Jingle Cross Rock
From: Sara Brokaw
Date: Nov 26, 2007 9:09 AM
Rolled down to the Sunshine State (Iowa) with my better half for one
last weekend of psychocross racing. Arrived late thurs evening, so
headed out for the first arctic ride of the season in the very bright
sunshine of the middle midwest…2.5 hrs with a starting temp of 31
degrees F, return 34 degrees F…rode by a dam, some fossils, saw a
bald eagle & some chickens on some perfect rolling io-way-an roads.
No real get up & go which seems to have left at Milaca, but it was
nice to be out riding around in some new terrain.
Last Friday’s physical implosion kept me away from states, so had
basically no expectations when I lined up (with BWARC in rodent kit)
with a gaggle of ladies for the Womens intermediate race (40 min).
Decent start, but by the time we hit the climb on the course I knew
there was nothing more than tempo riding happening. With a bunch of
locals (h-wood/velobella/ridley/ND) making the trip down there,
cheering sections were everywhere on the course which made it fun.
Nothing could really match the cheering of Dan & Rich, however. I
believe it was Dan at ine point who yelled, “put on a clinic through
the barriers!” Threw the arms up across the finish line because it
felt like the right thing to do for a 13th place out of 15 starters
(two racers were DQ’d for some reason). Nice riding by Lynne with I
believe a 12/20 in her beginner race!
We had a fun afternoon watching 4 of our local women have a go at some
superfasties from River City cycles (Portland OR) in the UCI race.
I’m aiming to partcipiate in this race next year. Chris Horner & Todd
Wells turned out for the mens UCI race where Bjorn Selander picked up
a nice 3rd.
Found some $3.50 pints o’ guinness Saturday night celebration, but it
turned out to be celebration of the completion of the season as there
was no racing, only spectating (and yelling!) for me on
Sunday…physically finished. Hoping next year to do a few things
differently to avoid such physical implosion…stretched the season 2
weeks longer this year compared to last, so I think a few changes will
make J-cross a possibility next year. Picked up some schwag which
covered probably 3/4 of the entry fees.
Thanks to DanW for getting the cx clinics rolling early in the season
& to my fellow rodent psychocross racers for fun times at the clinics
& races….good times.
Thanks for reading!
Sara