Tanner was racing near the front again in the B race but a couple of small mistakes relegated him to 4th. He fully expects to win now and anything less than that is a bit disappointing for him. However, he's now a marked man and the other top guys work really hard to get away from him. He's going to have to earn his next win. There won't be any easy ones. The highlight of the day for me is still watching him race. It's good to be a Dad.
It was great to see MK get a solid 4th today. I think it was the change to the black skinsuit.
Sohmy rode well for a top 10 result.
Ali and Bart were off the front again.
Kevin superman'ed his way to a solid 8th for his best result of the season.
Team Rico didn't have his best day, but still finished 6th.
The course had really dried out by the time we raced, but the run up was still nice and slippery.
The lead 3 hit the run up early in the race.
Got to love cross, going hard and bleeding.
The horse race track was a mud bog for the earlier races but a nice tacky single track developed for the A's.
As always, the best part of cross is the people. The Porcupine Compound had Ali and Mona Vie for neighbors. I love the racing part of cross, but it's the people I see each week that keeps me coming back.
Dr X inspired me to offer some mid-season equipment observations. The Easton EC90 Areo have been a very good investment. They are light, stiff and have super smooth bearings. The Challenge Grifo tubulars have proven to be a very good all around tire. I've used them in all but one race with disappointment. I broke out the Dugas Rhinos for the Heber mud and they rule. I had to sell one of my children to afford them (no deals on these) but hopefully, they'll get me through muddy races for a few seasons. My backup wheels continue to be Mud2's on clinchers with Stan's rim strips. No problems at all with them. Stan's sealant is in all my tubulars and clinchers and many, many goat heads later, they all still hold air.
After years of internal debate, I went to a single chainring set up about 3 weeks ago. I'm sold. Removing any worries about chainring shifts in nice.
The S-Works Carbon Tricross is worth every penny. Light, solid, fast and comfortable. With the Easton wheels, SRAM force drive train, standard Avid shorty brakes and mid-level Egg Beater pedals, my 58cm checks in at 16.1 pounds on the digital scale. Throw on some road tires and it's the second best road bike I've ever had just behind my Tarmac.
Still trying to find the ultimate brake pads that will work well on carbon and aluminum. The first pair of cork pads I had lasted about 45 minutes in the muddy Draper race. I now have some Swiss Stops. They work much better but are a little grippe at times and too expensive.
I'm looking forward to Wheeler this week. A 5 minute drive to race is much better than an hour.
1 comment:
Good racing. It is hard to suffer alone in the cave. Krafty was due for some good luck to go with his good fitness
Those Swiss-Stop pads are painfully expensive, but I think they work pretty well. I just replaced the rear set after letting them get down to the nubbins.
You're making me think about the single ring.
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