7. Are you sandbagging? If not, defend yourself.
STEPHEN CUMMINGS: I am reverse sandbagging in that I should probably be racing the B’s.
MATTHEW PARSE: No, I have only won one race in my category and I have been shelled plenty of times. It is time to move up a category if you are consistently beating the field by a minute or more.
GREG FABER: Probably, but this is my first year doing cyclocross. Winner is probably sandbagging too but he’s a beginner as well.
IAN MATHIAS: Yeah, I might be now. I wanted to clinch the MABRA title, and winning this race did that. It’s my second year racing though, and I didn’t do nearly this well last year… so I don’t think I’m being flagrant. I put in for an upgrade, and I think my B-men days are over.
PAUL RADES: No. this is my first year bike racing, and my first ‘cross season. My bike is an entry-level 23 pounder with entry level components. And I’m 36, just in case any haters want to gripe about how I’ve got a “youth” advantage. I’ll deal with naysayers in next season’s 3/4 races.
JOE LILLIBRIDGE: Was I sandbagging? No!! Previous years my results were pretty much all over the board. Check crossresults.com! I was trying to race Road, Mountain, and Cross and was really just burning myself out through all 3 disciplines. Usually by cross I was just going through the motions although I loved racing it. This year I took it easy racing just a couple road and mountain events saving my energies for cross. I acquired a coach at the beginning of summer who is an Elite level rider to get me ready for the 2008 season. Basically I started training 7 days a week by July and really got my eating, sleep, and daily habits together to have a successful season. Lots of hard work and practice … there ya go.
WESTON SCHEMPF: No. There’s no upgrading when you are an elite.
KRISTOPHER AUER: No, neither was the guy who won.
JIM CARLSON: I’m not sandbagging and neither is the winner. I’m in a combined Cat 1,2,3,4 class where my two top competitors are the National Champion in the 55-59 class and a National Champion in the 60-64 class. There’s nowhere else for us to go, unless we want to race against the guys decades younger than us.
LINDSEY HILLESHEIM: This was my first … first. It’s been a steady progression all season in terms of placing and with this race I finally have the points to upgrade. I’ll race with the elite women next year in MABRA.
