Eight hours after the race finished, and a lengthy shower I am still finding small enclaves on dirt behind my ears and under my chin...

The 4th Cyclocross BC Cup was held on a day that Vancouver is famous for. It was one of those times when Mother Nature decides it is time to sober up all those transplanted easterners (myself included) by dumping buckets of rain down. Unfortunately, in the Pacific Northwest, bike races are generally scheduled on these days, or at least that is my team mate Eric Wohlberg's opinion.

However, while torrential rain is just about the worst type of weather for a 160 km road race, it is par for the course for 'cross. I am not alone in this belief as probably 65 brave souls dragged themselves out to White Rock for the second Bayside 'cross race.

For the A race we had a good turnout with all the usual suspects present. Notable additions were a couple Yanks up from Washington and Kona's Kris Sneddon. Notably missing was my Symmetrics 'cross partner in crime, Christian Meier. Christ has been on the verge of getting sick for the last few days and felt that riding in the slop for an hour wouldn't do him any good. Fair enough, it probably wouldn't have, so Christ opted for a night on the town instead.



I was pretty motivated to ride well and most importantly not to crash given last weekend's performance. I was also motivated to give Norco their first victory onboard the new CCX. The prototype bike that I am riding is great, and the production model is going to really turn heads.

In terms of the race, I got off to quick start in hopes of avoiding potential pile ups (I didn't need a fourth one this week) and keep away from as much rear wheel spray as possible. I managed to get small gap early and cooled my jets a little to wait and see who would come up. As I expected, I was quickly join by Ricky Federeau and Rob Britton. The three of us road together for a while until a couple of Ricky's acceleration gapped off Britton. Ricky and I worked together for the next few laps to distance us from the rest of the group. It was shaping up to be good battle until Ricky, who at the moment is packing about 4% body fat, got so cold he couldn't handle his bike as well as he would have liked. Airing on the side caution, he pulled the plug. Probably a good idea, given he is representing Canada at the Pan Am Mtn. Bike Champs in a couple weeks.



With Ricky gone my job was made pretty simple. For the remainder of the race I focused on keeping myself upright and riding reasonably quick to avoid getting caught. Fortunately, I didn't fall over and managed to hold on for the victory.

I guess things are looking good for Nats. My form at the moment is ok, but not great. I am wrestling with some back issues that I hope our team chiro, Gerry Ramogida will resolve. This year Nationals is going to be pretty competitive with the euro-based Greg Reain likely the favourite. Of course you can't discount Peter Wedge (the guy has won the thing about a hundred times) or Matt Toulouse. Who knows, Kabush says he won't turn up but I'll believe it when the gun goes off and he is dropping me.

FIN
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