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Utah Cyclocross #5 |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Dave Leikam
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Tuesday, 30 October 2007 |
Utah Cyclocross #5
Sunday October 21, 2007
Wheeler Historic Farm
Murray, Utah
 | | Photo by Bob Saffell |
What a difference a day makes. The weather was mostly clear and there was a thin layer of snow on the ground Sunday morning. This was shaping up to be a good day. I arrived early to watch the C race where Troy Nye is shaking things up. After a 5th place finish on Saturday, T was anxious to lay it all out and go for the win. He moved to the front early and stayed there for most of the race. It ended with ……well, I’ll let him finish the story in his race report.
 | | click to enlarge |
The 35+ B race went off at about 10:30 as usual with a field of 22 at the line. I got my call up and off we went. Right from the start, I know I didn’t have any snap in my legs. I was hopeful that the others were also feeling ungood.
 | | click to enlarge |
The first lap developed in the usual way with me in about 6th or 7th position but I didn’t really improve things from there. I passed a few and got passed by others. But the long back stretch that favored me last year was not helpful this year. I was nearly spun out on the first lap with the single ring set up I’m running. No worries Big Al, this is still the only way to go. I got dumped by some of the double ring riders by the end of the long straight and caught them again in the twisty stuff.
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By the third lap things had shaken out well and I was in 6th position and closing in on 5th but there were two or three riders on my tail. Sometime in the middle of the race, I hooked a toe or caught a wheel on the barrier and pulled a sweet cartwheel bike toss. It must have looked bad, ‘cause the guy behind me asked at least three times if I was OK. I thought so, but I wasn’t going to stop and take stock of my bits and pieces. There was no real pain and the bike was working so I kept going.
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Not long after my spectacle, I lost another place and got dropped in the long back straight. On the last lap I had a good gap to the next rider behind so naturally I got stupid. I blew a short, rideable hill and had to dismount. I did so…..s-l-o-w-l-y.. and what the heck? I got caught going into the slick sidehill sections and I knew there would be a sprint as soon as we got onto the road.
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I was still out front and gunned it as I hit the road but I blew the shift and lost the sprint for 7th place. Geez that sucked but congrats to Matt who played it to perfection and congrats to the other four racers who had not finished ahead of me all season, especially Mark who finished in third place. Nice job. My anger will sustain me going into the next race. So I finished 8th as there were also the usual 3 fast guys also in front of me. New UC racer Kirk Turner raced in the A race on Sunday so I have some photos of him too.
We are off this weekend while the real racers head over to Louisville for the USGP. Next up is Heber again on November 3rd. Till then….whatever….
Check out the results at Utahcyclocross.com.
Thanks for reading.
Dave
Photos by: Christian Leikam |
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