I was surprised to find Saturday's venue basically dry, albeit soft, with the exception of a section with standing water. I was the first to pre-ride this section & at the time it was just clear water that had collected in a low spot. Well...get a herd of bikes churning through this portion, lap after lap, and you've got a bona fide mud hole. It got deeper & deeper, expanded, lengthened, got soupier, sloppier, & so on & so on.
This was the 3rd annual Spooky. I've been to all three now. I can't even begin to describe how fun, challenging, & brutal these courses are that Tony & JJ dream up. I was hooked after the first year & they just keep changing it up every year, even each day, to make it better & more painful than the last.
Spooky '07 - must have deleted my blog post from this historic year, here's last year's post: Spooky '08.
These are not CX courses for the faint of heart. These are not your traditional CX courses. There's plenty of traditional stuff but its everything else that makes it fun & different. Gnarly climbs, long run ups, & fast descents to name a few. All this takes place on the grounds of the Living History Farm. I call this weekend an adventure, I'm always surprised by what Tony cooks up. Show up here expecting anything, but expect it to be a challenge for sure & above all FUN!
This is the only race weekend that I ever double up. Two reasons...payout is good & I'm a fool.
Saturday 45+ - 1st
Saturday 1/2/3's - 4th
Sunday Masters Open (35+ I guess you'd call it) - 1st
Sunday 1/2/3's - 4th
Saturday's 1/2/3 - I had 3rd going for me but was hunted down by a young local, Nate Kullbom (think that's how you spell it). He bobbled on the first lap & worked his butt off to get back in it the whole race. Nice work dude. Sunday's 1/2/3 - this was my fourth race of the weekend. Yet another new course full of torturous bits. All the racing was catching up with me. I still had some juice left in the tank but the power switched off with 2 to go. I had a persistent Cam (the IA version) stalking me. I found just enough to to stay ahead of him. I'm going to go out on a limb here...those final 3 laps of Saturday's 1/2/3 were the deepest I have ever dug in a CX race. When I crossed the line I rolled to a stop, utterly exhausted, slightly shaking. Man that was fun!?
Oh yeah, the poop suit. Warming up for the Masters on Sunday I noticed I had dog poop on my right glove. How did I know it was dog crap? I've got 2 dogs & it looked & smelled like dog crap. More importantly, I'm a poop magnet, if there's errant poop in a park or at a race venue I'll find it. I'm not exaggerating. So I figured I must have rolled through it & it kicked up onto my glove. End of story...nope. First lap of the Masters race I get to the run-up, shoulder my bike & start running, I get to the top, set my bike down, jump on & notice that I've got a big smear of crap on my right sleeve just above the wrist. So not only did I find the poop, but I had a good amount on the underside of my downtube. By the end of the race it was off my downtube & dried on my sleeve. Oh well:) Another day in the life of a poop magnet.
Tony & JJ - well done, thank you! I'll be back & I'll always spread the word.
BTW - JJ was recently crowned age group World Triathlon Champion over in Australia. Damn, that's huge!
IA CX scene: big & getting bigger. Vibe was awesome. Paul great to see you as always, Gilly see you at Jingle CX.
Craigio - thanks for the lift!
Topeka Saturday night & KC Sunday(or is it Leavenworth?) next weeeknd.
Pictures later if I see any.
I'm cooked.
later,
TK
2 comments:
Good job this weekend. Sorry that I missed Sunday-I was too pooped after 3 weekends in a row. Sounds like the course was more my style.
I'm moving back to Omaha.
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