Cross is here, and it's hot, dusty, muddy and painful.

A year ago this past weekend I entered my first Cyclocross races. I finished around 70th out of 100 people on both days and was really surprised how I was in the red the entire time. I knew I would have to up my riding and actually train for this coming seaon, and even though I felt like I had put in a decent amount of work, I was worried that so did everyone else. My teammate and I had secured front row starting positions for the Cat 4/5 race due to our nimble computer skills, and when the light turned green and the race started he and I took off. While I tried to stay on his wheel, he's got a motor I just can't yet match, and I ended up slipping from top 5 to top 10, then 20, and ended up finishing 29th out of 98 racers, even though 130 signed up. My teammate Rich snagged third, and took first on Sunday, so I'm super stoked for him, but I've got a bit of work to do if I want to achieve my goal of getting out of the 4's this year.