Biltmore Estate, Thats a wrap!

It's been a long season which all started 5 months ago at the Cycle Smart Cross camp in Columbia, SC. Which, by the way, was AWESOME and I highly recommend! I learned a lot from Adam and Jacob over those 2 days but I also met a ton of passionate cross racers. These same people were the ones cheering for me (seemed to be at every corner) at the races. The cheers and relationships have fueled my season and have pushed me to go further.

During the season my goal was to race, to race as much as possible. Early in the season I decided to double up on some of the NCCX races and race the Master's and the Open 4/5's. Although this pretty much killed me the rest of day, I think it was a good move early in the season.


The run-up from the bottom

The run-up from the top

Coming into the last race of the season had a lot of mixed emotions. I was exhausted and worn out from traveling and racing every weekend. But I also knew that if I didn't go to Biltmore I'd regret it. The course was very difficult and very different from last year's flat, straight, and bumpy roadie course. Be careful what you ask for because this year had a lot of climbing, more tech, and some very fast sections. The first 1/2 of the course was climbing and technical. The second 1/2 was all power, strategy and race tactics.

Saturday I had a great start and had a few guys to race. They would drop me on the climbs and I'd claw my way back on the power sections of the course. So going into the last lap I tried to keep those guys within eyesight. I was able to pass 1 of the racers on the technical descent. Then I passed another at the start of the power section. The course doubled back on itself and could see I another racer with a pretty good gap. So, trying to stay away from the 2 racers behind me and wanting catch the guy in front, I put my head down and mashed. I was closing in on him and got within 50 feet at the barriers. From the barriers I followed him on to the pavement and got on his wheel just before we made the last turn to the up hill finish line. He went wide through the corner and I pushed the bike to the inside and hammered as I passed. I got far enough in front that he couldn't sit on my wheel and I pulled away. I finished just behind teammate Bob.



The cold front moving through



Look at that Big Blue Sky





Bob finishing strong on Saturday



Sunday the course changed to more climbing. The course changes consisted of a long uphill section of single track just after the brutal run-up, I mean walk-up! Funny, for me Sunday was a repeat of Saturday including out sprinting the same guy at the same corner. After the race the announcer gave me a free NCCX T-Shirt for my effort. Pretty cool since I've never won anything at a bike race before. I then found the guy I raced both days for the finish line and we talked a bit. Super nice guy visiting Asheville from Ohio.




Love this pic of Bob and me- We finished both days in this same position

 

After shot- we're both very tired!



Crossing the finish line on day 2- No wins but I had a very successful season

After the race we headed over to a nearby restaurant to celebrate a great Cross season- 37 races for Bob, Layla and myself. All in all I think it was a successful Cross season for the team as well as myself. It was a long season and I'm definitely looking forward to a break but I'm going to miss my cyclocross family! Already looking forward to next year.