Returning to the promised land. The plot of grass, hills and sand that was formerly the Mill Stone Golf Village is where I raced my first real 'cross race last season, and the site of last year's state championships. This course is tough. I liked it a lot better than last year though. I'm blaming that on increased fitness... thanks Andy!
The course this year was more compact. The golf cart paths were pretty much avoided as transition areas and only half of the available space was used. I liked that much more than last years course, which kind of felt like two courses connected by the cart paths and parking lot. It was bumpy and twisty. Capped off by two sections of sand, a long grassy climb and a short, steep paved climb 200m before the finish.
Day 1:
Picked my old man up from his apartment and dragged him along with me to Greenville. Made our way out nice and early. The B race was starting at 10, so the course was completely open from the time we got there until the start of the race. Got registered, chose my tires (Grifo 32 front/Grifo XS rear), spray glued my number on, peeled it off and glued it on the right side, and then took off for one final lap.
Maybe ten minutes before the race I took off for a lap with Andy Baker. I wanted to see how the fast guys were going to ride the course and see what kind of advice he could provide. He made a comment about me being too fast to ride the B race, I told him to wait and see.
About halfway around the course, they started calling riders to the line. So I cut across the course to get back over to staging and lined up on the second row to listen to our pre-race speech. Do people really not know all of this stuff?
Got off to a strong start. Found myself in the front group of four. Ran both sand sections and found it to be just as fast and easier than trying to ride it. Murdered the barriers (they were so fast!) and ran the grassy hill, I also think this was just as fast to run, maybe that was just me.
On the second lap my group was starting to get a bit spread out, but everyone was still pretty much in contact with each other. I still had visions of a strong finish-- top five, maybe a podium, but that all went to shit pretty quickly.
On one of the off-cambers after the first sand pit my front wheel bounced up and turned hard to the right. I hit the ground primarily on my right shoulder and face. When I got up to start moving again, my rear wheel wasn't turning. The brake cable popped out of the cable stop on the top of the frame. For whatever reason in my panic on the side of the course, I couldn't get it back in to save my life. I basically went from 4th to 12th in one corner.
When I finally got back up I tried to ride hard, but my heart just wasn't in it anymore. I got caught and passed by two guys, finished as hard as I could (mostly because of my dad yelling on the sideline) and went back to the van. I was frustrated, felt like I had good legs today and I lost it in a stupid crash. That's not fast.
14th today. Bummed.
Day 2: Feel free to take a break here. Come back and read the rest tomorrow. Or get a coffee or something... I'm long-winded.
Same exact course with one addition: a barrier at the base of the grassy hill. I was so pumped about it that I was telling everyone I saw how cool it was and thanking every volunteer I saw.
I made my mind up on I-385 that I needed to take some air out of my tires today. 38 in the front and 40 in the back yesterday seemed pretty standard, but I was going to push it today. Ran 35 front and rear (both Grifo 32 tubulars). I thought it would give me some more traction in the off cambers and hopefully smooth the course out a little bit. I was nervous about my amateur gluing but there was only one way to find out how strong it was...
I know it was only 3-5 psi, but it made all of the difference, I swear.
I finished my pre-race routine a little bit earlier than normal today. That gave me time to sit at the van and get juiced up and sort of focus a little bit. I sat in a puddle of spray adhesive, but other than that it was good. When I went to line up 5 minutes before the start, the entire group was there... FUCK!
I squeezed in on the far right, on the second row. I didn't have high hopes of the guy in front of me killing the start, so I figured I was going to have to be an asshole. I got more than I gave though and got pinched off on the outside. Finally pushed my way into the single file line of riders, probably in 10th-12th place. Small groups were starting to form about 1/3 of the way through the first lap. I figured I had surrendered another day to a mediocre result all because of a shit start. Again, I was frustrated.
I started passing people as safely and quickly as I could. I didn't want to kill anyone this early in the race. I was slowing down to get through a turn or an obstacle, and then standing and going around people when it straightened out. Two or three dudes through the barriers, two or three through the first sand, a ton of dudes in the long sand section.
After the long sand section, I came up on a group of fiveish guys. My buddy Pat from Cycle-Center was in it. I was giving him shit about botching a remount after the sand, but my goal was to get up to him and hopefully the two of us could drag each other up to the next group of people. I got around his group, but I didn't see him with me. Oh well.
I finally came up on a group of two guys. I stuck with them for a majority of the race. We were 3rd-5th on the course. I had successfully ridden from my modest start, to the position where I felt like I should have been. At one point in the race, I thought that my 5th place finish was secure. We weren't catching the two guys up the road, and I thought we had put everyone else away. I rode the third lap like it was the second to last, setting up for a strong last lap. The only problem with that strategy was that at the end of the 3rd lap, the sign said 2 to go, not 1. The leaders were smashing the field so thoroughly that we did a complete lap more than we did yesterday... damn.
On the fourth lap, my group splintered. The Greenville Spinners rider was riding the first sand pit every lap, and he gapped the other rider and myself. I then further fell off of the second guy in our group. Out of nowhere comes a Les Amis rider. So now, I have to ride an extra lap, my group has exploded, and someone caught us? Things were starting to get a bit hairy.
Les Amis (his name is Daniel Jones if you're into that sort of thing) and I went at each other for a little while. He might have been a hair faster than I was, but I think I was more skilled? Or something... I don't know. He would pass me in one section, I would get him back on the next. He got around me on one of the longer, flatter sections and I just wanted to get on his wheel but that didn't happen. I was now in 6th.
In true deja vu fashion, out of fucking nowhere comes PAT! I thought he was long gone after seeing him on that first lap. It turns out that he dropped his chain and lost a ton of ground. Dude powered his way through the course and caught back up to me. So last lap, I had Pat on my wheel, one rider in front of me. My goal today was top five, I had a fight on my hands.
Pat was encouraging me to catch the rider in front of us (mostly by saying things like "just one half lap until beer"). I was willing to do the work to get him and take my chances bringing Pat to the line. The three of us came to the run up together. I got around the first rider coming up the hill. Pat got around me on the top. I immediately jumped in behind him. After the run up, there was a long downhill paved section, sweeping right hand turn then a harder right hand turn going to that last steep hill. Pat HAMMERED this section, and when I got to the bottom of the hill, he was at the top. Maybe I could have caught him at the line, but I doubt it. So my plan backfired, Pat beat me to the line. At least I still got beer. 6th place.
I was happy today. Really happy. Even though I got a bad start, I was able to power my way through the course and get right back where I needed to be. I started in the top five yesterday and finished 14th. I started 14th today, and finished 6th. Go figure. I didn't go down today, but I still tore up my knuckle from hitting debris on the side of the course. Tape to tape, baby!
I was smooth and fast. Maybe I could have come out of the corners harder, maybe I could have started faster. Whatever. It was a pretty good day.
No races until the state champs on November 13th. Same course. I'll be ready for it.
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