2007 National Cyclocross Championship

On Wednesday morning we left around 8:00. The drive was about nine hours long. Ours turned out to be more like ten. We ended up getting lost big time in Kansas City, MO...it was interesting. Once we figured it out, we went to check in at our hotel. We stayed at a Comfort Inn Suites. It was a nice hotel. A few hours later we went to eat dinner at IHOP with Dave,Sammy,and Skylar. I got Chocolate Chip Pankakes. They just so happened to be delicious. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and I went straight to sleep.

On Thursday I wasn't really planning on doing much. I woke up around 7:00 and watched some TV. Around eight I went downstairs to eat. After that we headed over to the course so I could watch Anna and Sarah race the B's. That was pretty interesting I guess. I walked around some of the course as well. Once we were done with that we headed back to the hotel. I pretty much just laid around until 1:30. Later that day I went back to the course with Sam. Once we got there she decided that she wasn't going to ride it because of the conditions. We started to walk around the course just so we could see what it was like. I still really wanted to ride it. I felt more comfortable knowing how it would feel on the bike. A little while later I saw Patti and Ian, I ran back up to get my bike so I could pre ride with them. The course was super muddy. I'm really glad that I decided to ride the course. That night we went out to eat with the Schneider's, Adam and his dad, and Adrienne from Mesa Cycles. Once I got back to the hotel I got everything ready for the next day and then went to sleep.

On Friday morning I woke up at 6:30. I raced today at 9:00. I went downstairs and ate breakfast which was pretty good. We loaded some stuff in the car and then went over to Sam's hotel. Once they were ready we drove over the the park. Sam and I rode one lap of the course right when we got there. About five minutes into the lap, I was just thinking ohh my gosh. All the mud from yesterday froze. It was all mud, ruts, and ice. Then we rode out on the road for awhile because there wasn't exactly enough time to get on the trainers. Around 8:45 I headed down to the start.

The 17-18 girls started about a minute or so in front of us. Soon after the whistle blew for us to go. I was with Coryn until we got to the pits. The trick was to stay on your bike. The first time I got caught in the caution tape...it took me about 25 seconds to get out of that stuff. Throughout the day, getting stuck in the caution tape, seemed to happen to a lot of people. Once I got out of that I decided that I was just going to take my time.When I tried to go too fast, a couple times I just ended up finding myself making more mistakes. Once I got back on the road and went through the finish they rang the bell for one lap to go. I was somewhat confused by this. I made my way half way through the 17-18 field by the first half of the second lap. For the rest of the race I just kept a consistent pace and tried to stay upright. I ended up finishing 2nd again. About a 1:22 behind Coryn with 3rd place about 3 minutes behind me. Overall the race was a lot of fun and I am happy with how I finished.

I would now like to thank everyone who helped me out with this adventure...
Mom.
Mike Weber.
Patty Kaufmann
My coach..Joe
Dave Schneider
Hans Haupt..for cleaning my bike on Thursday
Renee Callaway.
Kenny
And of course Paul! go rock lobster!




Here's some pictures...

Hello everyone. I have been super busy trying to catch up on school this week. But I am going to write about Cross Nationals tomorrow.


ciao

Chicago State Cross Race

The course was okay. I didn't like some parts of it. There was snow and mud. There was this one part of the course that I crashed on every lap...it was getting annoying. I ended up getting fourth. Overall it was fun. :] ohhh and I leave for nationals in Kansas tomorrow and I'm super excited. :]

kaitie.

Wisconsin State Cyclo-Cross Championships

sorry im so late with this.

In my opinion the state cross race had the best weather conditions of the season. Snow and mud. :] The course was 1.5 miles long with two sets of barriers and two run-ups. There was also two bridges we had to ride over that seemed to cause some problems for a few people. In the junior race we just ended up doing two laps seeing that it took longer than normal to complete one lap. It was very difficult to get started. I found myself getting frusterated because I would try to go one way but the snow would take me the other way. I crashed a couple of times which hurt...but overall the race was fun. The women 1-2 race was one of the last races of the day. The course conditions changed to a mud path mixed with snow. It was still difficult to get started but easier to steer this time. For about half of the first lap I was in a group of three riders which put me in 6th place for the moment. Once we got to the second run-up I got away from the group of three I was with. Once I did that I started to work my way up to Jennifer Greenberg and my soon to be new teammate Elicia Hildebrand. Once I caught them Elicia and I stayed relatively close for the rest of the race. We had about three more laps left and I decided that I was going to try and catch one more person. I ended up catching Sam on the first run-up. We had 2 and a half laps left and I was in third place. For the rest of the race I just tried to increase the gap between me and fourth place. I ended up finishing third overall and second in the state behing Kristen Wentworth being the state champion and Devon Haskell from IL. winning the race.