So yeah, race reports. I skipped reporting on the NRT 5 miler in town here a few weeks back, but most of you don't care about running anyway. It went OK, at least I ran pretty even splits. There was talk of the course being long, but it's certified and that's supposed to mean 1% over, and I'm pretty sure it was right on. Then there was Gloucester. I only did Day 1, as on Sunday I raced the Pinnacle Challenge, and even reported on it. You already know about Gloucester. So Canton. We had a 45+ 3/4 race, but really this was a unique start for just 45+ riders, as only a handful opted for the longer 1/2/3 open masters. In the 3/4 I did the hang out at the start for twenty minutes to get a spot in the front row thing. The highlight of the day was standing there doing squat thrusts to keep warm and a two year old kid with a chrome helmet observes my actions and starts to do them too! Solobreak - role model.
Anyhow, at lineup, thankfully they sent the junior race, which we shared the course with, off a minute in front of us. Last year they started about thirty seconds behind us and it took all of a half lap for them to catch the tail end of our bottlenecked pack and start crashing us out all over the place. Bill Dolan told us laps were nine minutes and that we were doing forty-five so I figured for sure we'd get five laps. Oh yeah, before we start, some people include stuff like their pre-race meal, bowel movements, and bike prep in their race reports. I'll pass on the first two, but the bike stuff is important so I'll fill you in. I readied my steed by forgetting to install my Thudbuster ST seatpost, but remembering to NOT lube the chain. In cyclocross, weight of the bike is critical. Ever pick up a bottle of chain lube? I wasn't taking any chances.
The whistle went off and I sprinted for all I was worth and got blown off in the first three pedal strokes. Well that sucked. I hit the woods in about twelfth, still not bad considering we had sixty starters. I wiggled by a few riders, but wasn't as fast at the leaders and enough of a gap opened that my teammate Billy Casazza came around me. Now, BC isn't exactly known to be a man who takes strong turns into the wind, if you know what I mean, so I must have been looking pretty shaky for him to forego his usual wheelsucking. True to form, I fell back further, but I attribute this mostly to trying to follow the stupid lines of those in front of me rather than sticking to what I'd reconned during my pre-race warmup. To make a short story long, I had to chase grouppo Casazza for the entire second half of lap one to get back on. Refer to this picture by Zoo for a look at the gap from the leaders (the Cronoman et al), Billy, and me as we hit the runup on lap 1.
Once I caught Billy's group, which included Andy Durham (CCB), Jimmy English (Minuteman), and Mike Keough (Corner Cycle, and father of about 25 elite juniors, Billy attacked and I sat on. The lead group pulled away into the distance. During laps two and three Billy and I jumped up rider to rider and while others either fell off the pace or fell off their bikes. Through attrition like this we might have made up a few more spots. Then suddenly we had one to go! Short race. English was still lurking very close behind, so I went all out to get a last lap workout in, just in case he was hiding a surge. Billy and I put on a sprint for eighth show for the crowd, and of course I beat him handily. The rest of the day was spent spectating, as going for a road ride in the cold wind lacked appeal.
Dinner with Brucie and his wife highlighted the evening, though the Sox ended up losing.So there you have it Results Boy. Now while I have all your attention, as promised earlier in the week, I'm working diligently on expansion of my old cyclocross photos display. Well, maybe not so diligently, and it's nowhere near done, but since I promised "soon," here is the first installment. Thanks for reading.
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