Cedar Rapids Weekend

Drove to Cedar Rapids with Bethany on Saturday afternoon for the Gold Pointe Fitness Criterium and Squak Creek Circuit Race put on by the great guys from HBA Racing. I grew up in Cedar Rapids, and the guys on the HBA Racing team have helped me out ever since I started racing, so it was an honor to race.Was pretty hot for the 4 corner, wide open course, about .75miles in length. We did 40 laps in the Cat 1,2 and Mercy Specialized had 5 guys in the race, which was a good change. We were all active and involved in many moves to get off the front of the race. Nothing was going to stick during the race, as it seemed if there was a break up the road, either a team didn't like their guy in it, or the group didn't work well together. Ended up coming down to a sprint, won with a great jump by Derek Cassidy (B2U). We were able to get 2nd with Adam Price, and 3 guys in the top 15, for some money! I was in 12th, and once again, just not where I needed to be.....I made up 3 spots in the last corner, but if I was sitting 5th wheel, maybe could have gotten 3rd. Just need to learn! But overall a great night, with all my family/friends cheering me on. Was nice to hear "Go Carson" on pretty much every corner of the course.
Sunday was the 35mile Squak Creek Circuit Race. This course has a Muscatine like hill on it, that gets a bit steeper at the top and then has a false flat, followed by a flat area on top and a 40mph decent with a curve that gets tighter as you go through it. Cat 1/2 lined up with the Cat 3, which would make the race a bit interesting. Zealous was pretty active throughout the race, and Duey and I being the only guys from Mercy there, had our work cut out for us. I ended up getting away with about 10 laps to go with Chad Bishop and Jerome Rewarts in a move that could have been the icing, but B2U did a great chase and we were reeled in after about 2.5 laps. Duey put in a counter attack after this and drew out Jerod Osterloh with him. This was the move to be in, so I was able to sit in and try to conserve energy. At the end, Jerod is to fast for Duey in a sprint, and Mercy was once again crummed to 2nd place. I got swarmed from a bunch of Cat 3's in the sprint, and got 12th again.

Mr. Consistency for the weekend goes to me! Legs came along nicely and I am anxious to race in the upcoming weeks with some good form. Made money this weekend, had a great time with family and friends in nice weather.
Coming up, may hit up some SuperWeek racing, Clear Lake, State Road Race and hopefully somethings in between!