 |
| Photo by Jason Steeno |
Day #2 of the Fox River Omnium
After racing twice on Saturday, I tried to rest up as much as possible on Saturday night, but a bachelor party with all you can eat meat dinner isn't recommended before racing a hilly crit x 2.
I still remember Norge as my worst cross race of the year. It had everything I don't do well, wrapped up in one course. When I saw a crit was being held at the same location I had to redeem myself. I'm a slim guy, that would totally crush the big guys on the mountain of a hill we had to climb over and over, is what I thought when I signed up. I climb well on gradual grades, anything I can tap out a rhythm, I'm golden. This hill was not one of those grades. I struggled up each lap trying to turn the cranks over while losing contact with my group. Every lap was a repeat of the lap before, get dropped on the climb, and reattaching on the downhill and head wind section leading back to the start. I refused to look at the laps to go counter as I knew that would only make it hurt more. Luckily, I wasn't the only guy that suffered up the hill, I would finish mid pack in the 5's race in almost the identical spot as the day before in Elgin. This race was hard, very hard. I ended the race with an Intensity factor of 1.07 in the first race and a 1.02 in the second. I'm getting stronger but still not strong enough (are you ever?). The Omnium is a great event featuring two very different courses and I highly recommend making the drive out to the burbs for this race next year. I think the highlight of the day was the many shout outs I got from the hecklers on the hill when they saw me racing twice, almost back to back.
Official Participant List:
Drew Kushnick
Stephanie Kushnick
Hayes Sanborn
