Olentangy Indian Caverns CycloCross Race

So it took the evil one to talk me into getting off my lazy butt and doing this. David S drove, so all I had to do was to show up. John E was already there (as always) setting up. So the three of us sign up for the B Group (Masters 45+ for me, damn am I old) race that went at the same time. The track was nice, not much pavement at all, but had some single track through the woods a tricky bridge crossing, no run ups, but lots of ruts.

25 lined up and as always I screwed up and got a bad start....for once it didn't bug me and I just went. The first lap I picked off some folks and was dueling with a group of about 6 guys. At the second time through the woods I was able to gap them and only two-three were close to me. I was "using" David as the rabbit for me and felt that as long as I could keep the gap the same and him in sight, I would do pretty well. I was thinking at lap 3....what the $*^#^$%# am I doing out here? Fortunately, I was able to keep the pace up and keep the "rabbit" in sight and by the time 3 to go showed I was feeling better. There was a guy on a Trek with disc brakes - he's in the front in the picture (I could tell by the squealing sound) that I caught and passed along with the others in the picture, but he kept coming around me and trying to gap me. I kept making up the gap and going by him in the barriers. On the next to last lap, he comes on the inside of me on a tight downhill turn & I think WTF....this is BS and I'll just sit on his wheel for awhile and see what he does. Well, he gaps me in the woods and I start worrying that he's gone and I need to watch the guy behind me. Well I see that at the bell lap he is not getting any further away, Dave & I yell at each other to keep going hard and the guy behind me isn't making up much ground on me. I hit the bell lap hard, tell myself I'm not leaving a damn thing on the course and spot the Trek dude in the woods and he's getting closer. I take it easy through the woods so I don't screw up and lose anything to him and when I get out (and go through "frontier town") I tell myself to hit the gas and reel him back in. I get around a turn and the weirdest thing happens....I can "smell" this guy dying and just know I can get him and pass him at the barriers and get him b/f the finish. I pick it up, and then bury it right before the barriers and fly by him (heck, it seemed that way anyway) through the barriers, gap him and then kick it in HARD for the sprint to the line. I look behind me and I had done it; 8th overall and 2nd in the 45+ Masters. John gets a 4th, David gets 7th (he ate some out of bounds tape on the bell lap). I don't know why this one felt so good, but I'm stoked. Here are the results.
Stats:
miles - 8.8
time - 44:12.3
HR - 165/171 (avg/max)
speed - 11.9/29.5 (avg/max)

Thanks for Reading,
Rick