And so it ends

Well folks, we can now call the New Belgian cross season officially over (unless somehow the guy in the dome up in NH surprises us and pulls off the indoor race). Time to clean the bikes, heal some bumps and bruises, and get read for road rash, uh, I mean road season (or mountain season if you're one of those dirty folks). Headed down to the rescheduled Natz Schmatz race yesterday basically for an excuse to ride my bike. I mentioned in passing last week at home that there was a race this weekend and was told "You should go"... ok, who am I to argue. Nothing really overwhelming to report about the race except that I have a new favorite hoppy beer. There were maybe 11 or 12 in the 4's race. I was riding 4th for a while and then got sloppy in the snow sections and fell back to I think 6th. I got a moral victory by riding the sand pit my last warmup lap and all 3 laps of the race. Now granted it was an easy-ish sand pit (as evidenced by most of the 4's riding it), but it was pretty soft and chewed up in sections and I never ride the sand so I'll take it. Seemed like it could be a really fun course in snowless conditions so I think I'll make a point to go back next year for the mid season event there. Cookie took second behind some dude in a tattered windbreaker who duck taped his number on who I think rode to the race (incognito sandbagger). Came out with a few more bumps than I wanted thanks to some less than graceful incidents in the snow, but I'll be fine.

I think it's on to a couple months of running season for me. I've got LOTS of bike cleaning to do so that may be the extent of my bike contact for a bit. We'll see...