Celebrating Other's Success - Brighton XC

One thing about cycling I have found interesting is, even though it is sometimes a very selfish sport as you use most of your free time for training, spend tons of cash on things you don't really need, but have to have, It is also very rewarding when someone else find success. Maybe it's just respect for one another. Maybe its that you know how hard someone works based on how hard you work. Maybe it's just celebrating the human spirit. When you can see an average Joe do something challenging and finally reach successat the top, it is rewarding to me. Success means different things for all of us. But when you can finish first at something that is always success in my book. Congrats to Jeff Poirier for his first Expert MTB Win today. You took off and never looked back! Well deserved!

The mountain bike season is almost over. Bitter sweet that it has to end, but that just means that cyclocross is ready to begin! Brighton was another step closer, and for the race, I wanted to make sure I did better than 6th place today to help get a step closer to sealing up my 2nd overall in the series. Other than that, it was a really hard training day in my prep for CX.

 I was feeling good at the start but tired from the weeks worth of work on the bike. From the line I tried to get on Jeff's wheel but he was way to strong. So I settled into 2nd and began to pull away from the field. I was never feeling like I was going to hard, but was able to apply the watts to the pedals. It continued like this until the end of lap 3. By this time I hopped on the Rob Selle train and had him pull me around. But Rob was starting to fatigue as was I. Then Brad Lako, JTP, and Todd Freidinger caught me. Not a big deal. And I figured it would be good to ride as a group. Then my chain fell off on a climb. Not good. It would not catch back on. I had to get off the bike and let everyone go by. Damn it! I then had to run the hill. Fix the chain and get back on. As I began to pedal, I could see my train leave the depot. I lit a few matches right away to catch back on, but would just dangle off the back. At the beginning of the 4th lap, I was almost spent and decided to make sure I just salvaged my race with a 4th place to get as many points as possible. I still had a good lap, and felt good coming home. I am one step closer to 2nd overall. And another podium!

Great job to Brad and Todd, you guys had one hell of a race together. And Brad way to get back in the game! There is still opportunities out there!

JTP - Nice job. Way to cross back over to the dirt world again and stand on the box in the toughest class outside of the Elites.

Shawn Schaffert - What can I say. Your riding awesome. You almost broke yourself in half in a road bike crash last week, and you came by me like I was standing still. Keep it up!

Ruby tomorrow.... What am I getting myself into. To be continued....