state champs

Nys wins Igorre Spain

the worlds best traveled to Spain for UCI World Cup # 7. from the report it looked to be a great race today. Wellens had a good day and finshed 2nd with Klaas Vantornout rounding out the top 3. Gerben De Knegt was 7th. a great finish for the dutchman. Vanthourenhout was just inside the top 10 for 9th. on the first lap a large crash held back some other big favorites including world champion Vervecken who finished 11th.

this january is going to be interesting at the worlds. a lot can happen in a big race like that and there are so many great racers that could take advantage of a mistake. example, last year Nys crashes on the last lap and Vervecken wins. not to take anything away from the big V but with Nys known for his amazing consistancy he was the favorite on the day. nice hat sven.

i don't think temps in Spain were anything like lower Michigan today. we awoke to chilly air around the 20 degree mark. i knew i had to pack right today. i had to stop by and pick up Ken and then of course we had to get coffee for the drive. the temp was climbing but not very fast and was hovering around the lower 20's the entire drive. the scone and coffee was good as we drove through snow squalls.

we sipped coffees and warmed our bodies before we ventured out in the fridged tempetures. ken's race was at 12:30 and i went off at 1:30. we pulled in around 10:50ish to a full parking lot. wow was there going to be a good turnout today? even with super cold temps it looked as though people were out spectating on the cold sunday.

i think ken's race was good. and i think the killer B's were good. i'm sure the women were good. i didn't watch any of them. i was hiding in the confines of the warm auto. sooner or later i had to start getting dressed. it took me 25 min to get all my shit together, organized in the front seat and on. damn it was cold out there. i had the heat ripping and the seat warmers were kicking on 5. finally i got everything on and i ventured out to find a spot to warm up. wiz was in the same boat as me and was headed for the side of the buidling that had little wind. i had 4 layers on while i was spinning. the instant foot warmers were amazing. 10 min into the warm up i'm getting a little too warm. i didn't want to be on the line with wet base layers. i slowed it way down and just killed time and monitored the body temp so i didn't overload. so i needed to see what this course was about. the masters were finished. warm up lap time.

pretty cool. a few greasy sections but everything else was as good as it could be for the waterford raceway. one of my favorite things that i miss about cross when its over is hearing robert say (at every race) "30 sec and the fun begins, on the whistle guys." when that is said its time to enter race mode. i had another great start. i was right in there. the air was biting at my skin but in about another 2 min it would totally go un noticed. it was throttle on around the paved section into the first portion of grass. the usual groups had formed. today we had tucker, card, weinert, wiz, foshag, jer, saari, myself, todd frerichs and some west michigan rider. (forgot his name). i hope i didn't miss anyone. cane creekers began to pull away like normal. wiz was in there. i was with todd, saari and the west coast guy. for some reason i feel like there was someone else in there. oh well. anyways we are rocking along and i'm hurting from the cold going in my lungs. we josseled back and forth for a bit. cane creekers lengthening the gap. if i remember correctly this is what i can recelect happening. we catch tucker. yea thats right, its kind of coming back to me. saari accelerates. todd is riding awesome. very savvy rider. we shed the west coast guy and tucker. now we are alone. foshag and weinert become detached from the blue train. card drops the hammer. wiz chases. jer is trying to jump the gap. todd and i look up and see yellow purple with two blue jerseys. i forgot we passed tucker so i thought it was foshag and tucker with saari. we were making awesome time on them. todd informs me its not tucker up there its weinert and foshag! oh shit! just before the long pavement section at the start todd says he is going to pull really hard in hopes we can make the juncture. he burries it and i suck wheel like a whore. just before the grass at the top i come around and take my turn. obviously i'm feeling just a bit better through this section since i didn't go red just then. i tried to keep the pace decent but give todd a chance to recover. going down into the muddy section with the off camber i can see those guys. we gott'em! well not just yet. todd is hurting and can't stay on. i think he blew a fuel line on that straight away. damn! so i'm with foshag and weinert. yea i'm hurting, foshag was doing a little better but jeffs vitals were maxing out. i knew what was happening but i felt bad for jeff. he let us go and foshag and i continued on. we had a nice gap on the guys behind and as we rode further we knew we wern't getting 4th. rob made me feel really comfortable on his wheel so i wouldn't blow. i was just so happy to be there and to have ridden with jeff a bit. it really gave me confidence. i was feeling better and stayed right with rob. so racing is racing and it doesn't matter if your with a good friend or not, its coming down to the business end and i have to sprint with my friend. i know my chances are not good and ron was yelling at me to make a move before the end. this is for the podium spot that i've been just outside of the entire season. rob wasn't about to give me any slack either. its racing and i love this shit! he ripped it so fast out of the last corner i was left laughing at the gap. thanks for the great race rob. if it wasn't for todd pulling on the pavement i would have never been with rob. that was an awesome race. i finished 6th again. but for me being with foshag and jeff was my state championship. i'm very happy. card deserves the title the most. he rode the best year of cross i've ever seen. congrats to him. its a little sad that today was it. happy birthday robert linden and a huge thanks for the hard work you do each year. you don't get enough credit. we are very lucky to have these races. i wish i could do more.

i've added one last race into the schedule before nationals. ohio states. it will be perfect. Italy world cup race # 8 next weekend!