Lapham--another Wisconsin name

CX racing is quite addictive. It hurts so bad, but in a strangely rewarding kind of way.

Today’s 1-2 race was pretty small considering that Tristan, Swanson, etc. were out in Ohio racing the UCI CX scene. Brian Matter and Marko Lalonde were the only real usual cross hammerheads that showed up, but I noticed a couple mountain bike hammerheads there as well: Cole House, Matt Brandt, Mike Phillips…so it was going to be hard. Always is.

I got a great holeshot, riding behind the train of Brian Matter, Cole House, and Matt Brandt. For 2 laps, it was perfect like that. At the end of lap 2 I faltered on the hilly barriers and lost contact with the lead group. I had a sizeable gap on the rest of the field, so I decided to maintain my position and try to reel Matter, House, and Brandt back over the next 3 laps—which, needless to say with those guys hopping barriers each lap, was not going to happen. So I was tired when Lalonde and Phillips caught me, but I hung on until 2 laps to go. Marko attacked then, along with another Bianchi/GP rider who bridged to our chase group. So I was mano-e-mano with Phillips racing for 6th place at the finish. No matter how much I turned the heat on, Mike simply wouldn’t fall back (probably that’s why he won 2 WORS races this year), and beat me to the line, leaving me to claim 7th place.

Adam Craig won Iceman 2005 in style.

After today, I’m looking forward to some more CX action this year, it’s been a blast so far! Right now I’m just trying to peak for the Iceman mountain bike race on Novemember 4th, the last important race of the season. Iceman combines the best elements of CX and mtb racing into one, so I know it will be a big hit.