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Returned to Birmingham again this year for the 2nd annual Pepper Place Crit. This year it was a bit different since my races were running in the dark.

In the cat 3 crit, I felt really good and generally could move up pretty easily. I jumped off the front with 15 minutes to go and I was away for about 3 laps, first alone then with another. In the end we were caught, I ended up 11th.

(Andrea got this one shot from a dark part of the course. This shot was taken right as I was being absorbed by the field. We didn’t take too many photos since my race was during her warmup and her race was during my getting ready for my second race.)

In the 123 race, I also felt good. It was fast but at least the whole field knows how to corner. I bridged to a break of 5 or 6 about half way in, but we were pulled back. At 3 to go, I bridged to a chase group of 2, with 3 up the road. They weren’t working well (they attacked out of the turn 4 instead of working together), and we were reabsorbed with 1 to go. With the big ramp up of speed on the final lap, I finished just off the back of the field in 29th.

Tomorrow morning Andrea and I plan were going join a group ride here to ride with Floyd Landis, but it ended up being canceled (or at least delayed) so we just drove back to Memphis this morning.

I felt tired coming into this weekend, but it ended up working out really well. A great way to cap off a season. I plan to start cyclocross again in early November. For now, I will run, ride my bike for fun, and move into my house. That should make October a good month. Tonight is the open of the registration for Kansas City cyclocross nats. I will pull the trigger on the Masters 30-34 field again tonight. Last year I signed up late and had a bad grid spot. This year, the grid spots are “drawn by lots, which is determined by order of registration”. I am not sure what that means since it is saying two things at once, but I won’t take the chance.