Diamond Blackfan Cross

Well, got me a cross learnin'. Race both Cat 4 and 3/4. Cat 4 was first, got the whole shot and rode comfortably at the front for most of first lap. Let a SKC rider come around me and was doing fine sitting on his wheel. He was braking a bit too much for me in some of the corners so I tried to move past him on one of the corners. He came back across and hit my front wheel. Wasn't intentional or anything like that, but it happened. I went down, lost maybe 2 spots and got back on. About 30 feet later my front wheel slid out in a corner and I was down again! That one really screwed with my momentum and I lost some more spots. Had a hard time getting back in rhythem after that and knew I wouldn't be placing. Couple tough sections on the course, but it was pretty good overall. Was getting fairly winded and when last lap came up decided to just try and maintain due to the fact I had a harder race later that day. Ended up coming in 10th place out of a lot......apparently almost 60 racers in Cat 4! Can't complain too much there - only 2nd cross race ever.

Jane raced the cat 4 women and did fairly well also. Out of 20 she managed another 5th place and got a small schwag payout. Congrats to Joe Anderson who took 3rd in the men's 35+ cat 4. Pretty much a solid race overall. He was looking really fast and smooth early in that race. Didn't get to see the last few laps of his race.

Britton went to the firing range in men's open - racing with a whole mess of fast riders - including multiple world champion and overall bike racing bad ass Steve Tilford.

Dan Oldehoeft, myself, steve v. and joe a. lined up in the 3/4. Another healthy showing of almost 40. This race shot off fast. It was immediately apparent this was going to be painful. It was pretty hot too. 85 degrees. Dan got settled in near 6th place and I was maybe 11-12. Pretty much it only went backwards from there. I passed a few but mostly got passed. The course at this time was nice and packed down, faster through most sections. Ended limping home in 18th place. Still not bad. Dan however, managed to pull out 3rd place. Great cyclocrosser and last years KS cat 4 champ.

Thanks to everyone who helped put on this event! Cyclocross is amazing in KC and not many cities in the Midwest can do it as well as KC almost every weekend.