CCCX Final Recap

Wow, can you believe it's been 3 days since the final CCCX cross country of 2009? Time sure does fly when you are "lost in space" due to the lingering effects of a direct judo chop to the hard terrafirma of Fort Ord with your head...or more specifically your face. I haven't ridden back out to the crash test dummy site yet, but I am pretty sure there is a facsimile of a squirrelly looking dude's face that strangely resembles my own firmly planted on the dirt surface...That being the case and knowing ahead of time that I am "going by memory" (which Bri has pointed out several times this week to be shaky at best) please forgive any errors, inconsistencies or omissions as I am still not operating on all cylinders yet...you are right, I NEVER really was, but now it's even worse.

As usual Bri got things off to a roaring start in the morning race. From the line she pretty much pedaled to the front of the pack and had the rest of the girls against the ropes. A few of the Jr. girls managed to keep in contact for the first lap, but in the end she was able to ride away to another decisive victory. I overheard some of the girls at the podium "It's like she is a train! She just keeps going THAT speed!" ha! Of course the win clinched the first "title" of the day for the "Worlds Best Beginner" :)

Next up was the afternoon sport race and with it, the "Single Bottle Brigade" composed of Steve Kelley and Brett Butler were out on the course. I go through more water on the FIRST LAP than these two guys put down in a full race...combined! Oh well, looks like it might be a secret to their success as they both finished the series out on the Podium with solid 3rd place finishes. Brett even finished 5th in his race...one of his best finishes! Also up in the afternoon race was Bill Clevenger who had to fight tooth and nail for his positions in what was a very 45-55 class, but he managed to hang tough and gut out a podium finish in the series as well. Nice job Bill!

As we headed into the afternoon's main expert event it should be noted that James had been on hand pretty much all day and despite not being able to race due to work obligations, he was long on helping everyone along...especially with encouraging words, my personal favorite along the lines of..."Come on! You can pedal harder than that! Heck my daughter could pedal harder than that!"

The afternoon race got under way with the addition of a "BONUS" lap...wooo hoooo, now that's what a cheap bastard like me is talking about! On a dollar per lap fun factor, I just went from $7 bucks a lap to $6...yeah baby, now we can afford to buy that new yacht and sail the globe! Or maybe it just meant a tad bit more pain and suffering. Either way, the event ended up being one of the longer of the series and provided ample opportunity to see what everyone had you could have a short coming and still make up time.

And speaking of what everyone had, it looked like John Pattullo was on a mission! He went by me so fast that I thought the prologue to the Tour de France had started early and in Fort Ord!Man! I tried to get on his wheel, but quickly realized that capacity of riding was beyond my abilities for the day. Apparently, it was beyond everyone else's, too as it looks like he set the fastest time of the day aboard his "big wheels keep on turnin" 29er.

In the end, Joselyn's collected 5 more podium finishes with Shelly doing great in the races she completed to earn a 2nd place finish in the Women's class and a pretty domineering showing in the 35+ class with Alex on top, flanked by Mark in 2nd place. Those guys were battling for top spot all year long!

After focusing on the series, Greg was rewarded as the Top Pro finisher and got the "top step" monkey off his back after a few years of being denied. Way to do it though...in the Pro class and all!

As for myself, I managed to gather just enough wits and composure about myself to realize after my crash that I HAD TO WIN in order to keep this train going since I missed too many other events. Not sure exactly how that happened, but I managed to put in another decent ride and end up finishing Top 'o the Box as well.

Just counting end of year podiums, it could be said that Joselyn's certainly dominated the series, but there is also the efforts of several other riders who were out there working on themselves race in and race out. Travis stepped up to the expert class and found out that he is tough enough to hang with them. I am confident he could have done great in the Sport class, but he was up for the challenge and he took it to them every race. Nathan also kept his head down and consistently rode his own race...often times sprinting off ahead of the pack on the start!

In the end, that which doesn't kill you only serves to make you stronger...or some philosophical mumbo jumbo like that. And for those of you that didn't get your fill...never fear, there are still plenty of GREAT RACES left to test yourself at this year! See you out there, ready for the next test!