Blunt Park Cross Race 8-23-09

Let the fun begin. Blunt Park was the first race of the season and the turn out was good (even though everyone says it's too early for cross). Paul came up to race along with Frank Navone and the Brazilians. Frank, the Boys and I raced the cat 4 race. Before the race I said I was just going to ride around and not go too hard since my shoulder and elbow are still on the mend. What do I do at race time? Line up on the front row. I guess I am racing. Anyway, long story short, I felt good and got 6th out of 52. Frank looked like he was having a little trouble, but finished strong and said he felt pretty good. Ed (not his real name) Got third on his mountain bike and Jesse got 12th, even riding with one foot clipped in (he brought one road shoe and one mountain).
So I had registered to do the cat 3/4 race as well and was feeling OK when start time came around. I decided to start farther back and let the fresh guys have at it. Paul was up there. This race was a little faster and I stayed fairly close to the front for about the first 30 minutes. I kept Paul in sight. But then, my mind decided my body was tired and I slowed way down. For some reason I was thinking there was about 5 laps to go. I got passed by about 5 guys just as I heard the bell ring for the last lap. Paul did pretty well and finished 12th of 63. He was pissed because some kid who had no skills totally clogged the course right in front of him. I'm sure he could have got top 10, but that's cross, the start is everything. I ended up 28th.
The course was greatly improved over last year and was a lot more like a typical cross course. Now if they can get rid of the log crossings, it'll be a really good course.