Thursday night I was looking at the rest of my season. Since super cross wasn't going to happen for me, I didn't have anything left that I considered an important race. I had more than enough upgrade points and races to upgrade. I put in for my Cat 3 upgrade that day, and by the time I got home that night I had already got a confirmation email. That was the quickest upgrade ever. I spent the night thinking about my season and became sort of nostalgic about everyone I was leaving in the 4's. I know that sounds cheesy, but I have been with these guys all season. I've learned with them, learned about them, and thrown everything I had into getting to every race with them.
Saturday was my first Cat 3 "B" race at Kutztown. This was a 2/3/4 race. I went into it not feeling much pressure. I just wanted to guage what I was up against and see what I could do. I've had a good run in the 4's this season. I've built up my confidence as a 4, but when I hit the starting grid in this race, my confidence went out the window. I felt like it was my first cross race as we left the gate. I just followed the flow of everyone else instead of creating my own. I just wasn't riding with the same attitude as I have been riding with all season.
I held my ground around 10th position. On the last lap I went to unclip for the barriers and my foot was stuck in my pedal. After finally getting unclipped, I realized that I had broke my cleat. Wilis was standing right next to the barriers and he yelled out "what size shoe do you wear?". Before I could mutter out "44" he was throwing his right shoe at me. Luckily we both ride time pedals. I put the shoe on and finished my race. I was riding pissed at this point as I had lost quite a few positions from the incident. I passed a couple more and finished in 16th place with 2 different shoes. I'm sure I would have been DQ'd if an official had seen the exchange, but whatever...At least I finished the race. I'm sure I'll always remember my first "B" race. I wish someone got some photos.
Day 2 I felt like shit before and during. No excuses except that I just wasn't feeling it. I ended up 11th. The course was honestly pretty boring. It was a great weekend simply because there were a lot of us there and we had fun together. The course left something to be desired.
Jen Nordhem took some photos of our race with my camera, and I took photos of the other races. Here are a few, and the rest are HERE on my flickr (definitely not my best photos of the season):
