Nebraska Cyclocross Series - Lincoln Weekend Day 1

Chilly temps and a late 4pm afternoon start time. I've always loved the course at Lincoln's Pioneer Park. Good flow and some descent climbing. Moderate turnout despite the close proximity to KC and a good payment both days. I've been making the drive up to the Nebraska races for 5 years. Great organization and atmosphere. With a few of the Trek HRRC boys out at the Night Bubba race in St' Louis, it was up to Bill Stolte and Joe Shmaltz(Trek/HRRC) to wave the red flag, and along withChris Wallace (KCCX) , they did. I got a great start, hitting the grass in 4th behind those three. Chris and Joe were 1 and 2 and pulling away. Bill was content to hold down 3rd and I stayed on his wheel. No reason for ME to chase down the 2 youngsters. The race was lining up behind us and I didn't want that so I pulled through breifly before we hit the road section. Once on the road I eased up and let Bill due some work. Cow Town's Shad Shreiner came through. After a couple laps, things settled in with Chris and Joe out front, with Bill Stolte and Shad Shreiner hooking together. I was joined by race organizer Troy Krause and we shared the work and eventually caught back up to Shad Shreiner. Bill Stolte was now by himself in 3rd and the 3 of us were making up some ground on him. Hitting the bell lap, the attention now shifted to how was I going to deal with Shad and Troy. Shad was riding the run-up, and was extremtly fast in the section right after it, so I knew better than to let him lead into that section. I led into that section with Shadd and Troy right behind. I took my time and made sure I nailed the dismount and ran at my own pace. Shadd ran right by me which I sort of expected, and immediately drilled it. It almost killed me to stay on his wheel over the next couple little kicker climbs before the road. At some point between the top of the run-up and the pavement, Troy dropped off the back of me. I'm sure working the race all morning was finally taking it's toll. I hit the pavement about 5o feet behind Shad and took 1 big effort to get back on his wheel. Once I got their, I had about 5 seconds to rest before I had to swing around on his left and got him in the last few meters for 4th. I normally don't sprint well so I was stoked with that. Lately, I haven't been able to "race" the whole 60 minutes so I was stoked to have down that. Race for 50 and ride in agony for 10 was what the previous race was. Tactically I think I did everything perfectly. It's now 5pm, sun is almost down, i'm soaking wet in a thin skinsuit, and it feels like it's 30 degrees.