SAY IT WITH ME:

Pathetic. \pə-ˈthe-tik\ : pitifully inferior or inadequate.

I officially sucked today. J.P. Ericsson and the Brazen Hussies put together a difficult race course and I was not up to the challenge. There were some cool sections and some not-so-cool sections, but all in it was a good, hard course with plenty for everyone. I liked: the whoop-d-doos behind the bleachers, the fast two pack of barriers on the south side, the track and the beer hall. I disliked: the run up, the stair/gravel section and the nasty downhill, off camber turn into the tree.

The day started cold and overcast, but the sun came out part way through our race to warm things up a bit. The course was bone dry, and the fast sections were very fast. The corners were no problem with my switch of rear tires to a Michelin Mud2 from a Jet. I had a problem on half a dozen occasions that I have not experienced before: slipping in my rear cassette. It definitely kept me out of a fourth place finish. That's something I'll have to look into and soon. The cassette body on my Krsyriums has at lest 20k on it so I wouldn't be surprised if it was wearing out.

It has been brought to my attention that the "one fragmented sentence race report" title is actually a misnomer and that what it really is a long "one run on sentence race report". My bad. So, without further ado, the 1ROSRR: On the line we wait, shivering until the plastic horn signals go, hit the barriers in 5th behind Lewis, pass Lewis, keep on with Tim, Chris and the re-emerged Tom Hooyer, Chris punches it, gaps form, I'm riding Tom's wheel when he decides enough is enough and guns it to catch Tim and Chris, I get passed by ?, now 5th, about to pass back, cassette slip, then again, Tom takes Tim last lap, I roll in for 5th. Back to my usual spot in the scheme of things....

With motivation to train hard starting to wane with the short days, I feel like I need to conserve rather than put out; until I started racing 'cross, the fall months were for going bike path easy and doing night rides. Intensity, inschmensity. With 'cross, I have to keep on it, keep up the intensity and work even harder. A tough thing to work out sometimes.

Congratulations to Chris, Tim and Tom for great finishes and many thanks, once again, to J.P. Ericsson and the Brazen Hussies for all of their time and effort to make racing 'cross in Wisconsin something to remember.