Alpenrose - Race Report from the Masterb..'s (snicker snicker)

For some reason I can never really remember what happens in cross races, unless I get a moment to 'rest' during the aftermath of a crash. So my cross race recollections have precious little detail...

It all started with a lousy call up place...Best part of the call up was seeing Hugh two riders over...rad. I looked behind and saw maybe thirty or so riders maybe forty total..and the rest- about 90 in front of me. Combined with the uphill start, I was pretty sure I could kiss a top twenty goodbye. From the whistle I nailed the clip but almost put my foot down because everyone else around me was so damn slow getting going. It was worse than the light at SE Grand and Madison in the morning commute. Once we were up and running, I started taking names. By the time we hit the gravel left-hander at the top of the velodrome, I think I was somewhere around forty..I believe there was a crash just after me sometime, so a separation happened where I was essentially last in line for a while. I caught up to Chris who looked really strong. I got a good outside corner after the bottom of the hill and jammed past Chris and a couple of others who were clogging up the road and Chris yelled 'Go Juan, Go! Go!'- awesome. I managed to keep closing in on the stragglers off the front, while still being passed by some seriously strong riders who I couldn't even catch as they went by. At some point, on the off-camber up to the muddy section past the parking lot someone went down in front of me and I lost contact with what I think was the last of the top 25 or so. As a consequence I feel like I spent the majority of the time passing or being passed, with almost no time with anyone else to pace...Or maybe it was the tunnel vision. From there it was just press on and not get swallowed up by anyone else. Finished 31st.