Icecross

So this weekend featured some amazing weather for the first full weekend in November. Kristie and I decided to head north on Friday. A few weeks ago I decided I would sell my Iceman entry and I'm glad I did. Saturday morning I woke up and was not in the mood to fight 4500 other racers in Kalkaska. A few of the 'cross crew did fight it out, with Osgood snagging 9th, Mike Seaman 16th, Weinert and Stang winning, and Wiz managing a top 15. Huge props to Jake the Snake for a hard fought 7th place. If I'm correct he hasn't touched his mtb since last year's Iceman.

As for me, I managed a nice ride in the rolling hills around Boyne, East Jordan, and Boyne Mountain. It was so warm I ended up removing my knee warmers and wishing I hadn't worn such a warm LS jersey. What a great day for a ride...

So this morning Kristie and I headed to Timber Ridge to partake in the first Icecross race. Rumors were abound with who would or wouldn't be racing today, with a few big name pros dropped in there. Turnout was on the small side, at least in the A's, with only seven racers taking to the line. Temps were in the 60's at the start making it feel like a nice September day, not an Icecross after all.

I managed to hole shot but overcooked the first turn, leading everyone a tad wide and having fun in the sand by the tape. The first lap was pretty fast and the techincal, super-prestige racecourse was a blast. Going into the second lap I was second by a few meters to the eventual winner. The gap was a bit too much and I ended up being overtaken by Derek Prechtel and a Wolverine on a 29'er. There I sat in fourth place with a monster gap to fifth and a small gap up to the group of three in front.

It is ironic in a way that before the race Mike and I were talking about how hard it can be to close small gaps when you're already on the rivet. What seems like a small 5 second gap is an eternity on a course as fast as Icecross. After 51 minutes I rolled across the line in fourth, taking a nice hand up of a local Oatmeal beverage on the last lap... FINALLY I felt like I could push on the pedals. Average speed on the day was just over 16 mph.

Also, Osgood managed to squeeze out a fourth place in a pretty competitive B-field. Good to see Jamie Rytlewski making the jump up to the B's in his first season of 'cross. Jake's sweet steel Pinarallo was at the park but was left on the rack after a KILLER effort on Saturday!