Spooky Cross Blitzkrieg

Breaking my unwritten and highly questionable rule regarding miles driven for time raced, Nate, Corey, Jesse P, and I drove to Cumming, Iowa for Spooky Cross today. With Corey planning an article on the trip for the Lincoln Ve-Low, I'm opting for the tightly focused version as a race recap.

Nate's description of our effort as a cross "blitzkrieg" was spot-on. We arrived roughly 25 minutes before the start. This was just enough time to register, kit-up and spin a touch before the start of the race. I rode down the starting road a bit, into a short section of the completed mudded-out grass and back up to the start. Since I am a notoriously slow starter when actually warmed up, I perched at the back of the Killer B's as we toed the line. Nate joined me and we laughed about standing at the back, but the word that a first lap prime providing a pair of Oakley Radar's to the winner had Jesse moving to the front prior to the gun. I kept smiling and stayed put. No one was quite sure of where Corey was and we assumed he was already at the front.

At the gun, Nate and I started weaving our way forward. He jumped through a lot of people before we hit the mud but I eased back, which was a mistake as the group came to a crawl with riders unsure of how fast to hit the transition from road to soup.

Anything not road was rain-soaked bog. I was over-geared (as were Nate and Corey) at 38x16 and just started mashing. With no preride or warmup, I was tentative and the legs were pretty unhappy. A long section of the course followed a lakeside path, followed by a long climb that would have been rideable dry, but not in the soup and not with my gear. I slogged away and tried to stay patient hoping to get loose and make up some ground as my body got into gear.

Near the end of the lap was an intentional run-up with small 2x4s being used to keep people from riding it. This also would have been rideable on a dry day but was certainly a run-up today. As I topped out, I was shocked to see Corey coming around me. At this point, both my hamstrings were on the edge of something dismal and a brief exchange with Corey lead him to say, "Spin it out." "I can't," was my reply, which was more of a "how the fuck am I suppose to do that?" in tone.

Somewhere passed the halfway point of my second lap, my body returned a bit, I felt confident in the muck and dropped a few fellow back of the pack riders primarily with my riding in the mud and an improved approach to running, along with my mounts.

Halfway through the last lap I had one more carrot left ahead of me, but then I got lapped by the lead riders and got frustrated. By the time I got my head out of my ass, I had to let the brakes completely go on the muddy downhill heading straight for the lake and nearly took a swim because of it. I cruised it in from there for an unknown finishing spot. We also saw "The Jackal" who seemed to be riding strong and finished on the lead lap.

I am a bit fuzzy on everyone's spots from there. Jesse P hit the podium in 3rd or 4th. Nate was roughly 8th and Corey, who rolled the largest gear of all of us was somewhere around 10th. Syd also toed the line, possibly in 9th? You might check other spots for further (and accurate) results as Mark and Troy Krause were also there to enjoy some time in the soup.

If only it's rider knew what to do with it.




No mud on the bibs? I am sure the backside's not as pretty.

Corey, what the fuck are you doing?