Double race report

I have to jump back to October 26 and Beer Cross 1 to begin this race report. Jake and I headed for Dayville, CT early in the morning. Jake rode the early Cat 4 race while I jumped around the course taking videos and shouting updates to him. He finished a solid 2nd place with about a 25 second advantage over 3rd. A little later he joined me in the Cat 2/3/4 race. This race started well with all the prospects of a return to the form I enjoyed in Baltimore. I took the whole shot on the start and through the tight, technical course I actually built a small lead. With ¾ mile left in the lap I had a small gap over 2nd and we enjoyed a comfortable, though small gap over the rest of the field. Soon enough I was in 2nd place and 1 lap further I was fading hard, too hard for that early in the race. Slowly I drifted back in the ranks and then Jake caught me, and briefly dropped me. I managed to catch back when his legs started to cramp on him. I then found myself in a battle with another guy with one lap to go. I made a move with a half lap remaining and opened a gap, then dropped my chain. Despite a quick recovery by shifting it back into place my rival caught back up as we headed down the stretch for the run up. He tried to pass, but knowing that I could pull away coming down the single-track hill after run up I gave everything I had to be in front at the run up. Sure enough I opened a gap on him down the hill and easily rode in to hold 10th place of 20.

Then came Halloween weekend, November, and the Cycle-Smart International in Northampton, Mass. Two nights of less than adequate sleep, on top of waning fitness bit me good. Taylor and I left the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot at 6:12 am to catch his 8:30 am race. I ran around the course and shouted at him cheering him on to a strong ride.

Starting at nearly the back of the field I had my work cut out. The Cat 2/3 field is so aggressive, picking my way through the field would be tough, but I figured technical course full of turns would play to my advantage. Following Taylor’s advice I shot up the right side on the start, as everyone drifted left to make the hard right turn a hole opened up for me and I shot a few spots before grabbing the brakes hard for the turn. Going through the turn my handle bars were pressed hard against another guys, neither of us had any room to give. Coming out and getting up to speed I had to lock up the brakes as two guys in front of me did the same to avoid a crash. I was trying to get spots through the next few turns and coming out of one 180 degree left turn I was very close to the outside tape when I felt a lot of pressure pushing my rear wheel to the left. I fought against the pressure, and after what seemed like a very long time the pressure was gone and I heard someone hit the deck behind me. The guy’s front wheel had been leaning into my rear wheel and he finally lost his balance, going down and taking some others with him I noticed when looking back. The next lap, at one of the railroad track crossing, there were two guys right in front of me, the first tried to jump over the tracks, only to crash on landing. The second guy grabbed his brakes hard and was headed of the handlebars last I noticed, as I grabbed the brakes hard myself. I managed to escape without crashing. The rest of the race went something like this; I battled for positions, but slowly fell back places as my legs just couldn’t turn the gear I wanted them to. At the end I was totally spent and exhausted. I finished a measly 62nd of 81 finishers and 91 starters.

I also managed to forget the memory card for my camera, so the large number of videos I’d planned to capture, well they don’t exist. I did, however, grab a few videos of Jake during Beer Cross. Head over to my Vimeo page to find them.