A Half Acre rider, most likely Tim, racing in the 4A's. I like this bridge.
Once I got to the venue and saw the course I was really bummed that I wasn't racing. It really looked like fun to me. It didn't seem as bumpy as others either. It seemed like I would have done reasonably well on parts of it, though I might have had trouble on the off camber slippery stuff in the rain... Seeing so many friends having a great day kind of made up for it, though. It was nice that so many people I knew won, and nice to see so many others do well, have fun, and maybe achieve some personal goal, like not wiping out on the slippery off-camber downhill near the Cuttin' Crew bus!
Below are three of the winners. Holly of Killjoy in the women's 1/2/3's, Wayne in the 50+ and Tim in the 40+! Wayne and Tim both ride for Verdigris Custom Homes. Tim is a former mountain bike teammate. Nice job, all of you!
Tim's teammate Chris L. (also a former mt bike teammate) was on track to win the 30+, which would have made it a Verdigris trifecta, a win for their team in each of the masters races. He got a flat though, and got third. I wasn't there to see the masters races, though, so I don't know who did win, or who got second.
Mike Hemme of Killjoy, below, had a fantastic Cat 3 race and took the win! And then he came back and did the Cat 1/2's and did well in that race too! Now I imagine you are thinking, isn't that the guy who won the six hour duo with his teammate Jason the day before at John Muir? Indeed, that is the one. Impressive.
it started to rain during the Cat 3/ Women 1,2,3's race and got worse for the Women 4's and Juniors race. It changed the nature of the course alot for the Women's 4's and later races. The off camber downhill turned into a crash fest! This pic is from the 4A's.
In the Men's 1/2's race a big congrats goes to Scott (SRAM Factory)(and yet another former mtb teammate) for really pushing it, taking an opportunity when the rider behind him crashed to get a decisive lead and then a strong win! After a long week of non-stop traveling all around the country, no less. All that suffering in Madison last week at the UCI races must have been good preparation for this one. It was a good course for his mad skillz on the bike.
I guess I won't repeat what Kevin K. was saying below when he tore around the tree at warp speed, heading towards the start/finish area. He overcame a frustrating start to finish strong in 3rd place in the 1/2's race, go Kevin!
Tom brought his new Eriksen out for its debut this weekend! Sunday was his second ride on it. He rode the 4A's. I'm very much drooling over this work of art - the parts/decal color scheme is perfect, the frame flawless, all around excellent taste! It was great to see Tom at the races again, and to see little Hans (his son, not the bike). Check out this drool-worthy machine!! mmm, mango orange.....
David L., son of Chris L. of Verdigris, is having fun doing the junior races this year. Those barriers have got to be so much harder when your bike is almost as big as you are! When you see David out there on the course, give him some encouragement, he's the future of our sport!
I'm really enjoying seeing so many of the Chicago area peeps at the cross series that I haven't seen in ages due to traveling to WORS and WEMS all summer. It was great to see all of the Half Acre team peeps at their race! Well, most of them - I was sorry that Julie and Ben had a car breakdown and didn't make it. We missed them! The Half Acres, along with North Central Cyclery, put on a great event with interesting little extras. They had fun stuff going on, like the bake sale and cool t-shirts and great posters and the giant checks that would have been great on the podium had it not rained. It was a good venue, from a spectator standpoint. A building for shelter from the rain, and real bathrooms. From a racer standpoint, the course looked to be really fun, and was nice and long. I took lots and lots of pics, so if you have the patience to scan the thumbnails,
have at it! I have some of the Women 1/2/3's, Men Cat 3's, Women 4's and Juniors, Men Cat 1/2, Men Cat 4A's. Some are kinda dark due to the rain and overcast skies. For you Half Acre riders, I tried to take lots of pics of you because I knew you guys were too busy to be out snapping many photos!
P.S. A little blast from the past for anyone who's been around mt bike racing for a while - remember this Pedal Power jersey? When he (I forgot this racer's name, although I remember his face) showed us the jersey on Sunday and asked us if we remembered it, I was trying to also remember the name of the guy who owned that shop who was always at the races. I think he ran the races that were always at the boy scout camp in Kankakee? Both mt and a few cross races were there. One year the state 'cross champs were there in the pouring rain! (I lost the race, got second (small field, only one category then), because I couldn't see the trail through my glasses in the rain, especially on the downhills. I had to slow down or risk crashing and burning, it was sooo frustrating to have that be the reason!) anyway, I now remember his name, can anyone else remember, just for the fun of it?
The men's elite winner, Jesse, coming across the line. When I was standing at the Equalizer, Cole House had come through first the last couple of times I saw them, with Jesse right on his wheel. Jesse put some time on Cole near the end of the race. I can't find a pic of the elite women's winner. I'm not sure what her jersey looks like, I thought one of the other women won. 
You know where you are when you see THIS guy!
His encouragement, which is unwavering but comes in various forms (as you can see), helps a lot of people make it to the top.....of the equalizer, at least! He's having open heart surgery next week - we wish him the best in his surgery!
