’09 Cross Season
Another ‘cross season has come and gone. Damn, seems like it was just yesterday I was gluing tubbies and waiting for the heat to break. Our little team definitely made a mark on the cyclocross scene both here in the 801 and on the National stage as well. What started as an idea with me and Krafty in the spring grew to something I could have never dared imagine. Big Ring went BIG! Locally we pretty much ran the table at the UTCX Series winning the team points by a large margin. Our riders also won the overall in Mens 35+ B (Tim Az), Mens 35+A (Art O’Connor), and Mens 55+ (Bob Walker). Art O’Connor and Ali Goulet won State titles in Utah and Dr. Kris Wlaker won in Idaho, (Bob too?).
Nationally Ali Goulet dominated the USGP Master Series and finished out the year with a 3rd at the National Championships. Dr. Kris Walker came through in a big way at Nationals and defended her National title in a photo finish. She then followed that up with 26th in the Elite race, bad ass. Other rides of note at Nats, Bo Pitkin charged from a 108th starting position to finish 17th in the stacked Masters 35-39 race. Dayna Deuter and Jennie Wade both had rides that were hindered by bad luck and their final placing was by no means an indication of how well they rode. Same with Bob Walker and Mike Kracht, they went big.
The Champ!
In the end wins are nice and all but the true measure of the season is the friendships forged both with team mates and rivals. Across the board I could not think of a finer group of people to hang with then my fellow Big Ringers. I am proud to wear the colors with them. For me personally, on paper it looks like I had an easy time of it, I won a lot of races. Let me just say this, I turned myself inside out every week and I can’t remember a season where I was pushed so hard by my competitors. Every week was a toe to toe slug fest. Every time I train this winter I will remember how hard those guy pushed me.
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4 Responses to “’09 Cross Season”
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Big Ring rocks. Congradulations to all who participate.
All hail the big ring.
Now I just have to remember how to shift to mine. The snow’s keeping me small most days now.
Agree with Art 100%. Originally, we figured we maybe grab one or two other riders and give it a go. The next thing you know, we have some amazing people throughout the region joining the team. The rest is history. THANKS TO EVERYONE that helped make this possible!!! The seal has been broken….
-MK
Really? I didn’t know that. That was an interesting post. Thank you for increasing my knowledge.