Michigan Double Cross day 1-Tasha's 1st UCI win!

Briefly...
Well drove down to MI, for a double Cross weekend. We are staying with awesome hosts, Claudio and Merry. Natasha rode away yesterday and captures her first UCI Cross victory!
She got the hole shot, increased the tempo and rode really smooth ever increasing the margin on the field. I was so happy to see this come together for Natasha. Granted it was a small field, but I think this helps her build the skill set of riding on the front, off the front and learning how to win. Cause really you have to learn how to win.

Not to mention fellow EMD'er Steve "biff it with 25 psi" Proulx taking I believe his 1st US Cross Victory.

I wanted to go hard from the start, but had some derailer issues and completely missed the first pedal rev, had n0 momentum going into the 1st straight, was in 20th-25th place. I thought it was disastrous, started to pass people, riding insane, taking all kinds of risks, flew into the 1st set of barriers so fast and throttled myself into the second barrier, recovered, then locked bars with someone in a U turn, continued to redline it, pulled back 30 seconds to the chase group in the second lap. Ok, pause for a second, it was 85 degrees...did I say it was hot. So back to the chase, I turned it inside out to get to the group of 8. Page and Mueller had already escaped the group, so fight for 3rd. The efforts in the first couple laps took their toll and I couldn't seal the deal for 3rd as Canadian Champ Mike Garrigan threw it down in the woods to get the gap.

Was I smooth...no way. Did I have finesse? Can't say yes to that one. Technique was sufficient, but just not graceful. I know theres gonna be a pic of me eating the barrier and my bike getting prepared for landing.

I was up late Friday, prepping our bikes with the Octto tape and bars, we got from Dave in Toronto. If you want to find us, just look for the yellow. I can't wait to get the new Stevens bikes, and we'll be all specked out on Octto bars, stems, seatposts. Dave even gave us some Octto skewers...which are so nice...wait until you see this stuff!

So getting ready for day two. Derailer issues aside and I switched back to my old pedals, maybe if I don't start at the back I can actually really surprise myself today.
DSJ