So it was the second year in a row that the Carpentersville Oktoberfest had to be missed for a wedding. And the second year that I did a KISS Cross race in Grand Rapids as a worthy substitute. It was fortunately not the kind of wedding that had me doing Incredible Hulk shots with college drinking buddies. The course was only eight miles away, it was a nice day so my dad and I rolled in tough and rode to the race, much to the dismay of a mother-in-law who was sure that kind of ride would be the end of her. We got to the park and found there were two kegs of Founder’s Ale…Free…Derka Derka. But, not before the race.

The course was rad, triple barriers, single barrier into a steep sandy run-up, a heap of singletrack, and a 30+ mph descent. Hell yeah that’s my kind of course. No USA Cycling categories here just A,B,C, pick your poison. About 30 riders lined up for the A’s race and I got a good spot in the second row. A good start put me safely into the top ten and I stayed there for the rest of the race. These are not timed races, you have to count your own laps. Trying to keep track of my laps in a cross race is a near impossibilty for me. Somewhere near the 7th lap I had about a twenty second gap on a pair of chasers that were neither gaining, nor losing, just hovering. We came to the run up and I dropped my chain thanks to a sloppy dismount. This delayed me just enough to let the pair catch up to me. Now it was on. I kept their wheels for half a lap and then attacked, I was gaining on fourth place and didn’t want to let him get away. Fourth place never got reeled in, and in the last lap confusion, 8 or 9, 8 or 9 things just kind of crapped out. Waiting to put in that last lap full gas effort I was a lap to late and that was the end of it. 6th place well earned. A terrific effort, washed down with a terrific brew. It’s a great thing to step outside the bubble of the Cup and see what’s what in the world around us, to bad there is no Louisville GP in the cards for me. We rode to the race so it was only fitting that we rode home, on freshly paved rail trail almost all the way home. That was a good day on the bike.