Coming to the end of the line

My body is still hurting from Sterling. Tripped over the barriers warming up and bruised my hip. Tripped again during the race and thought my wrist was broken for a moment. Altogether, the race was not fun. My head wasn't in it, and cross isn't a sport you can pay lip service to during competition. I think that the nearly 11 months of racing I have done are finally taking their toll, meaning my season is probably done.

All of that aside, it was a great ride for me, and not because I earned a result I'm happy with (I'll get you next time Eager). Every time I bobbled, slipped, caught my shorts on the saddle and launched the bike out from under me, or made some other stupid mistake, I chased back on. Instead of letting the group get away and riding my own race, I'd grit my teeth and fight my way back up.

Great races aren't about the result, but how you get it. Cross taught me that. My best result last year was a 3rd place, but it was a hard fought fight to get it. I rate that among my top-5 races of all time.

Now, for something fun. After doing some digging, I've found some sweet pictures (of me) from the Mercer Cup. I'll be back to update this to give credit to the photographers, but here they are in the meantime.

First up, a sweet black & white of me chasing Zank down during Sunday's race. Notice the almost smile on Zank's face. The chubby dude in the middle is from Washington, but doesn't know how to ride. He's one of those "I'm gonna pass you in this turn, then go slow," guys. He also told Jamner that he was "On your [Jamner's] right" going into the finishing sprint.

Next up, a fine shot from a member of the Rutgers crew. That's me descending from the flyover, silhouetted against the sky. I almost look like an action hero or something. Cyclocross MAN! Da da da daaaa!
Almost.

I took this awesome shot of Tim Johnson with my phone. While it's not as artistic as the two above (and doesn't feature me) there's a good story here. Jamner and I were standing at that very corner cheering. Trebon and Wicks come through, no prob. Johnson comes though and I cheer "Go Tim!" Right after this photo was taken, he hit the deck. Whoops! That was a fluke though, and it couldn't happen twice.

After Johnson, Jesse Anthony comes through the corner. I keep my mouth shut, but Jamner cheers and down goes Anthony. At that point, not wanting to get our asses kicked, we bolted.