DeStad Series @ Smithville day #1

360racing was highly visible this past weekend. from the cat 3, the master's 'A' to the cat pro,1/2/3 race.

these pics courtesy of Bruce Edwards from day 2 at the smithville cx festival.

The Smithville Cx festival this weekend were rounds 3 and 4 of the DeStad series put on by chris locke and the wheel bike shop.

after 3 days of rain and depressing weather(i.e. some call it fall), on saturday morning, the skies broke and the sun shone thru. all be it chillier temps than what we kc folks have raced in up till now in this young cx season.

for whatever reason, and they were many. i had decided i was going to challenge myself this weekend to racing in the Masters races. this means that i would be getting punished by my own teammates andy, steve and david and also by the fastest man in said category, scott dunsmuir. andy and steve have been trying to help david hedjuk out thru the first few races of the year. david has been battling w/ scott dunsmuir and jeff winkler. both of these guys have been flying and tough to beat. with david white and brendon jenks throwing their support in a couple of races, i felt like i needed to at least attempt to help in the 360 cause. i knew it would be tough, and really didn't think i could be of a whole lot of help except maybe in the first couple of laps. it was going to be a challenge for me to dig deep enough to stay on these guys' wheels. really noone has finished w/ dunsmuir, winkler, hejduk, lucas and songer all year. these guys have really seperated themselves to be the strongest masters' racers in our area. they are the standard, and i wanted to see where i stood.

so day one in smithville came and went. sunny and 50 by the first race of the morning on saturday and it was the cat 3's starting things off. 360 teammates, brad, brian, jason and ted got the ball rolling. brian was coming off a great previous weekend with a 3rd and a 2nd. he was a guy that was going to be in the mix. but, a early wreck, then a midrace mechanical and subsequent bike change had brian going backwards from the front 3 or 4 players to mid-pack. thats tough to overcome in a 3's race around here anymore. the competition just keeps getting better. when you've got pussy cat 1 and 2 roadies sandbagging and afraid to take their lumps with the 1/2's, well.......lets' just say it has been getting more competitve. however, these same roadies i speak of will dissappear when the temps start to fall and the weather turns to shit. i digress...... brad schrock continues to look more comfortable handling the pain of cx and jason and ted are improving and rounding into peak race shape each race weekend.

the pro/1/2 race had cameron and david white wearing the 360 colors. both seemed to get stronger the longer they were out on the course. david was chasing down a worn out bill marshall by the end of the hour of racing and cameron finished 3rd behind winner josh johnson of st. louis and local star shad smith.

the masters race on day 1 was as hard as i had expected. but, in hindsite, i had placed no expectations on me. other than challenging myself to staying on the front groups wheels, i dont think i had fully commited myself to endure the pain that would be needed to accomplish this task. therefore, i think i let myself off 'the hook' before the race had even begun. note to self in future......if u are going to challenge yourself, dont just give it lip service! really do it and pay the price to achieve it. this meant that on saturday, i needed to hurt just a few minutes longer and push just a little bit dipper to stay in contact with steve songer when he went around me to bridge up to dunsmuirs' attack towards the end of the 2nd lap. i didnt do this, and i was left to dangle in the wind and race by myself for the next 4 laps about 15 seconds behind andy. that gap increased to 30 by the end, which in hindsite, is not a bad day of racing. it just leaves me wanting more. more......more effort to dig deeper, more commitment before the start whistle goes off. so 360 finished 1 and 2 w/ songer and lucas in the 45+ race. i think there were 15-16 45+ starters. i finished 2nd behind dunsmuir in the 35+ race and 4th overall behind dunsmuir, songer and lucas respectfully. jason gaikowski raced this race which meant 2 races for saturday. he is definately the 'iron' man of the 360 team. actually matt dutcher raced twice on saturday as well. i think matt might be flying come the first mtb race next year.

more on day 2 later......