Nowak Report: Chicago Cross Cup Round 3

Hey all!
  Here is the continuing saga of the ABD 'crossers.

Sunday was the 3rd stop in the CCC series.  Beverly Vee-Pac was the sponser and they laid out a challenging yet fun course at the Dan Ryan Woods on 95th and Western.  There was a a LOT of flat, but what was not flat was either straight up or straight down.  With the overnight freeze, the ground slowly became slick and turns became increasing harder.  There was one run-up right after the start that was about 50 meters long followed by a twisting descent.  Then about 3/4 of the way there was a nice sustained climb that again twisted back upon itself and went back up, followed by a FAST downhill.

This was a much better race for me personally.  With the schedule change I ended up doing the 40+ first and getting 10th.  Ran into one small bad patch and lost 3 spots with a fall and then the recovery from it, but finished strong to put me into the top 10 for the series (getting a call up baby!!!).  Then I jumped into the 30+ right after and rode strongly again, dying at the end and getting passed by 3 riders to end 14th.

Gina Kenny was out battling for the W 123 and looked like she was having a good day.  However, I want to mention our new convert (the reason for the subject).

Ben Demong came out and did his first 'cross race ever.  He raced the 30+ with me and watching him it was like a fish taking to water!  While he admitted to it being hard, falling a few times, and just hurting for 45 minutes, he couldn't stop smiling and talking about how much fun he was having.

It's great to see someone coming out with a bit of apprehension, and then leaving completely stoked!  For those of you in this same mindset, I would say "JUST DO IT!!!"

No updates as of now on Team standings, but I have got to believe that we are still in the top 10.  For me, I think it would be sweet if we could continue to be in the top 10 as the numbers of races pales compared to Pony Shop, Verdigris, SRAM, and some of the other "big number" teams.  I guess it just shows that we have quality and not necessarily quantity.

Next stop is Sun. 10/18 at the Carpentersville Carpenter Park Octoberfest.  Rumor has it that there will be some whoops (for reference look up Azencross on Google) as well as the famous sand pit.

Then our race is the week after!  Looking forward to it.

Hope to see more ABD'ers at Carpentersville. 

Thanks for reading,
Jim