Kaitai 2, Me 1

Last night the Katai took care of me. After last week I did some recabling, cleaning, and put on a rear wheel that wasn't missing spokes. I also swapped the front and rear tires around. I now had a IRC Mythos front and a skinny (and super thin) Schwalbe out back. You would think that you would want a wider rear due to weight distribution, but putting a skinnier rear seemed to work much better last night. I also had a small cheering section this week which was cool.

Lined up with a lot more racers last night. Great weather and a dry course must of brought out everyone. Free beer helped too. We start and I get my usual non-aggressive start position. Logan leads out on the cross bike. I was top 12 I think. Once to the single track I started to make some time. The first lap I mainly just followed the wheel in front, but first time into the field I made some passes. Back to single track for more follow the leader. At this point Bob Crow was just in front of me and we caught a Mesa rider was we hit the field again. I made an effort to get around the Mesa rider and he challenged me a little as we headed back into the singletrack. I managed to just get in front of him and take the line away. I didn't cut him off per say but I didn't just cleared him into the corner. Eventually Bob got around him and we took off to chase down the next victim. I asked if he wanted by and he said nope. He faded some and I chased down the two riders in front of me. When I got to the two ahead, they had become three. Seagul, Dogfish, ICCC, and then me. I asked he was the leader and told nope one guy was out front. The Seagul rider was fading and we slowed as we road the first quarter of the course. Lying fourth I didn't think I could pass all 3, but about the time I was thinking about trying Mark from ICCC said we needed to get moving. He and the Dogfish rider passed the Seagul before the creek. I got around the Seagul rider after the creek. By that point I was dropped my Mark and the Dogfish rider. I just kept going and rolled home fourth.

So just to recap. Last week I crashed twice, broke 4 spokes, got lapped and was at the bottom of the score sheet. This week the Kaitai took care of me and I scored a top five. Guess a little TLC helps and it is feeling better after getting some trail time. Wednesday also renergized the fun I have at cyclocross.

Afterwards I enjoyed some great food and cold beer and picked up a great new T-shirt from Dogfish. If you haven't made it out to these races you are missing out. Even spectators are welcome to food and beverage.