That course was freakin’ brutal.

Got second in my category, and fifth overall in my field. We won’t discuss how many riders there were in my field, nor their ages and gender, but there were more than a mere five riders.

Somehow, I actually look like I’m enjoying myself:

How many laps to go? Oh, only one?

And the obligatory glamour shot:

Photos by Mama T.

Perfect weather, nearly 300 riders, pretty confident in results, everyone seemed happy, Porcupine for late lunch/early dinner afterwards, now at home and on my ass on the couch.

Thinking about throwing a leg over the top tube of the RSCX tomorrow morning at the Cutthroat Cross in West Valley.

I’m beat. Think I’ll go to bed early tonight.

Back to Wheeler Farm on Saturday … the weather is supposed to be clear and cool, with temps in the low-to-mid 50s. Should be a perfectly wonderful day for a race.

Categories/Times:

1:30 PM (60 Minutes)

• Men A (Pro, Semi-pro, Expert, Cat 1, Cat 2,)
• Masters Men A 35+ (Fast Old Guys [as opposed to Fat Old Guys, like Flahute]. You know who you are, and so do we. You have been racing your bike for years!)

12:30 PM (45 Minutes)

• Women A
• Masters Men B 35+
• Single Speed (do we need to explain?)

11:45 AM (20 minutes) - ONLY $8.00!!!

• Women C (First Season Cross Racers)
• Junior Men 10-14 *
• Junior Women 10-14 *
• Junior 9 & under

10:45 AM (45 Minutes)

• Men B
• Master Men 45+ Open

9:30 AM (40 Minutes)

Woke up Saturday morning to clear, blue, perfect skies in Salt Lake City … and drove into pea-soup thick fog in Heber.

The course was muddy, thick, sticky, peanut-butter mud, but not the kind of peanut butter that Marit would want to use to make cookies.

Of course, the conditions wouldn’t last, and by the time the A-race rolled around, a definite line of packed, tacky mud had formed that the faster riders could use to maintain speed … Ethan’s daddy and Bart dicing for 1st and 2nd (respectively) in the A race, with Reed Wycoff pulling closer and closer for third; the A-Train beat his sponsor (and series organizer) to the line to take 1st in the 35+ A race. Kathy Sherwin kicked butt in the women’s A race, and then followed that with a respectable showing in the men’s race immediately after.

No hitches today that I recall; from an organizational perspective, the race went flawlessly.

Then off to Mama T’s for lasagna, wine (less the two bottles which I had failed to fully secure in my backpack, that shattered on impact with the road as I pulled the bag from the back seat to head inside), good friends (Jennie and mom, Dayna, Reed, Darrell, Nancy, Art and Rachel, Chris and Kathy, amongst others), good conversation, and … ummm … wind. Lots of wind. Lots of loud wind. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a house that was that windy.

Especially not in mixed company.

Got home about 8:00-ish, and promptly fell asleep on the couch about 9:00. Got up at 10:30 and crawled into bed. Woke up about 4:30 this morning … got up an puttered about for about 30 minutes before saying “screw it, I’m not getting up at 4:30 on a Sunday morning” and going back to bed. Finally woke up for real about 12:30 or so.

I guess I was tired.

For race #7, the Utah Cyclocross Series returns to the Wasatch County Fairgrounds, in Heber City, Utah … home of mud (either dried, lumpy and hard, or soupy, sticky, and deep) and grass and horse poop!

Jon is promising a longer course, and the weather we’ve had the past few days out to make for a more challenging course as well; possibly snow, possibly mud if the snow has melted.

Mount Heber should still be included, and hopefully more twisty turns leading into the finish area …

We had a scheduling conflict at Fort Buenaventura with some Annual shooting event. We have run races in the past with the Mountain Men shooting around us, but the Championships event is way larger and Matt and Jon felt it would not be safe.

So back to Weber County Fairgrounds it is, on November 22nd. The County even promised that the Portajohns would be picked up, cleaned, and ready to go, so we don’t have to traipse halfway across the fairgrounds.

We will be sure to announce this at the next 2 races as well.

Categories/Times:

1:30 PM (60 Minutes)

• Men A (Pro, Semi-pro, Expert, Cat 1, Cat 2,)
• Masters Men A 35+ (Fast Old Guys [as opposed to Fat Old Guys, like Flahute]. You know who you are, and so do we. You have been racing your bike for years!)

12:30 PM (45 Minutes)

• Women A
• Masters Men B 35+
• Single Speed (do we need to explain?)

11:45 AM (20 minutes) - ONLY $8.00!!!

• Women C (First Season Cross Racers)
• Junior Men 10-14 *
• Junior Women 10-14 *
• Junior 9 & under

* We found that Junior riders aged 15-18 would rather try and beat up on Mom and Dad!!!

10:45 AM (45 Minutes)

• Men B
• Master Men 45+ Open

9:30 AM (40 Minutes)

• Men C (First Timers, Entry Level Racers, Cat 5, Beginner)
• Master 55+ Open
• Women B (Beginner, Cat 4, Cat 5)

This is the John McCain that I once respected, and for whom in years past, I would have considered voting … well , except for the Sarah Palin comments in the middle of the speech. If this had been the John McCain that had been campaigning for the past several months, I feel the election would have much, much closer.

Welcome back, John.

And for those who missed President-elect Barack Obama’s victory speech last night, as I did:

Growing up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I never thought an African American would ever be elected to the highest office in the land. And yet, over the past year, I have been amazed at how much it appears that Americans are becoming more color-blind … and it was my honor and privilege to vote for Barack Obama.

Living in Utah, I was on the losing side in the state … our 5 Electoral College votes are going to John McCain; but the Democratic Party has made some inroads in Utah. In 2004, nearly 75% of Utahns voted to re-elect George Bush. In 2008, 62% of Utahns voted for John McCain, and 34% voted, not only for a Democrat, but an African American Democrat. Democrats changed the balance of power of the Salt Lake County Council. A Democrat unseated the sitting Republican Speaker of the House in the State Legislature.

A shift is coming, and one can only hope and pray that it is, and continues to be, for the better.

Now that the election is over, I have to figure out what I’m going to do to occupy my geek time and come up with new blog topics.

Maybe I’ll start writing about cycling and skiing again … wouldn’t that be an interesting twist?

Man, am I tired … and I didn’t even race this weekend!

The double weekend started on Saturday at Rocky Mountain Raceway, and Marek Shon (of Cyclesmith) designed an incredibly difficult course including sections of the motocross course. Steep run up (dubbed The Pride Killer) leading into a hairpin descent under a bridge into a section of whoops (dubbed Biff Hill), before heading out into a long gravel section in the parking lot.

As is typical of the courses at RMR, riders either loved it, or hated it … but I think most loved it; especially since it wasn’t the typical roadie course that RMR has been known for in the past.

Sunday was a long Tour de Wheeler Farm … cold and damp, but not raining, for the first two races; perfect riding conditions, although as is typical of Wheeler races, there were many flat tires. Big props to Mama T for finishing on the same lap as the winner for the first time since she started racing CX last year. She’s getting stronger and faster, and I predict that she’ll be dicing it up with the leaders next season.

The rain started coming down hard after the juniors race, and the passenger window of the Trooper slipped the track, and dropped DEEP inside the door.

The longer laps helped with officiating … I think we only missed one rider yesterday (since corrected), and I don’t think we missed anyone today. I felt good about the results I turned in. The only confusion now may come because some numbers are being recycled after racers are upgrading. Apparently, we had a rider finish in 20th place yesterday … while he was in Denver. Whoops!

Tore down the course; raked out the worst of the ruts on the sweeper downhill leading towards the pits, and headed to Hoppers for late lunch and a beer.

Now home, stiff, sore, and tired … time to head off to bed to get started on this next week.