#82: Columbia Cross #4.
Raced in the sub-freezing conditions.. Ended up 3rd after battling (Edward) Barrett Krei most of the race…
The course today added back some road sections and a nasty long un-even run-up. My start was okay and I was up to third place after the first part of the first lap chasing the eventual winner (Michael Viatial) and Brett Billings. Michael just took off from the start and was quickly so far ahead we only saw him occasionally when the course doubled back on itself. For the first 2-3 laps, it was Barrett and Brett fighting it out… By the 4th lap (maybe 3rd) it was just Barrett and me. I had some issue with unclipping going into the run-up two times at the base (before the barrier). I think the issue was trying to unclip while my foot was at a weird angle. I was able to fight back to the group both times, but it took a lot of out of me. Barrett was on a mountain bike, so the different strengths of the particular bikes played out over the race, but ultimately he just rode a stronger race and got up the run-up a lot faster than I did. I was only able to close the gap some on the long grass sections after the start/finish line and ended up 10-15 seconds behind him at the end. The rest of the race was much further back.
After this race, I should continue to move up the TBRA ranking for CX3. I moved up to 6th place (from 7th) and should gain another place or two after today and next Saturday (if I race Chattanooga). There are two more races in Knoxville, that I know I won’t do, so we’ll see how that turns out.
As for the Columbia series, I raced all four races and got a 4th (6 starters), 6th (8), 3rd (8), and 3rd (8). I think I improved over the course of the series and laid down some good fitness for the upcoming road season. Now I just need to get back to riding the miles again and I will be all set for April racing.
