone that wears lingerie can look.
Then I caught Schmidty right as we were rolling down the hill towards the tarmac. He took a big pull and it was all I could do to stay spun up on his wheel. That would prove to be all that I needed to get a gap on the Rhino. I was able to stay out of his clutches for the rest of the day to make it a two fer weekend. Great times.
Tip of the Hat to Troy, Schmidty, and all of the Midwest Wheel Masters for putting it together.
Then it was time to shuffle up Hooligan hill to contribute to the delinquency of the hooligans.
Fans are the best part of CX racing, and Lincoln has some pretty awesome fans.

Late Edit: Dang! my legs hurt from the SS race. I haven't had to stand on the pedals like that in quite a while