This was the first time the Tailwind Series has put on a night time CX race, so there was a lot of buzz in the air. In fact everyone was really excited, to the point that it was one of the more festive CX races I have been apart of in a while. The fans were all screaming, drinking, playing on the hill and ringing cow bells all night long. Munson is not the best race course for CX, but with the lights it gave it a special element that you can't get anywhere else. All I can say is, it was fun and I hope that Robert is able to do it next year.
As for the race, This was the last week of my top fitness so I was hoping for something special. The B-race was big again with 28 racers, and a few top guns and sleepers came out to join the party. Mentally I was ready and thought I had a good game plan. I wanted to take the hole shot, power up the 1st climb in the first 100 yrds of the race to blow the race apart early and then force a huge gap. Well, I did just that but there is 45 mins of racing. From the whistle I managed to sprint from the start line to the first climb from the 2nd row. I was sitting in 5th at the top. The first round through the barriers, one of the guys in front of me slipped and did not recover, so now I was in 4th. A little bit farther, through a 90 degree turn another guy misjudged the turn and jack-knifed his front wheel and I managed to skate by him clean. Now sitting in 3rd, I turned on the power! The 1st and 2nd place guys dangled in front of me like a carrot, but I could never catch on their wheel. However, I had a huge gap on the rest of the field. This was going good and I was able to continue putting out the power. Then I noticed that there was a group of 3 riders behind me trying to close the gap. The problem was I was all by myself in no man's land. After the 3rd lap, the gap got smaller and smaller and I was out of touch of trying to catch the 2 in front of me. I was still maintaining, but slipping a little each lap with my power out put. When I finally got caught by the small group, the 3rd guy had already dropped off and was slipping back into the main field. After the catch, Andy Brown attacked and put a huge gap into me and the other Rider Clint Verran. Clint tried to catch his wheel and I followed. Neither of us were able to catch Andy, and I ended up losing Verran's wheel. I was able to hang on to a very "happy" and "earned" 5th place! I am totally surprised at my performance for CX so far this season and hope I can continue to keep the streak alive.
Race 2 -- I don't know why I keep doing this but I doubled up again for the single speed race. I had about 10 mins to get ready from the end of the B-race since the Elites were going to be the last race of the night. At the start I already had no gas left in the tank. But I was able to push my bike around the course at a decent pace. I felt fine until the last 2 laps when a nasty cramp started in my left hammy. I could barly walk over the barriers but I managed to finish the race. It was enough to hang onto 5th place again.
With my next race being in 2 weeks, it is time for some quick extended rest, followed by another quick build before Iceman! This should be enough to stay strong, and carry my fitness into the finally few weeks of the cyclocross season leading up to the state championships! At least it sounds good in writing....
As for the race, This was the last week of my top fitness so I was hoping for something special. The B-race was big again with 28 racers, and a few top guns and sleepers came out to join the party. Mentally I was ready and thought I had a good game plan. I wanted to take the hole shot, power up the 1st climb in the first 100 yrds of the race to blow the race apart early and then force a huge gap. Well, I did just that but there is 45 mins of racing. From the whistle I managed to sprint from the start line to the first climb from the 2nd row. I was sitting in 5th at the top. The first round through the barriers, one of the guys in front of me slipped and did not recover, so now I was in 4th. A little bit farther, through a 90 degree turn another guy misjudged the turn and jack-knifed his front wheel and I managed to skate by him clean. Now sitting in 3rd, I turned on the power! The 1st and 2nd place guys dangled in front of me like a carrot, but I could never catch on their wheel. However, I had a huge gap on the rest of the field. This was going good and I was able to continue putting out the power. Then I noticed that there was a group of 3 riders behind me trying to close the gap. The problem was I was all by myself in no man's land. After the 3rd lap, the gap got smaller and smaller and I was out of touch of trying to catch the 2 in front of me. I was still maintaining, but slipping a little each lap with my power out put. When I finally got caught by the small group, the 3rd guy had already dropped off and was slipping back into the main field. After the catch, Andy Brown attacked and put a huge gap into me and the other Rider Clint Verran. Clint tried to catch his wheel and I followed. Neither of us were able to catch Andy, and I ended up losing Verran's wheel. I was able to hang on to a very "happy" and "earned" 5th place! I am totally surprised at my performance for CX so far this season and hope I can continue to keep the streak alive.
Race 2 -- I don't know why I keep doing this but I doubled up again for the single speed race. I had about 10 mins to get ready from the end of the B-race since the Elites were going to be the last race of the night. At the start I already had no gas left in the tank. But I was able to push my bike around the course at a decent pace. I felt fine until the last 2 laps when a nasty cramp started in my left hammy. I could barly walk over the barriers but I managed to finish the race. It was enough to hang onto 5th place again.
With my next race being in 2 weeks, it is time for some quick extended rest, followed by another quick build before Iceman! This should be enough to stay strong, and carry my fitness into the finally few weeks of the cyclocross season leading up to the state championships! At least it sounds good in writing....
Thanks again Steve Balogh for the great pictures!
1 comment:
Sweet!
Watch out Ryan Trebon and Tim Johnson!
Keep rocking the hairy legs and socks!
Just say no to shaving the legs!
See you at Iceman.
-Chad
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