I arrived at KC today to find sunshine and blue skies. This is a much better sight than what was forecasted earlier in the week. They did get some snow out here I guess on Monday or Tuesday, so the course is muddy, but it is only bad enough to stick on the wheels and nothing more. The course is the perfect for someone that can put out a ton of watts. It has more vertical climbing than any cross course that I have ever witness and is probably on the biggest hill in the KC Area, too. The course kind of serpentines up the hill to the top and then does the same coming back down. Don't get me wrong it is a fun course, but it is going to make racers hurt real bad. There are three dismounts per lap; one set of double barriers and two separate sets of steps going up steep inclines.
I did get to watch the end of the womens 30-39 masters race and the entire mens 45-49 masters race. Betsy Shogren rode to a 10th place finish in the womens race and her husband, some guy that very few people have heard of, Gunnar Shogren was 7th in his race. I put a picture of each of them above. There is also a picture of the first uphill run-up on the course.
There are tons of people here like there are every year at cross nationals. It is like a big party with bikes, mud and cold weather all thrown into the mix...always a good time. If you have never been to cross nationals, make a mental note to yourself to do it sometime in the future. Not much more to say for now, hopefully my race reports tomorrow will be a little more exciting. Later - Gerry
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