I take Cyclocross very seriously...

...well, not that seriously.

We wrapped up our 2009 Victor Cross Series yesterday with Spooky Cross and based on the number of smiles I think everyone who attended had a great time. The FREE costume race with $50 prizes for the best male & female costumes was a hit.

Michelle and I working the team tactics in the costume race

After the kid’s and the costume races concluded we got down to the business of serious racing. The cross course was turning into a slippery mess as the day warmed into the mid 40s after being frozen solid and snow-covered all week. We would finally get our chance to race in challenging conditions.

I quickly dropped a few lbs for the Masters race

Ready, set, go. I got a whopping 10 minutes to warm-up but I felt surprisingly good while doing a few short bursts so when Peet-o yelled GO I jumped out to second wheel behind Piker who was long overdue to unleash his fury in a cross race this year. It was obvious early on that Piker was not interested in tactics and just planned on riding off the front but when Buchko came by me on the pavement I jumped on his wheel and stayed there for the entire first lap. But then the big guy decided to shake me off and got about 10 yards on the bike path section heading into the twisty chicanes and in my effort to close the gap I lost my front wheel in the greasy grass-mud combo and went down in a splat. After a quick remount the gap was to Buchko was bigger but I managed to stay ahead of the chasers. The beauty of cross is that you can often see your opponents throughout the lap as the course winds back on itself. As I kept my foot on the gas I could see the gap to Buchko increase, and then decrease several times over the remainder of the race. Meanwhile, 4th and 5th place were working together to chase me down and were close enough that I could feel them all of the time. Smooth through the barriers, watch the corners and go hard on the straights…repeat several times. I crossed the line in third place, a drooling, muddy mess and I can’t wait to do it all over again next weekend.

The "Narrows" section was a little trecherous in the mud

Huge thanks to Brandon and Sarah for the great pics!