Behind the ‘Stache : Super Cross Cup Edition (by Fred)
The Long Island race weekend historically for me has been the weekend that leaves me packing my car with haste and more than a few curse words about my weekends riding. Fried burnt out, cracked. Ya, any of those describe how I would be feeling on Sunday. But this year I have focused on trying to keep things fresh and not race EVERY race that I could find. This has become especially crucial with the addition of Nationals to the schedule. Wisconsin in January? Sure! Sounds like a great idea!
The mid week rain had me curious to what the course conditions would be like come the weekend. A Fast, Flowy (more so on the second day) and Fun race course are what we arrived to mid morning Saturday. Good, hard, clean (like not muddy) bike racing was in store for us at Eisenhower Park.
Both days were just that. Good and hard bike racing. I hung onto the wheels of the boys at the front for as long as I could…the brutally hard accelerations corner after corner made things a bit tough to keep up with. I’ll get there one day I hope. The fields were not big but they sure were strong. I was happy to finish inside the top 10 on both days.
I am pretty happy with the weekend. Two good rides and I am not ready to hang it up just yet. Plus I was able to convince Linda to take the winnings on the weekend and apply them to something I have had my eye on for quite some time.
Time for some rest, relaxation and over eating. Madison or Bust!
Saturday:
Fred: 9 of 20 - Elite Men
Maurice: 3 of 30 - Masters 35+
Sunday:
Fred: 8 of 16 - Elite Men
Maurice: 2 of 25 - Masters 35+
SCCX#1 (by Norm & Pearl)
Meanwhile, in NJ I lined up with the old men at 9:00 and gave it all I could for a good 3-4 laps, where I was able to hang with those leaders until they pulled away from me on the run-up. For all my preaching not to bother running when you train, this thing really got me. By no means am I short, but I felt like I was 3 feet tall on this one. The last 2 laps was an effort in just riding it out, as 5th place was pretty far back. I ended up 1-2 minutes back of the leaders and comfortably in 4th place. My series is pretty much locked up in 3rd place at this point.
It was nice to have a dry course for a change. Here was the easy run-up, which was right after I slipped and almost fell.
After I cooled down and got dressed, I hung around for a bit and took some pics of the ladies. Here Robin rips on her way to 4th place, matching what I had done in the first race:
Then I had to go. Eventually some of the other guys showed up, including Pearl. In his words...
Front and center. The trumpet sounds and we are off. I find my pedal and I'm in front of everyone in sight... WTF? I easily had the best first 200m of my life. I'm 2nd into the first uphill climb behind the Knapps rider (guy who was pounding the beers at Westwood). Paul easily sneaks by me. I try to latch onto his wheel and he pulls away. Can't remember how the next 3-4 people get by, but they do. Mostly on the climbing sections of the course. I end up behind Dan Harpers wheel. Motivation kicks in. I want to give this guy a run for his money. Couple of times I try to sneak by, whether dismounting the tree turn or after he OTB's on the smaller barrier section. I have better cornering skills than Dan but he has the legs and lungs. Chris26er squeaks by and is now working on Dan. He eventually gets around him.
This happens for 4 laps, me chasing Dan around and trying to squeeze him out. The bell goes off and so does Dan. WOW. Dan and the rest of the field had another gear that I didn't that day. I lose contact with Dan and am in no mans land. I see RobG and another rider battling 2-3 turns back. I'm trying to save something as I know they will get me, but not let off the gas too much. I peak back and see RobG take a good, protecting line from me. Not sure if he knew this, but the inside line helped out with the other guy on his tail to keep his position. One last turn.
I feel as recovered as I could for the last 200 meters of a sprint. I peak under my left arm and see another rider, not RobG, out of the saddle and hammering it.
I give it all I can, for as long as I can... I had about 20 pedal strokes in my body and it shut down. I lose 8th spot and finish 9th.
What an awesome venue and course. 13.5MPH average? I was on the fence about racing next week at the same place, but holy crap this was fun.
Norm: 4 of 16 - 40+ Men
Robin: 4 of 9 - Cat 4 Women
Ilya: 9th of 24 - B Men
Utah: 12th of 24 - B Men
ChrisS: 6 of 31 - C Men
Pearl: 9 of 31 - C Men
RobG: 10 of 31 - C Men
ChrisRU: 11 of 31 - C Men
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