Suson Park Bubba #5

This last weekend's race at Suson Park was held at a venue I'd never seen, but as it was located near the Meremac River in South County, there was a high likelihood of elevation gain and the course certainly delivered in that regard. The race began through a gradual up and down section that twisted its way through the barriers before a high speed gravel descent. Off the line, I found myself behind some slower traffic and I fought my way to the front group by the descent. Sitting in the top five, I watched Grrman take an early flyer while four of us chased at about ten seconds. We had it almost closed down through the bottom section of the course that had a bit of of mud. He still dangled a few second up when we all hit the uphill barrier/run up. On the run up, my weakness showed its face as I was passed by the rest of the chase and Grrman extended his lead. Definitely need to work on the running skills before Hermann. Immediately after the heart rate maximizing run up, we were dumped onto a grinding pavement climb that brought us back to the start/finish. I got back on the chase on the climb and settled in. Once we hit the bottom section of the course, a Big Shark rider came flying past me attempting to bridge and I stuck to his wheel looking for a free ride to the front. Unfortunately, he wiped out when we were within a few seconds of catching Grrman and I was left in between for the rest of the lap. Once again, my running failed me on the run up and I was passed by a group of two who rode right up to Grrman and began to slowly pull away from him. I continued to chase, but was making up little ground for most of the race and began running out of steam with two to go. The repeated run ups were murdering my legs and for some reason it never occurred to me to shift out of my 46. It's probably a good thing that thought never entered my head because on my final ascent of the finishing climb, the Big Shark rider rocketed out of the group behind me and nearly overtook me. I had had at least fifteen seconds on the bottom of the course so I never thought they'd catch me in half a lap, but this was a motivated individual. Thankfully I held him off by half a wheel for fourth place. I'm satisfied to have moved up a place from last week although I'm still way off first place. At least the improvement is there and will hopefully continue for the next four weeks that close out the season. We've got a big double header this weekend complete with a night race and standard Sunday race at Creve Couer. Word is Dave Towle is coming to announce the night race and the cash purse should bring some talent. Also, word on the street is that a new and improved flyover will make another appearance. I can't wait. As a wise teammate commented recently, CX is life...