Team Kaos at Jingle Cross

Matt Farhnam and Zach McClintock competed in Friday evening's Jingle Cross Rock in Iowa City, Farnham in Cat 2, McClintock in Cat 4. Farnham flatted at the top of Mount Krumpet and had to run a half lap to the pits to get a wheel change, and ended up toward the back of the group. 15 year old Zach McClintock bested his father Russ in the Category 4 race; both finished in the lower half of the group.

In Saturday's Masters 55+ race Rich Pearson worked hard to avoid falling in the slippery conditions and ended up 4th place, just ahead of one of his regular rivals from Kansas City Dean Parker. In the Cat 2 race Farnham again had bad luck and crashed. His front wheel got caught in one of the small mud pits and sunk in deep, throwing him over the handlebars. In addition to smacking his knee hard it took him a good twenty seconds to extract his wheel from the mud. He was worried that he had injured his knee, right below where he fractured his femur a couple years ago, so he took the safe route and DNFed.

Conditions were cool but sunny--perfect weather for cyclocross. Other Nebraska riders were Dave Randleman, Rich Anderson, Kevin Murray, Noah Marcus, and Sydney Brown. (Maybe a few others too). Race commentary was provided by Lincolnite John Leffler.

Sunday Nov 28: Overnight temps in the 20s froze the ground solid, then warming temps turned the top 1/2 inch to a slippery goo. Zach McClintock started out the morning in the junior group of 7 riders Zach finished the course strong but towards the back of the group. He gained valuable experience at falling and getting up and finishing the race. His dad Russ competed right after him in the cat 4 race. see him here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zenbiking/5211117687/in/photostream/


Right after that it was Rich Pearson in the Masters 55+ race. At this time the plan was to open up Mount Krumpet but race officials wisely decided to keep to the shortened juniors/cat 4 course with the bypass. The descent off Mt. Krumpet was just too slick to ride or even run without falling. (Only the UCI elite women and men used Mt. Krumpet in the afternoon). By the time of the 10 am masters race the course was still partly frozen and required running on off-camber sections. Pearson fell once and saw Landon Beach pass him by. Pearson got up and chased but never caught him, and ended up with a 5th place. The Sunday podium was exactly what it was on Saturday.

Pearson may have been distracted by the bikini clad women who left 30 seconds before his group.

Matt Farnham was slated to compete in the category 2 race but was still nursing a sore knee from saturday so did not start. That was a wise move, as most of the riders fell at some point in the race due to the slippery conditions, made worse by a new mud puddle that had formed next to the bike wash station, catching riders off guard and sending many to the ground.