Barb and I racked up some 3rd place finishes this weekend...

Barb was in the Hamptons this weekend at dome UCI races and she did what she set out to do- get some UCI points and be at least 3rd after Lynn Bessette and Katie Compton. She did this yesterday and today, so I think it's safe to say she's back to her old ways! There's a report up on cyclingnews.com as well as some hot photo's like this one:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=/photos/2007/oct07/southampton071/WSC_0049

I raced at Pilarcitos #1 today and I raced ok, although I could feel the cold took a little out of me.

I managed to sneak up to the front line at the start, I knew there would be trouble with such a short bit of pavement before we went offroad. I pinned it at the start and kind of got the holeshot, although Cameron Falconer came around me as we hit the dirt. I sat on and just waited to see how things would shake out- with Andy J-M and Justin Robison in the race, I didn't have to wait long.

And came up and past me at soon enough and I jumped on his wheel and we were off. I was wondering a bit about my teammates Dave Wyandt and Aron Odell who were nowhere to be seen... They were hung up in the start and missed the train, it turns out. So Andy and I went around the track a couple times, I sat on and just tried not to get dropped as he lit it up every time we got to the pavement or a straightaway. I was pretty psyched to hang on, Andy was back to his old self and seemed faster than last week. After a few laps, Justin rode back up to us which I knew was a problem for me. I think this was about 20 minutes into the race. I wanted to attack right as he got to us, but Andy knows what to do and he kept it steady for a bit to let Justin catch his breath and wouldn't let me by.

Those two started giving me the 1-2 and it didn't feel like there was much I could do about it. Eventually Andy got away and Justin just kept me behind him and blocked. I would go around on the pavement and go as hard as I could till we got to the barriers and he would just go ripping by me before the twisty parts. There's a reason they call him "The Dancing Bear", that guy is murderous on foot.

I think I bobbled somewhere and Justin got his gap. If you give this guy an inch, he'll take a mile and he looked pretty commited to the last part of the race. I actually brought him back to within 10 seconds by the end, but I couldn't catch him. My legs were cramping a bit and I think this is where I was feeling kind of spent, maybe partly from the weeks illness.

Dave Wyandt rode up to 4th, behind me and would have caught me with another lap. He's riding really strong, soon enough I think Dave will have some wins. He hasn't had a clean race yet with mechanicals and crashes, so it's just a matter of time. O'dog was a bit behind him I think, but I don't think he was 5th. So, it was a decent day for the HRS/Rock Lobster team. It would have been a lot more fun if Dave and/or Aron had got up to the action so we could have had a bit more of a fair fight.

Unfortunately, Andy had a trip and fall after the race and broke his collarbone. He was jogging on the course (don't ask me...) and he fell in the barriers and either re-broke his collarbone or maybe broke his other one? I'm not totally sure but I felt really bad whe I heard this news from Josie... Andy was really bummed when he was leaving and I can still hardly believe this happened.

Aside from that, it was a great day.