There’s not much I can say about Spookycross seeing as no other 1/2/3 women showed up. Day 1, I raced in the A race as scheduled and ended up in the back of the pack with mostly older masters men. Day 2, race officials allowed me to race in the B race, where I duked it out with some cat 4 men.

Side note: Dear USA Cycling- Please allow non-USAC-licensed athletes to compete as cat 3s. It works for Cross Country Mountain Bike racing (unlicensed individuals may compete as a cat 2 or 3 without prior race history), so how about extending that over to cyclocross (allow unlicensed individuals to compete as 4s or 3s)? Having guys dubbed “the best triathletes in Memphis” racing in the cat 4 race is just dumb. They shouldn’t have to purchase a license and go through the upgrade process just to compete in one or two CX races per year without looking like sandbaggers. /Rant

And when I say duked it out, I mean it- Miles Cooley and I tried to break each other. I could gap him on the singletrack section, but he’d catch back on and try to pass on the “power” sections. We leapfrogged for most of the race until he dropped off. About that time, I passed a guy that decided he wanted to stay on my wheel. In the final stretch of the last lap (a dismount into the Shelby Farms Amphitheater followed by a runup on the stairs on the other side), he attempted to pass me up the stairs just before the finish line. Too bad my bike was in his way, or he might have beaten me. All’s fair in love and cyclocross…

Here’s a link to video of me in the amphitheater from Saturday: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=454211594145

I also have a few nice photos, courtesy of OutCast from MSTA: