Sunday, December 16, 2007

kathy bart and ali kick ass... plus i found gully





i have to say that race today kicked ass,

first the pro women, kathy was ripping in 6th , 10 sec off of 5th on the 2nd to last lap she front flats, blazing the dh and has to run a long way to get the spare. dont go by the results, she was up there ready for 5th podium. that sucks bad. i hated that when it happened to me in the past.
it sucks real bad. especially when you are on it and feeling super human.



bart and ali kicked ass in the pros today. i dont know how they both did it, starting 35th and 80th. crazy start and moving up into the top 20 on lap 1.

check out the video. massive like over 100 guys lined up. pure ice and mud, slippery doesnt describe the ground. it was worse than ice with mud.

crazy

watching bart and ali move through the field as guys flailed was the best, passing and moving up as others died and dropped out.

so crazy,

bart got 7th and ali wasnt far back in 12th.
check out the mud.


timmy jonson wins, beats page and wells.
the thing about this that surprises me is hes a domestic road pro, he can rip but page and wells can rip the dh, they know slime and ice.

both were on timmys wheel but had slip ups, falls or hit a tree, losing 10 or 20 sec.

tim didnt crash, well or as much that i could see , i was all over the course watching sections and he was steady waiting for the others to wreck.

once they were down he kept it going and thats how he won.

the least mistakes takes the win.
i would rather see him win then the other top 5, but if bart had a front row start he could be top 5 for sure.

it sucks so bad starting back that far and i dont know how he does it, but he makes up spots quick and gets it done.

timmy j on a short power climb
















todd aka mcduff 30 seconds off the lead in 3rd.















tim hammering to keep a 10 sec gap















jon page made a 10 second mistake that cost him the race
















bart rips the dh on ice

















ali on the steps


















1st lap madness

















i found gully


















kathy runs with a front flat...ouch

















before the flat, on it and shredding



















5 comments:

flahute said...

Timmy J. was a big CX'er back east and won the National Championships a few years back before his Euro team (Saunier Duval?) made him concentrate on road.

As a product of New England CX upbringing, he's definitely a deserved winner of yesterday's race.

And even though Page is a product of the Richard Sachs program, the last few years he's coming across like a whiny little bitch.

Forrest said...

Sounds like it was an exciting race, but where's the Euro sized crowds? I understand the weather was bad, but what about all those that raced? Did they not stick around? It seems empty in those photos. Do more people come cheer at local races?

drrna said...

The Expo/Fan thing was terribly lame. There was no place to get out of the cold on Saturday, one tent with one heater. It was pretty brutal, people just wanted to get out of there after their race. The one source of coffee froze up and the vendor packed it in Saturday. He lost about $2k in equipment, I talked to him.

The park was in BFE, and the whole thing was in Kansas, in December. There was little industry support since any company would have to drive their van/truck across the country into the middle of an ice storm. As sad as a Norba race is, they have way better industry support.

USA cycling needs to figure some of this stuff out, because 'cross is a huge opportunity and they're blowing it. Over 2000 people registered, but there was about 30% no shows. People wanted to race, but they didn't want to got to Kansas in the winter to do it.

I was in Devans Mass in 1998, there were 1/4 the racers, and 3x the spectators compared to Kansas. Location, Location, Location.

Forrest said...

Thanks Doc, you should focus on helping USA cycling with this. Cross is the future, they already killed Mtn Bike racing, and the road is full of scandal. They are going to blow it again it sounds like.

kris said...

So, here is a quote I read about the race from Page.

"I don't want to take anything away from him, he won the race, but I was the best rider today. I was just unlucky – but that seems to be my season this year."

hmmm.