Heber CX

Tanner and I made it up to the Heber Fair Grounds today to race cyclocross. The much anticipated snow storm didn't materialize and conditions were actually pretty dry. However, it was cold and a stiff wind made it a hard day.

Tanner made his Dad proud again with his second consecutive win. He had to work a little harder for this one. T got the hole shot but proceeded to take a header into the first barrier section. He fell back about 10 or more spots but kept his cool and fought back to the leaders in a couple of laps. With 4 to go, he got a gap on his two companions and held on for the win. Flat courses have never been Tanner's strength, so today's win was very satisfying for him.

The course was really good and improved from last year. Jon figured out how to turn a big pile of dirt into a good run-up that made things interesting. He also added some more grass but kept the unique passage through the animal stables.

Here's Tanner on the run-up after he re-joined the leaders.
Tanner getting ready for the victory salute (sorry Bob).

The team had a mixed day. Chris won the A's and Dave was a solid 4th. However, Eric got taken out by a crash in front of him and rolled a tire. He had to put the tire back on the rim and nurse it around to the pits and lost a ton of time.


Here's Chris getting what little draft you can from Ali.

My day went pretty good. I got off to a good start but could only stay with McKone and Sam for a while. MK was putting the hurt on for the first few laps. I was solo 3rd for a few laps but eventually got caught and dropped to finish 4th. In our group, I'm pretty happy with any top 5 finish.

Tanner took a ton of pictures and he captured some interesting ones. Here's a sequence of the run up. I was carrying and MK was pushing. We seemed to go about the same speed.

A little more than half way through the race I was once again reminded that cross is hard. I was drooling, crosseyed and thinking I was going to blow up any minute. However, the next time through the start / finish I saw 4 laps to go and my brain slowly made the connection that the pain would end relatively soon. That gave me new life and I had a couple of good laps to hold off Scott Allen.

Tonight, I'm tired, sore and can't wait to do it again next week. We're racing at the Weber County Fair Grounds in Ogden next Saturday, so all you family members up North can watch Tanner go fast.

Thanks for reading.