NEOCX Finale

Great weather, great racing, and a great turnout for the final race of the NEOCX series on Sunday at Kirtland Park. First I want to thank my family and friends/teammates for working their butts off in every way to make this race happen.

Race day couldn't have been better. Temps were in the high 50's to low 60's and sunny, conditions were dry and fast which led to some fast racing and fast laps. I lined up with the large 60 racer B Open field behind the call-ups and when Go was said I had a good start. I hit the 90 degree corner and then opened it up in the long field to the 90 degree right hand corner and then to the fast downhill. I was making up ground and picking off spots in the tight uphill 180's and then would jump hard

onto the flats. My legs were feeling pretty decent but not as good as the past few weeks and I assume it was due to the amount of work that we did the previous day setting up the course along with some hot laps afterwards. I was now working with the top 6 or so and we were hitting the gas pretty good. We reached the long stair run-up on the East side of the course and we were pretty much together with bikes hitting one another as everyone was trying to get better position. Down the rooty section to the 180 and into the terrace ampitheater to the up-hill switchback behind the tree and everyone rode it well, on the first lap. Out of the ampitheater and onto the road at the top and then the downhill 180 to the West side stair ride/run. Everyone at the front rode up and did pretty well then it was on to the spiral in the ballfield and through the start finish. First lap had max HR of 175 which is 3 clicks off of my max, so I was working hard. The next 2 laps were pretty much the same as the race started to sort itself out. Nate moved up and got by Brent and I as we were battling once again the whole race and eventually caught the leader and ended up winning. We were caught by a group of 2 that Brent and I worked with for a lap or so when things got split up in the field on the last lap and it stayed that way to the finish with me finishing 5th overall and Brent 6th. on a final race that could not have been better in my book, (well I could have won but.....) Hard as hell but a good race. Average heart rate was 168 for 8 hard laps. Afterward Nate, Brent and I did a cool down ride into Cleveland and back in time for the A race.

Matt dominated the A race once again, Paul was 2nd. Johnny 4th and Tony rounded out 10th., which wasn't too damned bad since he only rode the trainer for an hour all week due to work and school. The NEOCX awards were given following the races and afterwards a large group of us headed over to the Happy Dog bar on West 58th and Detroit Ave. for some chow and some well deserved beers, it was a great day and a great end to the NEO cross season.

This weekend is the Ohio State championship races in Yellow Springs near Dayton. We have a large Cleveland area presence going down so hopefully we'll be able to bring home a few State jerseys!

Nice job everyone!