Ha! If nothing else, I can write about building bikes and getting beat at cyclocross!

This was a nice day at the races. The first CCCX race, fair weather, just about everybody from my Rock Lobster team, the swiggboss horn- as good as it gets.

Best of all: Barb won her first cyclocross race since her mystery illness. This was a big victory for me too, since I put her bike together and glued her tires last night. As the mechanic, I'd like to make sure everyone knows that even though no one will care (mechanics usually only get credit for mishaps, as you probably know...). Anyway, she rode great so that was cool.

My race went pretty well too. I sat on teammate Aaron O'dell's wheel for the first lap (thanks dude!) and bided my time to see what Justin Robinson would do. Unfortunately, my other teammate Dave Wyandt tried to hop a barrier and had a crash on this lap. Justin decided to race on lap 2, and we were away.

He and I rode together for another couple laps till I had a dab in a corner as he was on the front. This is how races like this are won and lost, so I was pissed as Justin made a gap. I stayed as steady as I could and continued making my laps on the course till I was able to make contact with him again. This was good, and I managed to try and attack a couple times once I got back on. Justin is a very tough rider, and it was very difficult for me to strike a balance between making things hard for him and getting to the end of the race.

As we reached 3 to go, I could see Dave Wyandt catching back up to us so I tried to get in the front and slow Justin and I's pace. He caught on with 2 to go and things were starting to look good for us- Dave seemed ready to attack and still able to race after his big effort.

With 2 to go, Dave and I both took turns throwing out some attacks and making Justin chase. As we got into the last lap, Dave was in front, I was second with Justin on my wheel. I was trying to let Dave do his thing and keep Justin in check when sure enough- Dave ate shit trying to hop the same barrier that took him down on lap 1. I rode hard although my legs were feeling crampy and let Justin pass me before the critical runup; my plan was to sprint him on the pavement. As we came off the last set of barriers, I knew the finishing pavement was too long... It was a mistake to let him sprint first, I didn't have a chance.

So, 2nd for me, 3rd for Dave and 4th for O'dell (I think). 3 in the top 5 is good for our team and Rob Evans (http://web.mac.com/robevans1/ODHBikes/Podcast/Archive.html) was 6th so we had a presence. I enjoyed racing for the win and I'm happy with my fitness (and the 2nd place cash, thanks Rod and Keith!), and I was glad to make Justin suffer. Hopefully I can beat him this year- if I can do it once a season I know I'm doing something right. The Rock Lobster team was looking pretty solid throughout the day's races and I think the Boss (and other sponsors) must be proud of the turnout today.

Next weekend should be pretty wicked, we've got 2 good races on the calendar one of which is in my back yard (Lion of Fairfax). I'm looking forward to that and the party at Cameron's house (come one, come all!) as well as the next installment of CCCX.