Kirtland Park finale

Yesterday was the final NEOCX race of the season and I think it went out on a good note. On Saturday my family and extended Team Lake Effect family gathered at Kirtland Park to set up for Sundays race. We all hit it very hard, and after about 400 stakes, 5 miles of tape and 7 hours later, the course was complete... (well for the most part). Sunday morning came and we arrived at the park at about 9 am to find Bob Breedlove already warming up on his trainer, alone in the parking lot, now his race doesn't go off for another 2 1/2 hours, so I thought wow, we better get busy on the final touches before everyone else comes rolling in. It wasn't long before the parking lot was full of racers with 2 big food catering trucks parked right in the middle and a line a mile long at registration.

The course was bone dry, technical, hilly and fast which in my opinion made it the perfect cross course and everyone that I talked to said the course was hard, but not extremely hard but fun also, which was the goal.

I raced the combined Masters 35-45+ and was in a tight race the whole way battling for a top 5 spot in the 45+ group while racing hard with the top 2 in the 35+, it was good racing, attacking, exchanging positions, trying to pass and getting shut down etc... everything that good hard racing is all about. In the end I finished 5th Master 45+ and 7th overall in the combined group and was pleased with my placing and effort. The top 5 in the 45+ was Tom Franek, Joe Pollato, Nate Loman, Derek Wilford and me, so those are some pretty tough hombre's ahead of me.

After the Elite race was over, the course that took about 9 hours total to set up was taken down in about 30 minutes. We had so much help from different teams and individuals it was incredible, and a HUGE THANK YOU  to everyone that helped. Afterwards we all drove over to the Bohemian Center in Slavic Village for the series end awards ceremony and a perfect ending to a great day of racing and a great cyclo cross series.

I ended up finishing 8th overall in the series, but I only raced 6 out of the 12 races, the other races I did were the UCI3 3 day in Cinci, Dayton 2 day and the Columbus 2 day State Champs which were all held on the same days as the NEOCX series races..., so not too bad I guess.

Next up is the Kings Cross Regional Masters weekend  in Mason on December 3rd and 4th. then we switch gears and get back into the pool on a regular schedule to get ready for tri season in another 5 months.........

Thanks for reading everyone.