Warm up

This past Sunday XXX Racing hosted the Jackson Park CX relay races for the third year in a row. 2-person teams alternate laps so the racing is very intense - roughly 6 minutes of intense racing followed by 6 minutes of recovery for each rider. Just like last year, I teamed up with SRAM Factory teammate J.P. McCarthy in the Master's 40+ race and we won it again. This time we also beat the first 30+ team which was on course simultaneously.

And again like last year, I teamed up with David Reyes for the Elite race later in the day, and we again finished 2nd overall. Michael Hemme won the Elite race for the 2nd year in a row, this time teamed up with out-of-town ringer Shaun Adamson of Cycle-Smart. Mike is a new SRAM employee, but already outfitted with SRAM drivetrain and Avid brakes:

Photo: Edmund White

The Elite race was pretty exciting, with David and I swapping the lead with Mike and Shaun at least a dozen times before the end. Mike and I raced the 2nd-to-last lap against each other and he came out ahead, coming in to the transition zone a few bike lengths ahead of me, so Shaun had a small gap on David starting the final lap of the race. And that's how it finished up as well - David put in a good sprint but couldn't overcome the small lead that Shaun was able to maintain throughout that final lap:

It rained lightly throughout the race, but intensified during the final lap. Photo: Edmund White

And once again like last year, I did the final race of the day, the co-ed event, with my wife Ellen.  My legs were shot by then but Ellen was racing like a pro and we improved our placing to 7th this year. Good job, sweetheart...sorry I was so slow.