The Dragon's Tooth

Good weekend. Jingle Cross will probably always be on my calendar. Its got sort of a circus or carnival-like atmosphere. The setting...picture a beat down county fair grounds, complete with all the out-dated buildings & livestock barns. The course actually runs you through a few of these buildings with Christmas lights & holiday music playing. The signature element to this venue is a 200' tall hillside called "Mt. Krumpet". This "mountain" has a particularly steep bit that you run-up one day & the next day you blaze down it, either way its an effort to get to the top just to fly back down it again. A new edition this year was a pin-wheel feature, spiral in to the middle & then spiral right back out again. Oddly enough this was the 2nd race I've done this year that had this element. All in all, there is quite a bit going on. Possibly too much.

Myself, Craig, Ryan, & Tom from our team all converged on Iowa City from Lincoln, Atlantic, IA & KC respectively for the weekend.

Saturday Cat 2/3 race - perfect weather, 40's no wind. Tom & myself were front row due to early registration prowess. Being up front here is key because there is always a section early on that bottle-necks. Last year it was a short narrow run-up, this year it was a greasy off camber section. Get to these sections up front & you can almost control your own destiny. Speedster, and all around good guy Chris Wallace is lined up right behind me. He's the guy to watch. As I stated, its a race to the greasy off camber section. A long straight, a few curves, a double barrier & we hit the decisive section. Its Tom, someone I can't remember, me, & whatever is going on behind us. I slide out but catch myself, guy I can't remember slips, Tom is off, & Chris Wallace squeeks by me chasing Tom. About 5 or 6 of us make the break while behind us...who knows what's going on when the other 70+ dudes hit that section. Tom is flying & Chris & myself are chasing as hard as we can. After the first lap its just down to Tom up the road, Chris hunting him down & myself chasing, but not gaining, on either of them. 4th place hovers 30-40 seconds behind for the rest of the event. Chris did catch Tom, but Tom put in a great effort & was a solid 2nd with myself in 3rd 30 seconds back (I'm guessing on that split). Ryan rolled in 20th through the carnage in the rear & Craigio finished 33rd in a big 35+ field. Highlight of my race...while climbing & suffering up Mt. Krumpet, Kurt Wallace (Chris's Dad) yells something about the Grateful Dead at me, brought a big smile to my face.

Sunday Cat 2/3 - Tom & I in the front row again, Wallace behind me. Oh yeah...it snowed 2 inches & the course is a disaster. I've got one toe spike in, I've named it the Dragon's Tooth. Why? The other 3 sockets are stripped out, I'm just trying to get to the end of the year with these shoes. Today's race is to a short, steep, muddy run-up followed by a super-greasy side hill section that can't be ridden only awkwardly traversed on foot. Tom & I hit the base of today's decisive section section first & second, we come out of it top five. For the next 45 minutes we are slipping & sliding around the course grinding our brake pads down, chains full of grit, can't clip in a bunch of the time just trying to hold our positions at the front of the race. I took 3 bikes because my pedals were so packed with mud, grass, & snow. The beautiful thing was that Thad Neil was pitting for me & every time I dumped off a trashed bike, I would come around for another change he would have my bike perfectly washed & ready to go thanks to a hose in the pit. Now that's service, thanks Thad & Craig! BTW-my Grifo's weren't loving the mud, but my Mud 2's on the pit bike were eating it up. Tire pressure...33 all around, tubulars & clinchers. Wallace ended up 2nd, Tom 4th, myself 6th. Local Lincoln pal Nate Woodman grabbed 5th, he was having a good day in the mud, he's a mudder. All my brake pads need replacing & a chain, but otherwise it was all good.

A million other things happened but I can't go on forever.

Hey Wallace...good luck in Portland!

See everyone at Nationals.

TK