Hi, from the great NW!  After two races of the the cross crusade, I must say that this year there are so many more riders at the events, with nearly 1100 week one, and over 900 week two!  And I expect it will remain like this throughout the series.  Week one (Alpenrose dairy) was promising with good weather and just some damp areas on the track, but when we got to the start 15 to 20 minutes before the start it was a cluster!  Our race alone had almost 250 riders out on the course!  This course had a little of everything.  It started out fast on pavement, onto an old cow pasture, thru gravel roads, back out to pasture, then into the velodrome and the infield, and back out to the pavement. All in all a good, fun day of racing though not the  result I hoped for.  Week two (Horning’s Hideout) was just as fun, and the course harder than the previous week, with more climbing, faster downhills, and some pretty rough open-field terrain.  Me and teammate Guy went to the start even earlier than the week before and once again were at the back.  The start bottle-necked as everyone scrambled from a big open area into a single lane, and some riders went down as soon as they came to the first corner.  The field stretched out once the racers made their way thru the fast parts of the course.  Still had a blast-as always.  Race on.

                                - Jesse