Grand Prix HPT

Pics will have to come later. Turns out the neighbors my be on to me & the intraweb is spotty to non existent...kinda like my CX season(like that transition?).

Saturday I loaded up the family & headed to Topeka, KS. I loved the Grand Prix HPT last year so I really wanted to make the trip again this year. There is something about CX on a car dirt track at night that is appealing to me . Its appealing but not my kinda of racing. I just don't have that kind of top end speed in my legs these days. Not enough crit racing. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet & upgrade to 2's on the road as well so I can get my ass handed to me in crits as well as CX. All in the name of speed I guess.

The course was a little different this year with the addition of some extra grass off track. Good call since it made the lap a little longer, which made my chances of staying on the lead lap better. The start went up a little grass hill with a tight S turn thrown in to snub speed before going around a washed out gravel like ice turn before hitting the track. Then a balls out spin out your biggest gear down wind run on the track. Dive into another loose turn. Go into the wind on the track. Shoot into the bumpy infield. Then a series of turns that actually put you back on your self. This was my favorite part of the course. Then off for a into the wind turn tail wind run down the back side of the track. Then a sketchy turn(Everyone was actually running this) up a set of stairs to get out of the track onto the grass. Next up was a leg sucking slog throw grass. Then up a steep little bitch of a hill back around some chicanes to another stair run to the finish.

Not really much to report on my race. I ran the Grifo XS for the first time this season. I went with 40 PSI(I went for speed over comfort). Made the grass bumpy but manageable & was nice on the track. In the S turn after the start I hit traffic HARD. I smashed into someones wheel & had the favor returned to me from behind. Didn't unclip but all momentum was gone going onto the track. Then I pretty much came unglued & went backwards. After a few laps following faster wheels than mine hooked up with a Colvitia guy. Dropped him then when on a TT to stay on the lead lap. No small feat with a former road PRO & #3 U23 of the USGP up front. I put my head down & stayed on the lead lap. Crossed in 12th my usual place. If there is a 100 people or 12 it seems I'm 12th.