Even though I think Carpentersville is the best-designed (of maybe three candidates) in the ChiCrossCup, I headed up to Madison to do Badger Prairie and Cam-Rock. Badger Prairie is a long, long slog of either up or down, a couple of long hills and a lot of short hills. No flats. Some fast turns after descents. 10 minute laps. Not really terribly interesting or crossy, really suits MTBers who like to put out short intense bursts - not my kind of course. It was a real lungbuster. Don't think I have ever had my heart rate up that high.

Cam-rock is surprisingly deceptive. Pre-lap seemed kinda meh, but riding at speed is completely different. Fast, very, very tricky corners at speed, barriers to break rhythm, plenty of passing opportunities if you had the nerve. A few hairpins and screaming downhills. Never banged elbows so much in my life. A real blast. Definitely my type of course.

Badger Prairie:

First race: Arrived late and started at very back of 65 rider field. Totally frantic race. Passed 25 on first lap, 5 on 2nd lap and 1 on 3rd lap. Never been so gassed in my life. Was only 10 seconds behind the group racing for 10th but couldn't bridge up.

Open masters: Decided to keep within my limits and wait for people to blow up. Unlike Chicago masters, nobody did. Passed a few people but everyone fought like a badger for their place - that's how cross should be. Harder work than I expected. Found the race much easier on the lungs than the first.

Cam-rock:

Got taken out of it at the start of my first race, then no snap (blame 2 races Saturday) and fell back to about 20th of 30 starters. Stuck behind a bunch of slower riders. Took me 2 laps to get past them. Lap 3 I made it up to main chase group. Last lap I got past them and two guys stayed with me. Didn't kill myself as the lead group was well out of sight. Locked handlebars at runup (my fault) and lost two places. Passed the two riders again and came out of double hairpin 150 yards before finish still ahead. Should have shut the door but took a wide line and guy behind tried to go inside kamikaze-style but only succeeded in banging me off the course. We got tangled again and he was first to untangle himself. I was stuck in a too-high gear and he got to the line first. Wondered why he was so anxious to kill himself for 6th. Turned out there was no lead group and I had thrown away the win.

2nd race. 55 starters. started in 2nd row and only faded to about 25th. Course had dried up considerably and was much faster than the sloppy course of 90 minutes earlier. Passing was much easier. Found my rhythm and just kept passing people. Worked my way into the top 10 with several more riders in my sights. With a lap to go I wiped out on a sharp uphill off-camber corner and lost 4 places. Was pretty knackered at this stage (4th race of weekend) and only caught two of the four. Got top 10 but should have been top 5.

Gotta work on my starts and barriers. I'm really losing a lot of time here that I shouldn't. And it's starting to cost me places.

Things are looking up.