Durham CX

Had a great day for a CX race.. and my last of the year.... down at Heber Downs in Durham.... rode over in 15min as a warm up and had a great ride... wasn't sure how the legs would respond after a week fighting a cold, but things turned out well.... got off to my usual "In Contact With The Lead Group" start as we began the first of 9 laps... and 9 times up a hill that would not have been too bad but was VERY TOUGH for me with my non-climbing gears... had to stand it from top to bottom and crank out 50rpm....

Start of the 2nd lap, and Steve "Rango" Heck slipped out on the short power climb by the parking lot and then dropped his chain, followed by Mark Brusso dropping his chain in the same spot which gave me a great line through the middle to attack.... "Hey Barnes... it's pretty early to take off on those guys.... good idea?"

So i just settled into a strong pace that i could hold and kept an eye on the time gap... kept it around 25sec for the first half of the race.... until i saw Ed Makurchuk chasing me.... "Time to GO Barnes!!!!"  Rocked the down hill... most of the time ... looking smooth and fast....

.... until i touched the rear brake a bit too hard and layed out the Durham Drift..... impressive because i didn't eat gravel or bark....

...."Yeah.... I meant to do that... cool eh?"...

Held off Ed and Mark for the 2nd CX win of the year with a gap of 25sec.... "Rango... we're just going to race some 'cross for fun, right?"... Yeah Right....
I was actually upset that they lost the Mill St. Beer Sponsor.... i had every intention of pouring one back to celebrate the end of the season.... i guess Recoverite will have to do....
Thanks again to Jon Safka from cyclingphotos.ca for the support, cheers and pics....