Bubba #8 Queeny Park

Sunday's race returned to Queeny Park, home of many a CX battle over the years for the final round before next week's bonanza in Hermann. It had snowed and rained overnight and the forecast called for an inch of accumulation by day's end. It promised to be perfect cross weather after a season of dry courses.

The precipitation was not quite as epic as some had hoped, but it was still enough to make things interesting with greasy corners everywhere and a few choice mud holes. My race went pretty well, I got into a good position toward the front for the first lap when a 360 rider pulling our group went down hard in a hairpin, I took to the front and got a bit of a gap. With the whole race ahead of me, I rode hard but not ridiculously so and tried to keep some distance between myself and the chasers. On the second lap, Daniel Miller bridged up to me on one of the two climbs and sat in for the next lap and a half. After that, we traded pulls and crashes throughout the rest of the race and held or extended our gap over third place. The corners were so slippery that it was impossible to get away from each other for too long and our two man break stuck together coming into the last lap. He gapped me a bit on the run up and seemed to accelerate to try and make it stick. I got back on the wheel on the long pavement drag and tried to plan how I would come around at the finish, all the while in a bit of oxygen debt. Coming off the pavement, Miller crashed in the first turn, taking me down with him and then crashed again in the second turn before the barriers. I had taken a second longer to get back on my bike and was able to ride around him. I punched it for the rest of the lap and managed to hold him off to the line. I got to put my hands in the air again and enjoy another win, this time in conditions that I had waited for all year. Good stuff. Miller rode a great race and it was fun duking it out with him. Next week is shaping up to be a good battle for the state race with three or four riders pretty evenly match coming into the little big show.


I stuck around and watched DB post a rock solid second place in the A race, his form is coming around right on schedule. After the race, the team and friends had our now requisite post race meal at the pub and recounted the day's exploits over some libations. This season has one upped last year in every way and I am truly excited that cross has gone to the level it has in St. Louis. The camaraderie is unmatched and it really is exciting to see so many people into it, spectators, racers and all.