Sometimes change is a good thing.
If
you were to ask me just a month ago what my plans were for the fall, I
would have told you I could be found pursuing collegiate MTN nationals.
Ask me now, and it would not take long to realize how little I care
about collegiate mountain season. I grew tired of the small fields, the
limited competition, and the fact that our conference schedule is a
complete joke (only one race this season is under a 10 hour drive from
State College, PA). At the end of the day, my heart just was not into
it.
Had this been a year like those before, that would have been
the end of my story. Grow tired of racing poorly, and go back to just
casual riding. But I wasn't done racing, and I became reinvigorated in
my efforts with the help of a Belgian and an idea from a good teammate
of mine. Screw mountain season, and just race 'cross.
I trained,
I registered for races, and last week my ambitious change of demeanor
came to a meaningful crescendo: cross season had started.
This
past season was the two opening races for the Mid-Atlantic Cyclocross
series. Saturday (September 19) was the Nittany Lion Cross, now with a
new course which went behind the Lehigh Valley Velodrome. Sunday was
and even bigger event: the Charm City Cyclocross in Baltimore, MD
(Druid Hill Park). Lion Cross had a field just shy of 80 riders, and
Charm City had a sold out race with 125 registered riders. I have never
seen fields this big in any of the races I have done, and combined with
the fact that it was my first real attempt at cross racing meant the
weekend would be a big learning experience.
So, Friday afternoon
my roommate and I packed up the car, picked up the Belgian, and headed
out to a highly anticipated weekend. Our housing for Friday night was a
convenient 40 min away from the race. Saturday morning breakfast was
filled with pre-race banter, bets on finishing places, and language
instruction from the Belgian. We learned the Flemish word for pancakes
(pannenkoeken), which we would proceed to shout incessantly during the
Belgian's 9 am race. We would have chosen a much better word to shout,
but its all we could remember, so we made the best of it.
The
course for Saturday's Lion Cross was fast and flat, with plenty of
tight corners and one rooted section. I would have loved to say the
course did or did not "suit" me, but with my lack of experience with
cross, it was more or less a crap shoot. We lined up and made sure to
engage ourselves in the pre-race heckling at the start line. My
roommate couldn't believe how relaxed the atmosphere was. He comes from
a road racing background, and this type of banter was unfathomable to
him. I was loving it, and there were plenty of old faces at the line to
verbally assault in good fun. But the relaxed tone faded quickly as the
start time drew closer, and as the gun went off it was all business.
My
start position was admittedly poor, and I did not do well to move up
early on in the race. Going through the race I was unaware at just how
high my heart rate was hitting. My max ended up at 197, a number I had
never seen before. I felt good through the corners, and was certainly
making some good time there. Flats were rough on me, but small inclines
tended to favor my style. The barriers were to be a source of many lost
places though. My dismounts were pretty smooth, but remounts always
slowed me down. For most of the race I had my buddy Denny Reel in my
sights, but I was unable to pull him in and ended up giving him more
time in the last two laps. However, I was catching up to Jake Davidson,
a very respectable racer, and spent my last few laps trying to close in
the 5-8 second gap between us. Just before hitting the barriers I had
pulled him in to under 2 seconds, but I of course botched the remount
and lost his wheel in the last quarter of the last lap. He ended up
outsprinting two other riders just ahead of him. I ended up finishing
with no one around me, but I did a hard effort to the line anyway just
to make sure. My legs felt strong for most of the race, but I
definitely lost power in the last two laps. However, I did walk away
with the awesome photo op of the day:
Results
posted, and I performed just about as well as I expected to perform. I
was mid-pack fill. However, I was still happy with my 44th place
finish, as it could have been worse, and yet there was still plenty of
room to improve. With the first race of cross season in the bag, we
said our farewells to local friends, and packed up the car to travel to
the Belgian's house to drink Belgian beer, eat Belgian food, and
pretend like we were cool enough to be Belgian.
I woke up on
Sunday to the great suprise of fresh legs. Dog-gone-it I had actually
recovered well from the race. We arrived at Druid Hill Park and
eventually found a parking spot, which was not in great proximity to
the start. No worries. We eventually found the registration tent, and
then got in a quick pre-lap in between races. This course was
distinctly different from Lion Cross. Charm City Cross was filled with
four sections to dismount (stairs, barriers, a sand pit, and another
form of barriers) and plenty of ups and downs. Warm up was complicated,
as there weren't any real good stretches to get in hard efforts. I met
up with Ryan Delaney and we found a good enough circuit around the lake
to satisfy our efforts... although I did almost take out a small child
who decided to cut in front of me during a warm up interval. Conflict
avoided, I got about as good a warm up as possible and headed to the
start.
Start line for Charm City was based on registration
order. I registered pretty late, so I was staged in the 90s out of 110
starters. Less then ideal. I also made the mistake of positioning
myself in the middle of the start grid, which did not help my options
for moving up when the gun went off.
Race went similar to the
previous day, but I actually felt stronger than the day before.
Unfortunately, more running sections meant I was losing more time on
remounts than before. The course was not nearly as tight as the one at
Lion Cross, which made it fun to hit corners at full speed. Once again,
uphills I found I could power up really well, but flat sections just
sapped the life out of me.
During one of the first few times
through the sand pit, a rider tried to ride the sand while I was
running right next to him. He started making up some time and began to
pass me, but then went over his handlebars in a very amusing crash. On
his way down his wheel caught in my handlebars and ripped up my bar
tape a bit, but I shoved the wheel out of the entanglement and
continued on. My back did start to give me a little trouble towards the
end of the race, which made the stair run-ups pretty rough. Towards the
end I tried to reel in the "green giant" (John Glodek). I entered the
second to last corner, which drops you on pavement, and began a pretty
decent sprint to make up the ten second gap him and another rider had
on me. Alas we crossed the line just as I made it to their wheel.
Close, but just shy of moving up two more places. Twenty more meters
would have been enough, but can't do anything about it now. Results
were posted to show I had placed 65th in Mens B. Once again, not too
bad, but still mid-pack.
Halfway through the race, I noticed a
spectator I had not seen in a number of years. Kevin Dillard was there,
camera in hand. If you have not seen his work before, do yourself a
favor and head over to http://www.demoncats.com/ to check out some fine velo photography. I got to catch up with him post-race, where he took a nice close-up picture.
Plenty of other photographers were out in force too, and this one caught me in my most glorious pose: the bear claw!
At
the end of the day, I was reassured that I made the right choice for
the fall season. I love this type of racing; it was all-out the entire
time. After the race I was smiling from ear to ear (the Belgian was
capable of doing this during races, because of his heritage I can only
assume). Man I love cross.
To celebrate a killer weekend, I
cracked open what was deemed the "podium beer" we had been saving. Of
course, the podium beer was a Belgian style wheat bear from Ommegang,
because it was the only fitting choice. The theory behind the podium
beer came down to the idea that we did not need to actually be on a
podium to drink said beer, but that as long as a podium was near we
were justified in enjoying the podium beer. It was a well enacted plan
if you ask me.
Podium beer, and another pint glass to add to the collection.
We
wound down the day by investigating what was the least appealing pool
ever, taking note of the unique park characteristics, and
congratulating friends on good finishes. Ryan Fawley deserves a shout
out, as he had a killer weekend finishing 9th at Lion Cross and 16th at
Charm City.
How
a pool gets filled with grass and dirt, we may never no. But rest
assured, we did do some simulated grass swimming for novelty.
Who knows.
Lessons learned from the weekend? Love what you do, and race the first minute like a madman.
Also, find proper restrooms. Unless, of course, you like to stay fresh:
Good enough for who it's for?
