Holidays and resolutions

I have been slacking off on the blog lately but without good reason.  It was a great holiday season with plenty of family time but not as much relaxing as there was still 6 weeks of training left before the final races of the season are over.  Hopefully they will move Nationals back to December next year as most of the working/family cx'ers would like to have the Christmas season off.

Penelope got a new kitchen for Christmas but the most fun part was the box that I got to make a fort out of.  A door and a window and she loved it.  The basement has been a great play area since we have not put furniture down there yet.  She even has her Cozy Coupe down there.

I was hoping to put more of a dent into my collection this year but alas, it is skinsuit season and it will have to wait until February when the racing is done.  I have a bit of work to do come February.  We did drink one of the Rogue VooDoo beers at the New Year party so the photo isn't quite up to date.

My gift to Annie was tickets to Elf at the Ordway so Grandma Linda took Penny and we spent the night in downtown St. Paul.  It really is my favorite of the Twin Cities downtown areas.  We had frites and beers at the Amsterdam and headed to the show.

Last weekend my parents came up at the last minute so Annie and I could go to Chicago the the New Years Resolution CX races that were held at a Hilton Golf Course resort.  I needed to get some racing in before Nationals and it was perfect with the course being out the hotel doors so Annie could come down 10 minutes before the start and take my clothes and head back up to the room after the race.

I raced at 9 am both days in the 30+ masters race. The first day was dry and hard. There was no snow and the ground was frozen but pretty grippy except for a couple corners.  I made the lead group of 3 and then with 3 to go it was 2 of us.  I think he dropped his chain at one point so I put my head down and held it to the line.  My legs were cramping but it was good to get that first effort in my legs.

Day 1, sun out but not for long

The elite race in the afternoon is when the weather moved in.  The snow started coming down like crazy and was making a mess.  I ended up manning the pit for my teammates, Matt and Isaac.  Luckily they were without incident.

After waking up at 2:30 am to a fire alarm, we went outside to see the snow gone and the temp up a bit.  By 3:30 were back in bed for a shortened night.  The start for the 8 am race was going to be slick.  I rode a lap at 7:30 and the melted snow had made a skating rink out of the start road.  They salted and by the time we started it was pretty much melted.  I was a bit tentative at the start hoping that the others would not try to be heros and take us all out on an ice patch.  I was dangling off the lead 3 for the first half of the race because I was being overly cautious on the corners.  They would all sit up on the start/finish straight and with 2 to go I was on them and put down my attack.  One guy came with me and we were alone.  I hit the barriers just before the finish in the lead and knew it was gonna be a sprint.  I put my head down and knowing I am a terrible sprinter, I waited for him to come around but it never happened.  I took the win for a second day in a row.

Sprint to the line
lapped guy to the left, yellow helmet in second place

much colder which also made the podium beer nice and cold

This post comes from the basement of the Moran's, who are wonderful hosts, after my preride at Nationals in Verona, WI.  It is going to be a messy one tomorrow.  Hopefully the temps stay above 32 otherwise it will be a nasty/dangerous race if it freezes up.