Derby City Cup II

Date: Oct 27 Sat
Mileage: 19 (LHT)
October mileage: 374
Year to date: 1975
Temps: 57F/overcast and damp

Well, L is better but Z has come down with "it". Now, which of the parents is next? That will be the question of foreshadowed doom the rest of the this weekend and the start of the week. I changed the 'disposal dishwasher hose' this morning; it the easiest fix I'd done in a while. After that I finally got out after a week of sloth and rain. Yet again I chose the LHT b/c I seem to really be comfy on the Rando/B-17 setup it provides. My goal was to take an easy loop down towards the RRCC area to watch some of the 'Cross Gran Prix taking place today and tomorrow. If it works out, I'll be able to take in the pros tomorrow, but today was more a brief stop to check out the course and the ambiance. It looks like they did a great job with the course and the general feel, but I didn't see many fans there. I'm sure much more of the general public shows up in places like Portland and in New England. Hopefully the racers will be satisfied enough that they want to come back, even if the fanbase is less than "Flanders-esque".

It was motivating to see 'cross like this, though. I raced 'cross for 2 years back when I was in "racing" shape- '99 and '00. Now I only have a vague notion of how much I was lifting, running and biking. I bet I had as many miles as I do now, but I was lifting 2/3x a week and jogging too, with some hill running thrown in for 'cross purposes. It WOULD feel good to feel like that, but now I'm much more involved in tennis in the spring, so I just don't know. I would have the summer to get lots of base miles in, and I do like the muddy off-road feel of 'cross, so we'll see. Below are a few crappy pics of today's ride. Buddhists aren't supposed to cling, so I guess it's not important that my camera sucks, but it sucks.

You can see from this pic that, with all the rainfall this week (9"+), Beargrass Creek flooded the BC Trail in places. Yummm, wet gooey mud to dance through.

This seems to be elusive Mr. Blue Heron that I've seen 2 or 3 times on the BCT. He stopped for me to take a not-that-clear pic.

One view of the 'cross course today. This is a view down a former fairway.

This is a shot of River Road looking East. They closed it down for the race!! I'm loving that. This obviously is the start/finish, not the most exciting part of the course, but rock on NoCar!

A better pic that I though in hindsight. This is none other than Chris Horner in Lotto kit. For those 2 readers who don't know, he finished 15th in this year's TdF, higher than I thought. And he played runner-up Cadel Evan's right-hand last-man-standing in the mountains. And he's right here in the 'Ville at a cross race. This portion of the course is a tight chicane through trees.

Shitty pic, but the Kona duo of Trebon and Wicks is an impressive sight. these boys are both something like 6'4" or taller, monsters in a sport of dwarves.

Apparently they were not tall enough today b/c cyclingnews reported that they finished 3 and 4 behind Jeremy Powers and my hero Tim Johnson. Tomorrow they go off again and I'll be there for full race report. I might even take the video cam and see what I can do. Or maybe not. I'll just clear out the digicam.