EVER THE BRIDESMAID PART 1

Or, The Team Polska Cyclocross Classic 2007 edition.

I am compelled to start this post by stating that this course is my new all-time favorite. Huge props go out to Majiec and Marcin Nowak and the rest of the Polska team for putting together what I think could easily be a championship course. They worked on course design for nearly a year and it shows; great use of terrain, off cambers, singletrack and of course The Hill. If you were there, you know why I capped that.

To set the stage, it was yet another beautiful fall day in Wisco. Frost on the pumpkins cool at the start but it warmed up nicely as the day wore on. Polska fired up the grills early to give you a a little incentive to finish as fast as possible with the scent of kielbasa wafting over the course (ok, so it was hot dogs, but so what, it was still sausage. Sort of.). I'd have liked maybe a high school drum corps pounding out some rhythm to get it all started but that would probably be too much to ask (for now).

Now on to the One Fragmented Sentence Race Report. Riders ready? Go! pound it up the hill into the singletrack, sitting maybe 8th, wind around, hit The Hill, pass like most of the riders in front of me (Lewis, you should have ridden it), sit in for around 4th, watch Tim T. get a gap, pass a tiring "quit yer cryin'- it won't do you no good" Russell, work, work, work to catch Tim, Chris nearly catches me, flubs a dismount and pinwheels over the barriers, I roll in for a nice 2nd. Man, that felt good. My legs felt super all race and I feel like I just pounded up the hill. For my efforts, I went home with a 6 pack, a pair of Twin Six socks, a water bottle and a tube. Sweet. That's more shwag than the rest of the season combined.

What changed to get to be the maiden of honor instead of just a run-of-the-mill bridesmaid? Easy answer: on Wednesday, I realized that a couple of things had happened to affect my riding. 1) My cleats had slipped all the forward so I was pedaling with my toes. 2) My seat had slipped back 1 1/2 cm. 3) My seat post had slipped down about 5mm. That's a whole lot of power robbing misadjustments. Add 'em up and the effect, I think, was pretty major.

Allow me to digress (it's my blog after all). In talking with Tim and Steve from Hollander, we think that Wisco CX could be much, much better. Why can't we bring a little Belgian flavor to the events? A little extra advertising, some better awards ceremonies for the riders, some networking to get more people out... Cross is a great spectator sport and we really never get anyone other than racers and spouses out for the events. We're not going to get non-bike people out for races in the middle of nowhere, but we could definitely bring 'em out for the Milwaukee races. Anywho, we have some things to work on for next year to step the series up a notch or two.