MEN'S OPEN AT KCCX 2008, HE WHO HASETH THE POWER...

The start, always crazy fast and critical to the Elite's to get out in front and out of trouble...

Coming into the lower "S" curves, trying to find the cleanest, quickest lines...

Huge wattage as the pros hit the hill, JDUBS, who literally lost his wheel in a melay on lap one, begins his climb back into the top 20....with encouragement of course.

Trebon leads the charge back as Todd Wells struggles a bit to reconnect after leading out earlier in the race.

JDUBS continues to bury himself back into contention with help from psycho fan....me. It's tough to hold back when you have one of your homies out there and you know how hard he has worked to get to this point, especially after he had to overcome the big ricka at the start of the race....get on it JW.


And then the start of the decisive move from Trebon with a couple to go.

And Jake Wells continuing to battle for a top 20 with Tilford chasin.

IF YOU CAN FINISH, NEVER QUIT...

One thing I learned as a young man from my father was to never quit if you can go on. He suffered from Brain Cancer at the age of 40 when I was only ten and faught hard for the next 29 years of his life, he was mentally tougher than many, and overcame impossible odds for many years. This picture which was sent to me by "Emil" who was at the races this weekend will remain a favorite of mine until death. It was taken about two minutes after the start of the 40+ B race on Thursday after the nasty wreck I was involved in at the start. One thing you can never measure about everyone racing is why they do it. Well, I do it because I can, for those who can not. I do not do it to win a top podium spot, finishing these sufferfests is winning, every racer who lines up is a winner.

Once I gathered myself after crashing and got the bike rideable, realized I could ride, there was no doubt I was going to finish this day. I was overcome with emotion at this point due to my unfortunate circumstance and decided to do what old man Grossman would have done, fight back and fight hard. I was so far off the back of the 99 other riders it turned into an adrenaline charged push, the fans were unreal. I had more fun racing the rest of this race than I can remember in a while. I finished. Thanks for the pic Emil...priceless.

MORE SINGLESPEED ACTION...

Singlespeed Champion Lalonde talks with Andrew from Cyclocross mag after the race. Lalonde ran a patient race, letting Skyler Trujillo pull for much of the late race, then put down the hammer with one to go.
Faia at the last run-up


Cheek following close behind...would catch


Travis ran sick all weekend..

More Cheek on the last lap

Andrew from CX MAG SS'n it

Skyler rolls to a silver medal

Crossniac Jared from Minnesota rocked the oner as well, not to mention the Mud and Blood Ball on Thursday night with the awesome movie from last years KCCX action.

MEN'S ELITE RACE AT KCCX 2008 HAD ALOT OF STORIES...

Including this tangle when Jonathan Baker got caught up with Myerson and hit the deck. Jake Wells, who had been battling back from the bottom of the field after his own drama nearly crashed when he ran into Baker but stayed upright and continued his legendary comeback...more on that later.Photo Conor Mullervy

SKYLER TRUJILLO, THE COMEBACK KID, SINGLESPEED STYLE

And how's about this kid? Skyler Trujillo, who plain and simply struggled in his junior race on Thursday in the mud of the morning, came back locked and loaded to race Singlespeed at 8am on Sunday morning. If you were there, and you were not impressed with Skyler's race, you should have two shoes thrown at you from the third row of a press conference. Skyler was with last year's winner James Lalonde for the entire race until Lalonde put the winning move on at the top of the last climb. David Meyer hung tough as well, but it was Skyler taking the silver in what was rumored as his first ever SS cross race. Wow. I think the kid is 17.

Of course, there were the other Singlespeed characters in the house as well chasing the young buck.

COMPTON, COMPTON, COMPTON, COMPTON

On Sunday Morning, the weather had experienced some turmoil. The SS race saw temps in the 50's at the end of the race, and when the Women's Collegiate race started it was warmer. The girls all dressed for a sweat drenched effort, and when the cold front slammed through 5 minutes into their race effort, the thermometer dropped like never before quickly pushing into the 20's in less than a minute's time. By the time the elites raced it was FREEEEZING. The track had become incredibly fast and furious. If you have ever witnessed a MTB short track race, well it was basically a long version of short track with tacky turns and smooth lines. One or two short bumpy sections along the way but a course for climbers and power riders. Technical skills were basically thrown out the door as the tight sections were grippy and nearly impossible to wash out on. Katie Compton put on a clinic as her power, climbing and handling skills decimated the huge women's elite field...Katie is looking lean and VERY fast right now and with Nats behind her, must be very excited about her chances this year at Worlds.

Lap Three, the Compton Crush begins in earnst.

And later at the top of the course, which had a substantial and demanding climb, Katie kicks it into overdrive with Gould and Lloyd trying to minimize the damage.

SHOW THIS POST TO YOUR WIFE BURNSY..

Burnsy rockin the CultCross T-shirt in the Singlespeed raceIt will surely help her appreciate why we train so hard all year to attend this event and race like real men...I'm proud of you for taking the hand-up my friend.

2:09 AM, SUNDAY NIGHT, JUST GOT HOME FROM KCCX 2008 AND IT'S TREBON AND COMPTON IN STARS AND STRIPES...

When Trebon went, no one aswered the bell.

Exhausted, wounded, satisfied and thankful as hell I was able to partcipate as a competitor and spectator (as well as provide the most spectacular wreck of the weekend) in Kansas City, Missouri this weekend, we have arrived home safe thanks to the crushing driving effort of Burnsy. Despite only almost losing one bike out of the roof top rack on the way home, it's all good and in the record books. Monster blogging coming this week. Today was awesome at KCCX with Trebon and Compton once again throwing, and a very near impossible upset by Tyler Trujillo in the Singlespeed race as he bounced back from a sub-par effort in his junior race to nearly snatch a crown.

And Katie Compton continues to roll towards her Rainbow Jersey attempt at the Worlds.