North Carolina UCI Cross Race

Temp. a few hours before the first race.
It was a great weekend for cross racing. Frank and Ann arrived at about 8:00am Saturday morning. We did a good breakfast and headed to the race. My race was at 11:00am so I got about an hour warm up and I was off. It’s been really dry around here for the last month so the course was very fast. The only problem was the wind. The wind made it really difficult to put together any kind of good aggressive attack. Saturday was “use and abuse day”. Find a group, ride their wheels and push them until they blew and move on. I think I finished in the top ten but not for sure. I wasn’t feeling to strong so I was just glad to be done and heading to the car for some warm clothes.

Sunday was a better day for me. The wind died down but the temperature stayed in the mid 30’s low 40’s. They changed the course for the 2nd day which I think made it even faster. The start of the race was extremely fast and a lot of people were really hamming down. As for myself, I’m not a real fast person at the start so I did what I normal do. I gave myself one lap and then started reeling in people. There was a strong lead group and I found myself in the second group trying to chase them down. When it was all said and done the leaders were extremely fast and we couldn’t catch them. I placed somewhere in the top ten.

Frank Jones was once again the man in the pits. For you who don’t know Frank he is one of the best mechanic’s out there and a really great guy. I watched people come up to him all weekend long and ask him to look at their bikes and make sure everything was working. Racers who even had their team mechanic with them would find Frank to work on their bikes. While Frank is working on peoples bikes, or sitting in the pits cleaning and doing bike exchanges his wife Ann is out on the course taking some great photos (watch out Velo News). Hopefully I can get a few photos from Ann and I'll post them here on my blog. Ann and Frank are one hell of a team when it comes to cycling and racing. If you’re ever at a national event or racing cross in NC I guarantee you’ll hear their names among the racers. Frank also has a great shop in Raleigh, NC so if you’re ever in the area and need something give him a call at (919) 293-0200.

The racing was done and everyone was on the way home by about 4:30pm last night. What a great turn out for the first UCI cross race in the Southeast. They have already started talking about have two UCI races in NC next year. The cross racing here just keeps getting more competitive and serious every year. It's good to see it becasue cross is really a great sport that several people can enjoy. When you can watch about 70% of a race from one spot...that's pretty cool.