Jingle Cross Day 2- PAY DAY

After my last post Brian, Jesse and myself headed out for some dinner. I was told the place to go for authentic pizza was Paglia's in downtown Iowa City. The rumors were true and the pizza was some of the best I've ever had. We saw quit a few other racers coming in as we were finishing up. Word travels fast when it's something good to be had.

The 3 of us rolled back to the hotel to watch a little college ball and re-pin numbers for Sunday's race. The forecast was calling for true cross conditions of high 20's and blowing snow. Here's a picture out the hotel window in the morning.

Day 2 of racing was a new course that runs backwards up Mount Krumpet letting us ride up the back side and descend the really steep section. I don't know what people were complaining about, I was having a blast ripping down the hill barely touching the brakes. The Grinch was even having fun on the decent, check out the end of the video.

Did a couple warm up laps with Brian and found the conditions to be Belgium worthy with slip-n-slide mud, off camber corners, spectators cheering in the worst of conditions and plenty of running. I was pumped and felt like I was able to ride just about everything. The only problem before the start was trying to stay warm and dry. You would think starting in the 3rd row on the far left side would be a pretty good spot right? I was thinking thinking this until the guy in front of me started at about 4 mph and left the entire field pass us! Upon getting around him I was sprinting behind two guys who were trying to lock handlebars and headbutting each other. Needless to say the start was a little sketch in the back. I worked my way up into the top 20 after the first barrier and kept the gas on until Mount Krumpet for the long sloppy run. Running seems to be my weakness this year as I watched the group of 5 I was with gap me by a little more every lap. Closing the gap started to get harder and harder until I couldn't do it anymore. I got passed and gaped by Kyle J. on the run up on my last lap before getting pulled. At first I didn't worry about it knowing I was riding better everywhere else on the course until I looked back and saw the leader Todd Wells was not that far behind. I sprinted through the start/finish area hoping to catch Kyle and praying they would let me go for one more lap to pass Kyle back, but I got pulled with 2 to go. I was pretty bummed because I still felt good and was having a blast . Here's a couple post race shots.

It wasn't until Brian and myself were cleaned up and ready to leave that I saw Kyle again. He was also about to leave and mentioned I had made the payout. At first I thought he was messing with me until he said I was 24th. Let's just say I was a little excited and probably looked like a fool as I was jumping around in the parking lot. My first elite payout! Brian had to hear about it for the next 2 hours in the car too.

I'm still pretty pumped from yesterdays race and have some new motivation to train hard for the next 2 weeks till nationals. This race was just what I needed after a couple disappointing races. I'll post more pictures as I find them from the race. Next stop Nationals!

Congtrats to Brian for being selected for Euro Cross Camp. Help him out if you can as his trip is going to be pretty spendy.