10th/25
I began the day early by heading out to Pinelands prior to the start of the first race of the day to volunteer. I believe this is the first time I've ever helped out at an event. Better late than never I guess! Race organizer John Grenier stationed me at the most exciting section of the course to repair tape and rescue any crash victims as needed. The section sent riders partially down a slope and had them turn right creating an off camber turn then climb out of it. The excitement was always at the starts as there wasn't much more than a 2 bike width preferred line through the section. Fortunately, save for a few front wheel washouts of poor gear planning, all the fields made it through without a major incident. Ironically, I did the most damage later in the day in my race as I got forced wide and rode through the tape!
Teammate Paul Weiss making it look easy:
The weather improved steadily throughout the day as the sun was warm and the air in the 60's. I camped out at my section, had lunch, drank water, did a few laps between races, and scoped out how I was going to master this particular section in my race. I enjoyed watching everyone race, especially the Elite Masters with whom I usually compete.
After the Masters finished, I started my pre-race prep with another couple of laps of the course, then spun on the trainer to flush out as much of the previous day's race out of the muscles, then a hot lap of the course and to the start line. The start was on a brief uphill, then screaming fast downhill on the road before turning onto grass and eventually into the off-camber turn. PVC was well-represented in the Elite field with Morgan MacLeod and Brendan Cornett on the front row. Apparently Brendan got the coveted hole shot and led the field around for the first lap. I was not so lucky. I was mid-pack heading into the infamous off-camber section. 
After spending the whole morning there, I knew the best line was to actually enter the turn wide left, then cut the apex, and carry momentum up the other side. Luckily, I was able to take this approach on the first lap as there was some entanglement on the inside line. There was, however, enough confusion that momentum was lost and several of us dismounted and ran up the other side. I think this was good as I think I passed several riders there. I realized quickly, I was not going to be able to match the leaders' pace. The course favored a power rider and I definitely didn't have the gas today. So, I found my most tolerable pain threshold and kept it there. I let some guys go, but then found myself in a small group of guys that I didn't mesh very well with. They were slow in the technical sections where I would ride right up on them, but they had the acceleration out of them that I couldn't match and they pulled away.
This was especially frustrating in the off-camber section as my line was smooth and I would actually make a pass of a couple of them, but they would pass me right back once in the open. This is how it went for a few laps until fellow ADG-mate John Burns came up on me and passed saying to grab his wheel. This was just the boost I needed. I dug down and stayed with him, matching as best I could his power. We gradually broke up and ahead of the group. Once on our own, I ended up passing John in the off-camber section and I set a steady pace for the next few laps.
There were a couple of riders in sight ahead of us and John urged us on to catch them. It took longer than we anticipated! It wasn't until the final lap when we finally made a dent. I led into the off-camber section and unfortunately had my worst approach and impeded our progress a bit. John passed me and it was probably for the best as we reeled in 2 guys in the last 1/3 of the course, earning us 9th and 10th place respectively. Babs and the boys made it in time for my race and enjoyed roaming around the playground. Luckily we didn't need a real rescue vehicle!
We hit Maragarita's on the way home to complete a great day! Next up is race #1 & 2 of the New England 'cross series. There are currently 114 guys signed up in the Elite Masters category! My results here will determine whether I pursue the remainder of the series or not as only the top-15 get call ups to the front line at the start of the races. It's either going to be really great, or really un-fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment