Turkey Cross

Headed up to Toronto yesterday a great day of cross racing. The 'turkey cross' race--this year the race was at a new park, so didn't know what to expect with the course. We were running a bit late in the morning, so that ate into my warm-up, and I only ended up doing like 1/2 lap before the race. Oh well, I figured I would get a good starting position, and start well but a bit conservative since I didn't know the course very well. I had a pretty good start, followed some wheels, moved up a bit. Got through the first few turns and the off-camber leading into the barriers. The leaders started to open up a bit of a gap through this section, and being behind a few other riders- we just ended up riding in a small group of 4 or so. We got to the big off-camber section, and the first ride through wasn't great... no one crashed but we lost alot of speed as we all unclipped a bit. Hit the fast downhill and the run-ups and was kindof getting used to the course. I wanted to move to the front of the group before the big off camber section, so I could lead through there. I made it past a few girls before there, but was second leading into that section. The rider leading crashed, and slid out... I managed to unclip and get around her and settle in to a good pace. I was riding well, hit a steak in the ground but that was it. I was racing my new kona major jake, this is my first race on it...I love it!! Anyway, one of the other riders caught me, and we were together for most of the race. I managed to get a small gap on the last 1.5 laps or so --on the big off-camber section (which I could actually ride pretty good by the end of the race). The first place M2 rider was passing us, then he slid out and I managed to get around him and got a bit of a gap. I kept the gap at 10 seconds or so for the rest of the race. I was happy with the race, and finished 3rd in Senior women. The rest of the day, I was at the playground with the kids and watched Nathan's race. Unfortunately, Nathan didn't have a great day, as he was in the pits twice in the first 3 laps of the race with rolled tubulars. I guess he hit a pretty big rut on the course for one of them. But he stuck it out, and kept racing and rode well- everything considered. The kids enjoyed the park, then we stopped and had a nice Thanksgiving meal with family. Wow, I can't believe it is already Thanksgiving, this fall is going fast.