the ones with the crashes on the first lap

Granogue.  It's always epic.  Last year, particularly so.

This year Granogue was doubling up, with big fields and two days of racing.  I was finishing a stint of 7 races in 16 days.  I think I'm still recovering, even as late as this race report is.

Day 1.  The crash in the sand pit.  Lap 1 - the top 5 of us ran front wheels into cassettes and wound up laying in the sand.  I dropped a chain and had some trouble with the remount, so I spent the next 30 minutes fighting back from about 8th to 4th.

Day 2.  The sketchy remount that I didn't crash on.  But I crashed on the approach.  In fact, crash might not be the right word.  Nystrom described it as "acrobatic" and later said, "I've never seen anyone do a cartwheel with their bike before".  In all of that, I only lost a spot or two and battled to stay on, but Erin and Britlee got off the front by about 20 seconds that I wouldn't get back from Erin.  Britlee dropped her chain on the last lap but held onto 2nd at the line in sprint.  She's strong.

Lots of good folks out racing their guts out last weekend.  Good to see Diane in the points, Kat recovering from a nasty crash on day 1, the masters' "mid-pack" riders duking it out with each other, Phil eking out a granogue double-double, Weaver deciding not to ride the Saturday run-up, even though he could in practice, Cati on my heels, J.T. flying the Kelly green and in the top half her first year racing cross, Stacey in the money in her first UCI weekend, and Zach, putting his shoe back on at the top of the run-up.