Big Wheel Racing

January 6, 2008–Here we are 6 days into the new year and recovery from the holidays is just getting started, but it is time to take out the cross bike for one more race to wrap up the season. The Grote Prijs race is the traditional year end race in Kansas City (at least for the past 3-4 years). Last year this race was brutally cold, this year was to be different–temps in the low 50s!! Great, but for the fact that all the snow/ice that had been around was now pure mud–this race turned into an epic mudfest and was generally an all around great way to finish the season with some classic cyclocross racing conditions (note I said generally, more on that below).

In typical fashion for me I got to the start line late, but snuck into the third row behind a couple of folks I planned to try to grab a wheel from (approx. 38-40 riders)—the start takes you down a long straight pea-gravel straightaway and into a big parking lot for an uphill paved sprint then into the grass (mud). I was in the top 12 by the time we hit the grass and within the first lap pulled into 6-7th and up to 4th-5th by lap 2. By this time we were pretty well covered in mud and the field had spread out pretty widely with a group of two guys chasing me while I tried to reel in the top guys, but was unable to do so. The final couple of laps turned into a cat-mouse game with the two guys chasing me–they would reel me in and then I would pull away–I tried to use some of the super long/thick mud bogs as a chance to really put the hammer down and pedal through to pick up some time from them and it seemed to work. I backed off a tad on the final lap figuring if they caught me that they’d be gassed and I would then be able to put in an attack and would be more rested. The plan worked to perfection (almost) as we were neck in neck entering the final obstacles and all three jumped on our bikes for the pea-gravel/pavement finish stretch.

Thats when the wheels came off……my bike which had been flawless (despite all the mud) suddenly didn’t want to shift. Once it did, the rear cassette decided it didn’t know what gear it wanted to be in and I suddenly found myself behind two guys sprinting away as my bike started pumping out skipping noises and generally letting me get about 40% of my power (what was left of it) to the road. Needless to say, I lost the sprint before it started. Final placing “should have been” around 6th or 7th, but in fine form and tradition (started at last year’s GP race) the race officials once again placed lapped riders directly behind the podium finishers in the final standings. This blows my mind as they did it last year as well and despite complaints this year they did it again so go figure….Not sure what my “official” placing was, but my real finish was around 7th–right about what seems to have been the norm for me the past few races.

Here’s to a successful season supported by our great sponsors and hoping for a successful 2008/09 campaign that hopefully includes Big Wheel Racing team members racing at the National Championships!!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 5:38 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.