No results yet, but I might have eeked into the top 10. The "B" and masters fields were getting intermixed, so it was hard to tell. The course was not very traditional in a 'cross sense, but it had it's own challenges. A very urban setting, and we were staring at downtown Cinci from across the Ohio river.
The race composure would have been very different in the wet. The course used a combination of embankments at a river confluence, a 30ft levee, and a little pavement. There wasn't much that was not off camber. The two available run-ups (neither forced) ended up both being ridable, the 2nd of which left you with an immediate steep descent to fumble with if you did run it. There were no standard barriers, but one forced dismount to clear a tall curb. Several mounds of mulch and a pile of construction gravel made for some additional challenges.
There had been some charity walk through the same area as we arrived, so access to the race are was postponed. I had forgot my trainer to use for a warm-up, but time was short so we all just pre-rode the course. It was pretty warm, so I started out conservative and picked my way up through the field. There were only a few good places to pass, but by half way through the race I had pretty much reached a point of stasis where I wasn't pulling anyone else back. I moved up a few more places by just getting around some slips and spills, but spent the last three laps casing one guy, though looking back I never had the clarity to check his number; he might have been in the "B" race. He was a little stronger through the climbs, and what I call syrupy sections (stretches that don't seem to have much to them, but end up feeling slow, so I bog down), but I'd be on his wheel through the technical areas. On the next to last run-up we came up on a slower rider just as we crested. I surged hard on the descent, having to pass them off the race line, but I got a pretty good gap, and held it through the paved section and to the last run-up. After he didn't close there (I was hoping I didn't pull out of my LH pedal, which I had done twice before on this climb), I just kept an even push to the line.
