Boss Cross #1

The weather on Sunday was supposed to be in the low 70's and sunny, so I wasn't too excited about the persistent warmth. On the way up to the race the sky clouded up and wind was gusting in the 20's to 30's. A park in Platte City was the race venue for this revival of the Boss Cross series. The new venue was rumored to be hilly, but upon arrival that rumor looked to be very true. The pre-ride on the course was eye opening, this was going to be hard... 3-4 rough rutty sections that warranted 3 inch suspension and 2.2 tires, hills that were waiting to suck every ounce of snap from my legs, turns littered with gravel, and of course that wind was starting to howl out of the west. There were a lot of technical turns too which looked fun but somebody was going down. As much as I wanted to run the Dugasts, I opted out seeing all those rough ruts and gnarly rocky sections. Michie Mud clinchers with 32 lbs front and 35 rear will be my weapon of choice today. In the Masters race that I missed most of, Jeff's Challenge Grifo blew out the sidewall like so many others that I've read about. I'm staying away from those clinchers, might try a tubie.

Cat 4 Race
Matt-Cat, Brent, Scott, and one of my team-mates Brian were in this race with nearly 50 starters. Ready Go! and field flies up the paved start to the holeshot and into the worst rutty section of the course. People are bouncing all over and at the first turn, bump, bump, boom. Brian gets tangled up with Scott, goes over the bars, and hits the dirt. His bars were completely turned down, shifters full of mud and he limped back to the parking lot. As we were digging for an allen to fix the bars and scraping out the dirt, POW! I turn to look and a few turns later, Matt has blown a tire. Apparently, someone's tire got into his and rubbed for several seconds before exploding. The Hutchinson Piranha had blown out the sidewall across a 5 inch section. No spare wheel, but a generous onlooker offered one up at the pit and Matt was back in the race.

Matt Cat after the holeshot and ruts

By this time, Matt was getting lapped by the leaders, but got in the chase group and started picking off the other lapped riders and ended up in 22nd. Brent on the other hand, in his own massochistic way, opted for the single front 42 chainring and a 25 on the rear. Nothing too eventful for the 13th place finisher, except the continuous frying and burning of his legs as he pushed that gear up those hills. He's going back to the double, not a bad choice.

Brent in the Pain Cave

Scott leading the chase

Cat3/4 Race
The warmup was pretty weak, but still got 20 minutes on the trainer with a few laps on the course. Several accelerations up the monster hill reaffirmed the pain that was about to ensue. Lined up in the front row this time, early bird gets the good start. The chief ref gave her usual spiel and then a very unsuspecting Ready GO!! WTF I said as I immediately punched it and sped toward the holeshot in about 8th place. I bomb it through the rough section and make up several places, around the first corner easily and up the first steep hill, hit the short uphill road section and grab a wheel. There's a lot of jockeying back and forth on the first part of the first lap. We head up the 2nd short upclimb, and people start spinning out and dismounting. I manage to stay on the bike and pedal through them amidst the traffic at a near standstill.

Brendan and I jockeying up the big hill

Through the rocky off-camber section where the line changed every lap cuz all the big rocks kept moving around. By the 2nd lap, we've pretty much got the top 10 out front. I'm sitting on Brendan's wheel and we go through a downhill turn to an off-camber section and he goes down in front of me, I take the section high and go past him into 3rd. Gun it up the next hill by the pits and onto the long daddy hill and through the backside of the course. There was one barrier section with triples and as I approach it, I'm stuck in my left pedal, finally get out at the last second and bounce my bike off the first barrier and manage to get through the boards and back into my pedals, wooo. Brendan and I battle back and forth for a lap or two and I notice that he's slowing a bit on the hills, so next time he goes around me I just sit on his wheel for the next full lap and let him pull me into the wind and up those hills. When we go up the hill by the start/finish he dismounts and starts to run, time to make my move...I gun it and blast past him up the road and don't let up for at least half a lap. On the long uphill, directly into the wind, I also bury myself to get enough separation that I can maintain. Another couple laps and I've managed to keep them all back and nobody is close enough to challenge for my spot. First and second were far enough ahead I knew I couldn't close the gap on them without taking significant risks, so I took the bell lap at a reasonable pace and held onto 3rd. All's good on the podium. Team X grabs 1st, 2nd, and 4th... gotta keep an eye out for those guys. Pallito is looking good and the young Chris is screamin' fast. A big thanks to Jeremy Haynes for designing this challenging course and putting on a stellar event, can't wait for December in Parkville for Boss Cross #2.

Jeff Chasing downPlumer in the Masters