Best of Times/Worst of Times

Whitmore's Landscape Two Day UCI Cross Race

What a freakin' awesome weekend. It was so great to see an event of this caliber unfold on Long Island. Compared to the other big races along the East Coast, the crowds were way down (especially on Sunday). But that just made for a more intimate experience, especially in the parking lot where on Saturday Katie Compton parked next to me and on Sunday when the Kona boys were just a few cars down. We were all just kind of hanging out together simply because there weren't too many people to hang out with.

Obviously having so many big names there was extraordinary. Erwin Vervecken, Ryan Trebon, Barry Wicks, Tim Johnson, and Jesse Anthony made other national champions and immensely talented riders look like the JV team.

For the women is was the Katie Compton show. What a HUGE engine on that rider. Lyne Bessette just couldn't stay with her. I hiked back into the woods to see those two going through some of the really tough soft, sandy turns that just ate me up earlier each day. Both had so much power to get through, but clearly Compton simply had more watts and would gain a little bit on each turn.

I've left any residual comments about my racing until the end on purpose. That course just killed me each day. It didn't help that I wasn't feeling great on the weekend either (with a low place on Saturday and a DNF/get sick debacle on Sunday). Nonetheless I learned a lot about myself, my training, and what I need to work on. Most of all I still had the best time. Really--THE BEST TIME! It all just kind of worked out well each day. I'd get my sucky performance over with early and then have the rest of the day to enjoy, mingle, and learn a few things from those who know how to do it. Awesome!

But two final shout outs of great importance:

1) Meg and JD rock the house big time. These two are fantastic people who I got to know a bit more this weekend at our dinner table Saturday night. That was a pleasure. And to Meg, who took the time to take pathetic me out on the course and drill home the best lines to take in all the tough sections. Thank you, Meg. I will learn!

2) My brother-in-law Todd, who flew out here from Cali and kicked some ass out on a tough course on a single-speed (expertly thrown together in true ghetto style, I might add, the night before). He torn apart the one other single-speeder in the field, and it was great sharing a course with him and seeing him ride off my wheel!

Looks like Gloucester next weekend....