Why Cross Rulz #51...and Race Report #5

So I'm pre-riding the course with JohnnyGreenGiant as he is cooling down after just taking 2nd in the 35A's. I'm racing SS today with the Open A's and I'm rolling around on some file treads I raced here a few weeks back. Today though, the course has nothing in common w/ that speedway. The fast grassy sections have been replaced by sand the the long straights have been balled up in a knot. I'm tip-toeing through every corner....and I didn't bring any other wheels cause I decided to sleep instead of glueing them up late into the night. JGG offers his front wheel to me. A flexus glued up on 58mm of C14 heaven. That's cross for ya. Complete strangers will hand you the sweetest set up to flog without thinking twice. I politely declined, but did accept his offer of a pit wheel, a clincher running a racing ralph. Hallelujah!. The rear still had a mind of it's own but the front was cooperating nicely. The SS field is never big at this series, but I tell myself in a Nietzsche-esque sort of way that it's good training. Lots of curves, lots of sand, lots of barriers. Even a six-pack on this one. Oh, did I mention that I also decided to run a taller gear (that's me in the photo showing the gearing I chose) as I was often spun out on those long straights last time. Well, I was able to stay mid-pack w/ the A's until the gear began to expand. What started out as a 42x17 somehow ended up as a 215x17. I was caught w/ two to go, hung on for a lap as the attacks started then got dropped half way through the last lap...ARGGGH. I still managed to hang on for the win in the SS cat, but was further down in the A's than I should have been if had I turned myself inside out (which I'm not wont to do). I won't mention the size of the SS pack, or the fact that half of them had also raced earlier in the day. A win is a win is a win and at this stage of the game, I'll take 'em as they come.