Creve Couer Double Header

So I finally won a race. It's been over two years and the relief is indescribable. Always close, but never close enough, everything came together for me on Saturday night.

I spent the day at the shop, low on motivation and sort of feigning excitement with my coworkers, but secretly dreading what I knew would be a brutal evening. My mood lightened up a bit upon reaching the venue, it was motivating to see multiple Santas racing the C race and some weirdo in a Luchador mask. Really, there were costumes aplenty and the atmosphere was raging, the kind of party that only happens at a cross race. So I dressed, embrocated and spun on the trainer watching the race. When the course cleared, I did a couple warmup laps to get a feel for the course and lined up on the front with a couple teammates. I didn't hear the whistle, but managed to slot into decent position as Big Ring Murphy went flying off for the hole shot. I sat about fifth wheel and tried to keep it cool and bide my time while attempting to stay warm in the twenty degree weather. Our group detached from the front pretty quickly and we weaved our way through a remarkably twisty and entertaining course. When we hit the sand pit, the rider in front of me ate it hard and I moved around him into fourth place. Going into lap two, Grrman tried to sneak by Murphy in a 180 and took himself down, leaving three of us. Armstead, the rider pulling the train, started to get a bit of a gap and as he had been riding strong the last few weeks, I came around Murphy to try and make sure he didn't get too far off. From there, things got better and better. I sat on for half a lap and Grrman caught us. Armstead eventually pulled off forcing me to the front and I somehow got a fifteen second gap almost immediately. I led for a while and then crashed in the sand, allowing him back on. Slowly, we dropped Grrman and slowly, I started pulling away. He yo-yoed with me for a bit, but with two to go, I went full gas and came home about fifteen seconds clear. It felt amazing and I felt like I was in some sort of trance the whole time. I had no idea who was cheering (except for Lizz), but the tunnel of noise was deafening and made the experience much more special. I can't describe how good it felt to finally win one of these things and the fact that it had the most spectators of any race so far made it even better. Big thanks to all who supported me after the accident and huge thanks to Lizz, Margaret and everyone else who cheered me on through the night.



Sunday was a mystery to me as I had never done back to back cross before, but I had a bit of a confidence boost and no pressure so I was ready for whatever the day had. the race started well with me in fourth wheel and moving up to second by the end of the first lap. I was riding with Armstead and we had a gap on the field. I felt good and the legs were there and I even dared to think I might be able to do it again. Unfortunately, the preceding evening's jarring of my handlebars allowed my stem faceplate to loosen just enough to cause problems. My bars slipped a bit and it got worse and worse through the next lap, making it nearly impossible to corner and forcing me to let a gap go. I had to stop and pit and lost about seven places and about a minute in the process. The rest of the race was a furious chase and I eventually got back up to third. I feel like I was closing on second, but I ran out of laps and had to concede at the end. Still, I can only be satisfied with another podium and the way the legs responded after the previous night's effort.
I feel like I'm back to where I was before the accident and I hope I can keep these legs around for the next two weeks. We'll soon find out, but cross is coming to a close and it's been a wild and beautiful ride so far, let's see where the next two weeks take us...