34 degrees with strong wind & snow/sleet mix – very crossy.  The course was mostly flat with 3 sets of barriers & a couple technical sections – including a section inside the velodrome.  During warm-up I caught a wheel on a barrier and crashed hard.  It reminded me how cross seems to be about maintaining a good rhythm.  I got a good start, but couldn’t match pace with the top riders.  I can see that Ladric’s with them – so that’s cool.  I ended up getting isolated between the top group & the chasers.  Normally that wouldn’t be so bad, but the wind made it hard to maintain pace on certain sections.  A Ridley rider caught me with a few laps to go & we stayed together for the rest of the race.  I led for a while, but it required a big effort & I couldn’t shake him.  He was faster over the barriers, but I seemed stronger on the technical sections.  He passed me with 1 lap to go, so I decided to sit on his wheel & wait for my opportunity.  I rode up next to him on technical sections just to remind him that I was still there.  He got a gap on me over the last set of barriers, but I closed it on down-wind section.  I thought I could out sprint him, so I got tight on his wheel for the up-wind section.  I took a fast inside line on the last corner then stood up and hit it as hard I as I could.  I pulled even with about 10 meters to go & took the sprint by ½ a wheel.  We shook hands in the parking lot.  Pretty cool day of racing.

Eric S