Crossing

It was the first cyclocross race of the season for me today. The event was held at Theo Wirth and it was a tough course. About a mile and a half long, there was a log jump, a tricky downhill, a monster stair climb and several other U-turns including one at the bottom of a hill. There was only one set of man-made barriers. The race went pretty well for me. At the start, Rob Belz got around me but I was ahead of Mark Kowali, John Stamm, Dan Meyer, Todd Trembley and a bunch of other guys. Things were going well until I dropped my chain on about the third of seven laps. Kowali had already passed me becuase he's a tough racer. While I was trying to get my chain back on, Gary Friedell, Stamm, Trembley and a few others passed me. I was able to catch and pass about three or four of those riders but Friedell, Stamm and Trembley stayed in front. All in all it was a good effort even though I got lapped by the top three guys in 45+ including Paul McKinney, Greg Goblirsch and Dag Selander. The total miles including warm-up, race and cool-down were 16. Lori Belz did the women's Cat 4 race and did pretty well. Rob Belz had a decent race finishing fairly high in the standings. Other Loons racing included Dan Cleary and Don Schmeicel in the Cat 3 and Chad Macy and Kent Throlson in the 1 - 2. Framebuilders Curt Goodrich and Erik Noreen were at the race as was newly hired Team Radio Schack rider Bjorn Selander. Thanks to Tommy Bengel for the hand-ups. I grabbed the water bottle on every lap.