Red hot crossing. I cracked last.

After not getting to race at Brooklyn the last 4 years I decided to at least do the single speed race at the end of the day.  It was stupid hot so I skipped doing much of a warm-up and just hung out in the shade. Other than the bare minimum of putting a bottle on my bike, fixing the rear flat from the previous week, and checking my tire pressure I didn't really do a whole lot of bike prep either. I didn't even change the zip tie over from the previous week. I definitely didn't pre-ride the course either. From set up I knew the general layout very well but I hadn't a clue about how the lines had changed.



I elbowed myself into a front row slot after call-ups and got ready for the whistle. A couple guys went out a lot harder than I wanted to so I let them grab the holeshot. I settled into 4th position going through the first section. Nate Molnar and a Pittsburgh guy pulled a small gap out over the first lap but it wasn't something I couldn't use some fitness to fix later if I needed to so I wasn't panicking. I just focused on my game plan of running consistent laps and conserving energy where possible. Phil Weigel passed me after I screwed something up on lap 2 but I was able to just sit on his wheel for the next lap while the two leaders started to drift back to us.



Towards the end of lap 3 second place was right in front of us. The previous lap I had to let up a couple times on the climb because Phil was a little overgeared. I made sure to put in a small dig just past the pit to get around him. It had the benefit of getting me onto the wheel of the second place rider for the start of the bell lap. Phil blew shortly thereafter so it looks like I made the right call.



At this point I was pretty comfortable. Molnar was continuing to slowly lose his lead and I was just cruising. I followed the wheel in front of me for the first half of the course. I put an attack in after we got up the rooted run up for the last time and was able to quickly get to and past Molnar just before the technical portion of the course. I took fairly conservative lines through the off-camber up-downs and the last couple tight turns but was able to pull out a small advantage going into the last bit.



Once we got to the hill I dropped every last watt bomb I had. The heat was finally starting to get to me and at the top of the hill I started to taste my lunch for the second time. but I continued with the effort and held the gap. I won a bike race for the first time since 2015. 



I had ice cream with sprinkles after I got home from teardown.