Blood, Sweat and Tears at Bartlett’s Sunrise Park

What a day.  While the weather was probably a little too perfect for cyclocross (more like this in May, please) the racing was fantastic.  We’re working on getting a full report and a bunch of pictures online right now.  Until then, here’s a brief rundown of some of the fun:

John Craychee started the 60+ race like somebody shot him out of a cannon.  Seriously.  He took a huge gap into the first sweeping turn, and never looked back.  That’s just a long way of saying that he won. Again.  He also turned around and raced with the 3′s.  Huge effort for John, and another impressive result!

Speaking of awesome finishes, it was Ashley Korol’s second cyclocross start.  She managed a 5th in her first start at Dan Ryan Woods.  Ashley, who was no stranger to the top step of the podium on the road this year, carried a sizeable gap to lead the first lap (seen above) of the Women’s 4′s in front of a very large field.  As impressed as everybody was, we were more impressed when she came through on the second lap leading.  And then again on the third and final lap.  Ashley won her second ever cyclocross race!  Great job Ashley!  Check out the awesome podium shot below:

Ashley wins at Sunrise Park, 2012

That covers the sweat.  As for the blood, well, we had that too.  Campton Cross (register now!) promoter  Rob Kelley got a fantastic start in the elite race, heading into the woods in about 6th place.  Then we noticed he had slid back a little bit.  Then we noticed his glasses were gone and he was bleeding from his head.  We’re still not sure exactly what happened, but we know that he raced a good portion of the race with blood gushing from his forehead.  Blood is awesome.  Rob is one bad dude.  Check it out:

Rob Kelley loves finishing bike races more than he loves not bleeding from the dome.

Speaking of Campton Cross, we’ve been posting some information.  You can hear all about ideal bike setup here.  We also have a great post on Campton Cross and naked people.  Get your costume ready, register, and have some fun.

Finally, there were actually some tears out there today, too.  No, it wasn’t because of Rob’s bloody forehead, either.  Bicycle Heaven’s most obnoxious heckler and horrible cyclocrosser, Matt Haiduk, announced his cylocross comeback, raced, got lapped, and then tearfully announced it was over for him (again). If you know anybody in need of a 56cm Dolan that may-or-may-not have been thrown over a barrier or two in frustration, please contact him.

Check out this huge album of pictures of most of the races today, and a dog, and a picture of Kay with the biggest smile ever.