Kruger's Kermesse
Kruger's Kermesse was this weekend. It was a cyclocross-ish race pretty much perfect for me - very flat and wide open. The course was mostly very dusty dirt roads, along with a little grass and some gravel road as well. I did the "Masters A" race, mainly because the regular A race is full of guys much, much faster than I.
I decided to ride my rain bike because it had road gears on it. My cyclocross bike only has a 39 tooth sprocket up front, which wasn't enough for today. The rain bike needs work, sporting sweet Shimano 105 8 speed shifters and occasional skipping gears. But it was in good enough condition to race, and it had a 53 tooth chainring.
The first half of the race was on a very dusty dirt road. It was obvious you'd be riding blind if you weren't in front. So at the gun, I took off and got the lead, and led most of the first lap.
We started out with a break of four guys. We caught a couple guys from the A race, and they joined up with us. We had some crashes, flat tires, but I just kept grinding on. Our break stayed away for the entire race. For the first half of the race, I tried to take my fair share of the pulls. One little hilly spot always wore me out a bit, but there was a fast downhill gravel road that followed, so I never had a problem staying on.
In the end, It was me, Kent Johnston and James Selman. Selman actually got a flat mid race, dropped out, and then caught us on the next lap around. I didn't know if crit rules were in place or not (e.g. you get a free lap if you get a flat tire), so I assumed he was still in contention (just to be safe). The last part of the course was perfect for me to take off, so I did, on a long gravel downhill. We got all caught up in slower A riders, and it was a good thing I was in front. We got to the front straight and I just kept pedaling hard until I was across the line. My first win of 2007.
Immediately after that race, I did a team relay race with my team (BBC). It was 10 laps, and we each did two. We won that race by a large margin, which was kinda fun.
Kermessees? Love them!
See you at Cross race #1