I've barely been on the bike the past two weeks (work/life/daylight/enthusiasm issues) so I decided to skip the ChiCrossCup for a couple of weeks. Today I headed to the Quad Cities for the Olde Towne VandeCross in Moline.

Very well set up and thought out course. Far more work put into it than ANY of the Chicago races I've done. They also manage to nearly match the payout of Chicago despite only having 80 or so racers come out compared to the 300-400 for the cross cup.

Anyway. I'll post up a full report in a day or two. The short version is that a couple of us missed our start due to a misunderstanding, had to dig deep to catch on. Had no top end whatsoever, felt quite detrained, but because it was a 60 minute race I basically TT'ed it and hauled in quite a few riders. Spent the first 8 laps trying not to barf and the last two hoping my back wouldn't give out. Only got lapped by Brian Eppen, which is no shame.

I finished 2nd in my Cat and won $20. First time ever winning cash in a race. Very refreshing to see such a well-organised low-key series. Well worth making the trip. Going to do 3 of the 4 races in the series now and will try to drag others out. Recommended.

Psi, MJH2, I saw your teammate Jason S. finished 5th, I think, in the 3/4 race. Didn't get the chance to say hello.