Got back late last night form the three day UCI Cyclp-cross race festival in the Cinncy area. It was hot, dry and dusty making it truly a lung buster. I competed in the Master's 45+ Cat 4 races which had anywhere from 27 to 40 old guys risking life and limb for merchandise prizes. The start of the races are mad house. The fields of the Cat 4 open, 35-44, and 45 + were all combined with the younger guys called up first in rows of 8, then the 35's followed by my group. There was at least 120- 150 racers all blasting from the start and racing against their field and everyone else for 40 minutes of self inflicted pain and suffering. One thing good about the combined groups was each group had a different colored number so you could tell who were your competitors. I always hit the start as hard as possible and took a lot of risks to get ahead of my group and put other riders between us.

At the end of the weekend I raced in Covington KY, Middletown OH and Fairfield OH. Talley was a 2nd place on Friday, 5th place on Saturday (would have been 3rd had I not crashed into a barrier and got wrapped up in the bike with 1/2 lap to go) and on Sunday I abandoned from the race after 20 minutes while in 3rd place. I suspected while warming up that I was pretty much done as I could not do any hard effort and recover. I did my usual hard start then could not recover and was truly out of gas.

What a great sport! The guys who race are nice and friendly, there are announcers busting on the racers while they struggle in the sand pits, even the pro's, and the whole festival thing with beer is special. Before our race start on Saturday the announcers called everyone's attention the the start of the Cat 4 race. They were betting each other on where the big crash would take place and encouraged the fans to get out on the course to watch the "demolition derby of the Crash 4's. The crash did happen, just behind me.

Here are a few images.