Jingle Cross 2008

Last weekend a crew of 4 Midwest Wheelmasters made the journey to Iowa City, IA for Jingle Cross. This is one of the bigger regional races that leads in to Nationals. The races here have deep fields with quite a few strong riders. Saturdays races came with cold temperatures in the morning but it warmed up nicely for the afternoon races. The course here is a nice mix of technical turns, long straights, and a long run-up.

Craig was the first up in the 35+ race that easily had the biggest field of the weekend. Lined up at the back of a huge field Craig worked his way up to 34th by the end of the race.

A few hours later the Cat. 2-3 race was up with Ryan, Troy, and myself in it. Troy and I had great starting positions on the front row but Ryan was much further back. Off we went and Troy and I both held our positions up front throughout the race to finish 3rd and 2nd. Ryan had a battle on his hands but worked his way up to 19th by the finish.

Sunday:

The photo above is what we woke up to on Sunday morning. 2 inches of snow and more falling all day. The course quickly deteriorated into a mud bog that just got deeper as the day went on. Due to the tricky nature of the course Craig decided to save his bike for better day which would prove to be a pretty good idea by the end of the day. Instead of racing Craig worked the pit for us during our race. Troy and I both have spare bikes in the pit and it was a luxury to have Craig and Thad both there to wash off the mud and have them ready for the next exchange. Talk about teamwork! The actual race started well for Troy and I, both of us in the top 5 at the start. As the race went on and crashes took their toll be both ended up in good position. Ryan found it tough to move up through the pack and after a number of crashes decide to call it a day. Troy battled the mud to 6th place while I hung on for 4th.


I had a great time at the races and after the races as well. In the evening we ended up hanging out with a few other riders from Lincoln that were at the race. I can't wait for Nationals in KC!