Well it's been awhile since the last post simply because of lack of motivation and frustration on my part to even talk about the last race impartially. The Cross race was a ton of fun however, on a very sweet course in Traverse City. This was the very course that the promoters were attempting to get CX nats at in January 2012 and I must say it would of been a great course for it. I knew T.C. was bidding for the Nats, but I had no clue we were going to race it! They are talking about getting some sort of larger scale race to put on there next season, so keep your fingers crossed! The race itself went well with me taking the hole shot and growing the gap until the end. John C. had a good battle going for about half the race and took 2nd! A good weekend indeed for the team. Todd raced the same weekend down in Ann Arbor coming in with a solid 6th place in the B riding a mtb, which is no small task against cx bikes.
Now for Iceman. I've never been this pumped and nervous to the point of not sleeping much for a race. There's just something about this race! The mass amount of people starting, the speed and just the.. well, amount of people who might be fit on a road bike in August aren't as fit by November and to put it bluntly can't ride mt. bikes. It's scary! Plain and simple. I can't and don't want to go into too much, but there are some things that need to change in the pro start. I can honestly say that I've done short tracks with over 100 starters and CX nationals in a full ice storm with just as many starters and not once was I scared of being taken out. For one reason and one reason only a majority of those called to the front aren't what most would call mountain bikers. I would never ever line up at front of a crit even if I was asked too. I know for a fact I would cause a crash. Guess I think differently than the road clan. I get the whole sponsorship thing and getting the proper marketing value, but when it starts to make things dangerous it just shouldn't happen.
Enough negativity already! We as a team had some serious potential to be up there and that just didn't happen this weekend. The first one to go was John getting crashed out by one of those not so smooth guys I was talking about. I was next just simply lacking proper fitness to be in the front ten guys, instead hanging out in 15th or 20th doing mini sprints out of every corner... OUCH! By the time I got to the half way point I was ready to start drinking! I was frustrated and bonked. My head was out of it, so I pulled the plug and went home. Not something I like to do at all. Mike had the best day coming in 21st after being up there for most of the race he got some serious chain suck from all the mud. Being on the podium in the past he wasn't a happy camper, but that's what happens in the mud, things go wrong. Captain Todd had an excellent ride coming in 64th in what I think is first Pro Iceman.. I could be wrong there. I should probably look it up before I go throwing it out there.
So that brings us to what I refer to as drinking season, which has come early this year! It's my little thing that usually would start after cyclocross nationals in mid December and last through New Years Eve. After 5 straight years of racing 10-11 months a year and only taking about 3 weeks off the bike a year I've decided to take a little more time off the bike and make myself want it again. I struggled this season making a big (but very positive) move this year, which in turn added new stress to my body that wasn't there before. In translation I'm slower now than I have been in years and that gets in your head!!!!!! So it's time to play for a good chunk of the winter, find some new interests, go back so some of old ones (snowboarding), wait until I can't stand not riding!
We've got some things in the works here, so I'll keep everyone updated from time to time on team happenings.
For your viewing pleasure... The Cry Baby Classic
P.S. If you're interested in sponsoring our team in 2011 please give us a call for details at:
(231) 487-1999
Thanks for reading,
Chad
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