Congratulations to Source Endurance clients Shadd Smith and Joseph Schmalz take top honors in Hermann, MO!
Opening Day of Cyclocross in the Midwest is in the books! Depending on where you were, how far you wanted to drive, and how late you wanted to stay up, races in Kansas City or Hermann, MO were fun times for all!
At Hermann, Shadd Smith and Joseph Schmalz demonstrated some fine form and gave a preview of what is to come all year as they tested their form for their respective early season goals. Shadd can be spotted at Interbike racing in Cross Vegas while Joe will be toeing the line in Madison, WI for the first round of USGP series. Wish them luck and watch their results all season long!
Hermann: Under the Lights
Jeff Yielding put on another fantastic event this year and, as always, I was given a brutal reminder as to exactly how hard CX really is. KCCX had the entire squad there as we use this event as the chance to showcase the riders, the bikes and the new clothes so the pressure was on to bring the A game.
Personally, I never put any pressure on myself for the first race of the year. Most of the time the skills are a bit lacking and the equipment isn't quite dialed in so no pressure, no problem. However, Joe is using his hard earned road form to take a stab at some early UCI points so he should be flying.
Bam! We're off and immediately I'm reminded that I need to work on the starting process of CX. However, the pre-riding definitely paid off as I was able to rip the first lap at full speed and close down some of the spots I had relinquished in the first 200m.
I bridged up to my team mates and their group who was racing for 7-11 within 3-4 laps and we began picking apart the remainder of the guys. Jeff Winkler had just flown the coup so I missed the chance to ride for 5th with him. On a side note, Jeff already a very successful day at Swope Cross in KC.
We jumped the group a few times and managed to set up an island that Bill rode across to giving KCCX 7th and 8th until a mechanical forced Bill to return to the group. Meanwhile, I caught 6th place and entered into a duel for the place. In the end, I gave up my only advantage which is the ability to attack while already pushing the limit, and gave the advantage in a sprint finish back to a rider who was bigger and had a better sprint (from a rested state) on a fast finish. My mistake and he made me pay for it.
In the end, KCCX finished 2nd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th.
