the Shrew

What I was looking for out in Lancaster, in a corn field,  I found on the magnificent DuPont's country estate in Delaware.



at the estate of Granogue,  where I raced the independent, superbly run,  cyclocross race.   The Estate yard is huge and rolly,  there is no just sitting parts.   You climb, corner, roots, .... Granogue gives me, the chance to let go, open the hatch and bomb away,  with some good fast hard descents and corners.

My group was 3 to 5 riders most of the race,  but my real race was a head to head battle with the Deluxx Bikes Team rider, Marc Vettori.   I tried to figure out his style, his plus's and minus's,  his secret lines,  where he was weak and where he is strong.   No kinks in the armor,  he is a shrewd rider, and His years of racing, the days, weeks and nights of thinking about racing show.   All I knew to do was to find my best spot on the course and try to pop him off my wheel.

I have a feeling I'll be seeing the backside of Marc quite a bit this fall,  I'm glad to have his good heart,  a strong souled rider,.... the man in front of me....     I don't know, and have not figured out how to defeat this foe, I'll keep an eye on him close, I will try and figure something out.

He got me at Granogue, with just a little spurt up hill, a gap he held to the finish, despite, my wrenching effort to catch  and pass him on the uphill pavement before the line.

I'd think,  that some of my top goals this year would be something like, "race more even",  "learning to save a bit for the last",  but it's not,
I'd like to socialize a bit better after races,  put aside, my results, and pal around a bit more with the various peeps that love what I love,  and to put a lot into what I put into our race,  and to make it, as great and as fun, as social and inviting as can be.

Cheers,  ...respect  the Shrewd!
dlowe