Whitmore's Landscaping Super Cross 2

On Saturday I felt I could have taken the hole shot, and after I was irritated with myself that I didn’t. Katie and Lyne are on a different level from the rest of us right now, but we have to race them. We New Englanders are pretty lucky to race one of the world’s best every weekend, and need to make the most of it. (And let’s have some sympathy for Lyne and Katie too, who are not exactly getting practice for performance on the world stage by racing with us, so let’s get moving!) None of us wants to start so hard we blow to smitherines, but the selection in cross is made at the start, and increasingly it seems to me that we all settle in after a few laps and go pretty much the same speed. So I did get the hole shot (and then they promptly rode me off their wheels), but at least it was an assertive start. And let me tell you, the start at Cross Vegas was so crazy fast – Megan Elliot clocked the wet-cement-esque grass start at 40k an hour – we better start hard in New England! My legs Sunday were not awesome, I did not feel technically smooth, and I struggled in places, such as that sandy right corner at the top of the course. After the start that left me gasping for air in third place, Mo caught me. Barb was closing so I sat on Mo to allow Barb to catch. She did, we sat on a bit, and then Barb attacked on the pavement. Perfect – this is team racing! On this day I had an advantage over Mo on the horsepower section, especially after she had had to pull, so I attacked through the line and tried to bridge to Barb. But I had not noticed Megan Elliot. When I saw she was there I sat up, but then Megan dropped me and bridged to Barb – not good and I should not have attacked if I had no reserves. And then the whole race was me riding a short distance behind Barb and Megan just wishing I could close the gap or that Barb would sit on for a long stretch so I could catch (no hope for 2nd, and this would have improved our odds at 3^rd and given us a shot at 4^th). But team racing takes practice. Barb put the hammer down on the last lap and pulled off 3^rd, Megan had an awesome ride for 4^th, and I got 5^th. Katie schooled us again.