Manion's Cross 2 wrap

I didn't race yesterday b/c I was busy conducting this circus. The second edition of Manion's wasn't as hilly as the first- so I guess that makes it the second most hilly cross race in the midwest. But forget the climbing, it was the wind that was the biggest factor. 30mph gusts had a lot of racers riding in packs.
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I hope everyone enjoyed the course and had a good time. Thanks to everyone who came out and volunteered their time and energy to make this a great event. SC said it best, "It take's a lot of folks to put on a cross race, and while it's a lot of work, it's absolutely worth it". Props to Chris Locke of Cowtown for the course markings, Tallgrass Brewing for the suds, John Williams of Pot Pie fame for the good eats, the entire Colavita Cross Crew (!), and of course, Jody at Manion's for letting us play all over his hillside once again.
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See more great photos like the one above HERE.

Manion's Cross 2 Update

I spent the day out at Manion's finalizing the course. Notable changes:
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But before that... I have to tell you something... Manion's- as you know- is a military auction house. As such, the good folks of Manion's have access to explosive devices that you and I do not. I'm not making any promises, but we could have some serious percussive power for our starting gun...
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And now the changes:
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1. Racers will still stage SANS BIKE in the barn and start by running east out of the barn. You can see that now there is a "S" curve to navigate instead of a straight stretch. This fixes a lot of conflicts we had with the LeMans start... and it's gonna be damn fun! After exiting the end of the "S", racers will grab their bike in the open area and proceed- with haste- onto course.
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2. Notice the stretch after the final gravel crossing before heading back to the barn. We straightened this out in preparation for the finish. That's an uphill finish, friends. Prepare, commit, engage, and succeed.
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3. Barriers are flopped to the backside of the course.
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D. Not a change, but just a reminder- our DJ is The Best. He plays your favorite songs and the greatest music you've never heard but touches you deep inside. Our DJ likes to touch.
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Remember to bring your canned food Cranksgiving donation (5 cans gets you a call-up) b/c you're going to want to have first choice of where to place your bike and you're going to want to be on that front line at the start.
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And finally... Just to let y'all know, I was listening to alot of Ween when I designed the course.

Manion's Cross 2 preview

As you can see from the course map, a lot more of the racing will be done up on the flatter part of the hilltop. There will still be a nice painful climb- but only one this time! We'll go through the barn again and we've added a unique Manion's style LeMans start we're calling the "LeManion's" start.
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Course will be approximately 1.6 miles and it will be run easterly through the barn. The "stitches" section is downhill and most of the climbing occurs after you leave the pond and head towards the pit area. Notice the pit is double-sided and it's located next to the parking area- no toting bikes and wheels halfway around the course!
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Bring 5 canned goods to donate to the Cranksgiving effort if you want a call-up! See all the latest info at the official Manion's Cross blog.

DeStad Cup

Get up, come on get down with the SICKNESS!

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DeStad 2010 was awesome. Weather couldn't have been better... well, if I had my way it would've been colder and sleetier, but for the general populous-racers and spectators- it was close to perfect.

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Course was brilliant with long power stretches divided by periodic tech secitons- corners, steeps, and whatnot.

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I signed up for the the SS and the Open races. Won the SS by a pretty good margin and then immidiatley realized I went waaay too deep for no reason considering I was lining up again, with the uber-fast guys, in about 20 minutes. C'est la vie. It just felt so good to go full-on Kev's Mom in the SS and even though I knew I was out there by myself I just wanted to go faster, faster, FASTER!! I paid for it in the Open. I died a thousand deaths, but that's good for me in a German masochistic "whip me Master" sort of way.

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What a beautiful day.

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Adam continues to get stronger- finished 7th-I think. Jake scored a podium! And Andy got back on the podium in the 2/3 race. Casey did well in his first race as a Team member. Nice showing, TCPC.

DeStad Cup preview

DeStad is going to be fun!
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Worked on the course at St. Mary's today. It was very wet from all the rain and the ground was quite squishy. But Chris had two blowers out there plus the gang raked the entire course, so it should be dry by tomorrow. Actually, it should really hook up well with all the moisture in the ground now- maybe just a few wet spots. A few wet spots are always good.
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I rode a couple of laps after we staked it out and it seemed long. That could've been due to the soft ground and long grass (Chris says they'll mow it early tomorrow morn), but I'm thinking 7+ minute laps for the Open race- and I'm not referring to myself, I mean for the fast guys. But, counteracting the soft ground is that the course is pretty wide open and fast. With the exception of a few tight corners and a couple of steep run-ups, its just fast and flowing. It's going to be a race for the fast/strong and not so much for the technical rider... to my dismay. Of course all this could change depending on the changing conditions tomorrow.
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A course is a different-colored horse after a couple hundred passes have been laid on it.
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Regardless of all this, I can say without hesitation, it'll be fun. I've said it before: It's hard to go wrong at St. Mary's.

Crazy Cross Barriers

Aaah! My eyes!!! Trip on these! Andrew painted our cross barriers at the First Fridays party at Volker last night. He got the first one done and it's just crazy looking. Andrew says the second one will make your eyes burn- what?! Check out his other work HERE.

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Michaela and I hung out and watched Andrew work, then went down to Cellar Rat for some wine tasting and biscotti. Then we headed down 18th towards Grinders for some pizza but we couldn't get in. So we ended up grabbing a slice at The Art of Pizza. I highly recommend the Garlic Knots- just make sure your date eats some too.

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