Bamacross finale

Sloppy turns.

Yesterday was the Bamacross finale. I wasn't sure what to expect about the course, but I saw where some one had posted "flat and no mud". One of those things was true. The course was flat, but there was a lot of mud and deep grass that soaked up so much of your power. My favorite thing about the course was all the twists and turns. The more turns the better I say.

 Off the start I got out front and tried to stay smooth and smart to keep up the pace.  On the second or third lap I found myself catching the masters 45+, then  35+. I took some beer ups and some bacon treat ups and kept pushing as hard as I could.  That was pretty much that. All my trainer hours and commuting and riding really have payed off this year, the extra effort has been worth it. I ended up first in SS for the day and second for the season in SS. So after the race I just relaxed and had a good time with my friends. The Barton's where nice enough come out and run the grill. They always cook up something good. watching my friends race was fun too. Alan ended up first in the 3s and I could tell he wanted it before they even started. Kyle got first in the 4 race which was cool to see because he has also been working hard this year. So then we were off to the Back Forty brewery for the award after party.

The 2nd and 3rd place trophies I made.

This year I helped make the second and third place trophies for the series. In the left side of the picture are second place trophies which are cast bronze and aluminum waffles that I made at school. I had hoped to make more cast waffles, but the fact that pouring metal isn't a one man job I had to rely on other people and it just didn't work out. So I made the barriers that you see on the right. I hope everyone enjoys them. I got one of the waffles, but I gave it to the owner of Back Forty for hooking up Bamacross all year. The guys at the brewery were really nice and opened the whole place for us to explore. I think everyone really enjoyed it and they have some really good brews too... Really liked the Kudzu Porter and Naked Pig.

Back Forty Brewery.

 In summation, I had a really great season of racing cyclocross. Second in SS, cat 3 state champ, cating up to the 1/2s and 5th in SS at my first USGP race. Cyclocross is the best and I hope to keep racing for a long time. My big goal for this year is USGP Lousiville single speed. I would love podium there. But until then it's time to start putting in miles on the mountain bike. Southern Cross is next!

 Southern CX Training

Today I decided to go out to Oak Mountain State Park to figure out a good course to train for the Southern CX Race. After looking at Alan Barton's Strava from last years race I knew this race was more about elevation gain than distance. I also have to give Lee Neal, George Mattison and others a shout out because they used a variation of this to train the last few years. Oak Mountain has some good climbs for cx, especially Pevine road and the boy scout road climb. The red trail fire road would also be great, but it is hard to ride on a cross bike without getting a flat. Anyway, here is basically one lap of what I plan to do for the next few free Sundays before the race. One lap of Southern cx training. I had to work today otherwise I would have done this twice. Now all there is left to do ride and find the right single speed gear ratio. I'm excited to train for and race this race, all I hear are good things.

Well I decided to give blogging a try. I will manly be talking about racing on here, but I will more than likely post about other things like music and art. Anyway, stay tuned for posts on the last race of the Bamacross series. Suspected dirt crit style course and then party down at the Back Forty brewery.