Day 2 of our Houston CX Extravaganza was Give Me Some Sugar CX. Brian Voytilla the organizer of last years’ BCRCX, decided to do something different this time around and partnering with Kyle Davenport, started KOLO Promotions. The course was on an old abandoned golf course (hmm, familiar terrain) with Belgian steps and a FLYOVER!!!
I woke up that morning with pretty bad back pain. It felt like someone had spent all night using my lower back as driving range target practice. Maybe I have a weak core, maybe I’m just getting old. I thought about a possible DNS that day, but with enough coffee and Icy Hot, I loosened up enough to toe the line. Since I have no Texas Cup points, I again started at the very back. With the starting line on a small driveway that that took a left hander over a curb and onto the course, it felt very PRO. I was just hoping I wouldn’t hit the deck in the inevitable pile-up over the curb. Unlike Saturday’s race, I found myself on the back of the front group fairly soon, maybe lap one. Then somewhere around lap 3, I was on the front. Felt a bit too early, but the legs felt good and the flat, fast course suited me well. With three laps to go, myself, Tyler Nutter and Bradyn Lange (winner of the 3/4 BCRCX race) found ourselves with a bit of a gap. On a cart-path straightaway, we yelled at the youngster to put it in the big ring and go, protecting our gap. Well, Bradyn popped a bit and drifted back and I got on the front and pulled Tyler for a lap. I knew this wasn’t the best move, but I was there and I knew there would be no way for me to get Tyler to come around unless he wanted to. I had felt really good all race going though the Belgian steps and barriers: I was coming in really fast and going over with a lot of control. (Much thanks to Dan and Rusty from Fulcrum Coaching). In fact, I made up a lot of positions earlier in the race at both of these obstacles. Around two to go, I finally figured out why Tyler was always right on my wheel through the barriers: he was bunny hopping them! He went to the front and I stayed on his wheel as much as I could through the technical stuff and on the last lap, while he bunny hopped and was pedaling instantly, I was there floating in the air, trying to land my fat ass on the saddle. Tyler got the win and I managed to hold off a charging Bradyn for second. Plenty of great lessons to be gleaned from racing with such great competition.
Chris Reed was chomping at the bit after crashing out in the 4/5 race the day before. He borrowed Rob’s bike and donned his shoes (without socks, no less) and quickly found himself out front, bunny hopping the barriers like the madman he was. With a few laps to go, some fatigue set-in and he dropped to second place. By this time, Wes had worked his way up to third and worked to hold off the other racers while shouting words of encouragement to Chris. Team work makes the dream work and Chris Reed scored his second podium in as many weeks and Wes his second in as many days.
Damn, I love ‘cross racing road trips. Pencil in this race weekend for next year, folks!
Yeah You Ride-
Boedi
yeahyouride.com 
Thanks for coming out! If you pre-registered and have USAC points, you should have been called up in the proper place with all the others with points. TXBRA races are not based on TXC Cup points this year. Oh, the other requirement for call-ups is pre-reg. See you in January.
Hey, Joe, thanks for the comment. This was debated amongst our crew as what exactly were the call-up procedures as we all pre-registered (some early) and had USAC points (some predicted 12th and not called up).