End of Cross season

This past weekend marked the end of the Cyclocross season with the MAC championships in Reston, VA. I finished a solid 10th place in the B Masters class for a successful end to my first cross season.

I entered the season with 3 main goals:

1. Have fun. -I did this in spades. From traveling with Jim, and sometimes Trevor; meeting new friends; early morning (getting up at 5am) practices with the Coppi squad; racing at a lot of cool venues; and unexpectedly winning a pie as a preem at the Rockburn Cross. I am totally hooked and can't wait for next year.

2. Learn how to race better. -Cross is a totally different discipline than the mountain bike. There are dismounts, sand, barriers and lots of technical aspects that can take years to master. It takes practice and repetition. I feel that I have made many gains this year and hope to build on them next year.

3. Place in the top ten in at least one race. -Well, it turns out that I did this in 5 of them. Out of 7 races, my best finish was 3rd and the worst was 20th. I only raced cyclocross twice last year and 25th was my best placing. A huge and unexpected improvement.

I raced all but once on my Gunnar Single Speed. The one time I tried gears was a disaster. I plan on staying with the SS again next year.

My biggest disappointments were:
1. My horrible performance at the Tacchino cross. After a great start I had two pretty bad crashes (with a nice bruise on my hip to show for it) and just couldn't get my head back in the game.
2. Missing the MABRA championship race. I was sick. But there's always next year.

Only 284 days 'til Charm City....

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy holiday season.
Keeping the rubber side down,
Jonathan