We slept in a fort; Colonel Henery Rutgers would be proud!
Mark worked the Results
Dave and I bonded
And FroJoe, well, he slept
The bikes enjoyed socializing with some new friends from Rhode Island, so we didn't feel too bad leaving them with their new acquaintances while we went to an amazing party at the Hub.
Alright, back to the action!
The Mens C team lined up in a field of 47. With FroJoe's newly taped shoe, he stood a chance to realize his potential with many meters of sand to run per lap. Dave was as comfortable as ever as he expertly navigated the field. Less words, more pictures:
For a number of laps, Joe was caught in traffic from the B masters field that allowed a Drexel rider to get away in the clear lines in front of that pack. After hearing enough shouting from us to break free of the pack he was in, he charged through and was making up some time on the Drexel rider, but it was not to be. Had the Mens C staged ahead of the B masters (as yesterday), it could have been an amazing duel to the finish line. FroJoe came across the line in 24th position. DK had an amazingly consistent race and looked so in control from beginning to end. A UNH rider was trying to catch DK in the last few laps, and DK responded by setting the frozen course on fire to ride away from him and finish 31st. These two are primed and ready for nationals; I wish that I could watch their performances.
The B men lined up after a solid finish on Saturday and were unsure of what was left in the legs for Sunday. The course was just as fast or faster than Saturday, but instead of a few long power sections, there were many shorter straights and gentle bends to get your pedal on! This suited me well, for it was somewhat similar to the type of output that you have to put in while carving singletrack in a competitive MTB field. Mark had his technique together, but the nerve in his hip was not allowing him to put the power down on Sunday. He kept it going steady, but could not muster the power to explode out of the MANY MANY MANY corners on the course. He had a pain-free race on Saturday, but the double-header was too much. We are all hoping that he will have a pain-free ride at nationals. He is looking forward to some extended recovery after those 45 minutes of effort.
I had a better experience, for the course suited me, my legs felt great, and I made a good move early in the race. Though I staged in the back, I made up a number of spots with a good starting sprint and aggressive lines through the two hairpins that followed. Then onto the beach, where a rider to the right of me fell over onto us. I was able to get off my bike and get it on my shoulder quickly and took an aggressive line off of the beaten path up the run up. Taking this line allowed me to gain a large number of spots and get me in a pack with some fast dudes! I was able to hang with them until bobbling the bike while riding the second beach. My right shifter must have got some sand in it, and it could no longer release cable. I got stuck riding 46-25 and 46-27 for the last 25 minutes of the race. Going backwards while doing a 25 minute cool down during the race probably saved my legs from a lot of pain. The group that I was with finished 19th-22nd. That was, by far, the best 30 minutes of CX racing that I have had in a 2/3 field in New England.
In the end, I finished 40th and Mark held it down by outsprinting Bard for 37th. Way to push through the pain and get the job done!
No comments:
Post a Comment