QUAD CROSS

My ass, courtesy of Russ Campell.

My first year of cross, Quad was one of my first races. Last year, I couldn't make it, and I was sad.

Reborn in a new venue slightly farther from the highway, I had no idea what to expect, but Newbury Comics had painted barriers orange, so I knew something was up.

Last Sunday was also the unveiling of the new Ride Studio Cafe CX team gear. I'm excited to say that the road team is carrying over into the fall this year.

Staging for the world seems to rely on Crossresults now, and somehow my points warranted a second row start. Most excellent. The whistle went off, and Rob Hult hit a landmine or trampoline or something and exploded about five feet from the start line in front of most of the field, including myself. After de-tangling my bike from the mess, I started pretty deep in the #BRKZ, though it only lasted about 20 seconds. After a minute or two I rode with Josh Friedman to make him feel better, but I needed to pass a lot of people early on to make up for my "start debt."

I'd like to point out that, while a little short, the new course at the Maynard Rod and Gun Club was super fun and took advantage of the terrain very well. The "woods" section played well to my ability to "ride a bike," with the pumping sections and the mini barrier before the small incline.

After passing a few people I finally had a decent gap and rode with Curtis Boivin for a lap or two, but I managed to put time into him in certain sections and once we hit the power section after the barrier / off camber turns I was able to get away.

Weeeeeeee

For the last 5-6 laps I rode alone but could see David Wilcox and Mark McCormack riding together and playing games. I tried to pick up some time but ended up sitting 10-15 seconds behind them for the rest of the race, arriving on the line in 8th place. A very satisfactory result for my first cross race this year. And I almost lapped Ryan Kelly.



On another note, Josh Friedman and I will be doing an introduction to cyclocross clinic this Monday the 19th at 5:30pm at East Rock Park in New Haven, CT, in conjunction with his sponsor The Devil's Gear.

Marblehead Race Report

This is definitely the first year that the racing season snuck up on me. Usually I go insane from lack of race stimulation, to the point where I end up performing decent in the early season. This year is not going to be like that.

Instead of spending most of the week playing bikes, I've been futzing with things like this:



Ahh, Don Cherry.

The day prior I went to Otis again with Colin and Kevin. Much like when you stuff a bunch of angry cats in a burlap sack, we mercilessly scratched and bit each other (in the riding bikes sense, of course). I still had some legs, but they were not going too fast by the end of the ride.


When I get tired on a MTB, I get crashy. Artists rendering may differ from actual events.

The next day I felt surprisingly okay, despite the pre-race meal I ate.


GO AWAY DOCTORS, BEGONE.

Ride Studio Cafe brought the absolutely lovely Sol Pusto Cafe out, providing tasty pour-overs to weary bike racers.


I'm certainly impressed

The team warmed up a bit on the causeway, as I rode towards the race course I felt amazing. After turning around, we struggled into a nice cold wind. This is a good approximation of the course, too.

The race rolled out, and immediately I could see people going off the front. Thanks guys. The first few laps were faster than I expected, I hung out near the back and just tried to stay on a wheel. I started to feel myself slipping away, and realizing that I had taken a nice injury break in the middle of my "base" training, knew that this was going to take some serious racing focus. Putting in some big digs, and cruising along at 25-30 mph, I knew this was a BIKE RACE.

Coming across the start/finish, I saw the strange movements commonly associated with avoiding a non-upright rider, but managed to avoid the confusion and found myself in the front of a slightly smaller group. Cool, things are looking up!

A small break had come back to the group, and the pace slowed a bit. Finally, I get to relax. However, every lap I was noticing my left eye would water up and get blurry, and my contact lens felt odd. A few well placed blinks alleviated the issue. Except for one time when my vision didn't come back.

Now, you might remember a little race in Northampton where something similar occurred. Let's just say I was unsure of myself after that, being sort of blind. I hung in for a few laps but without depth perception had trouble staying near people, and ended up near the back. It was game over time.

I rode back to the car. While chatting at the cafe, I noticed emergency vehicles going toward the race course. Shortly afterward, one of the race promoters wheels a damaged BMC to the tent. Bad news, team mate Alex Dossin crashed hard.

Later, at the Salem Hospital emergency room with RSC Director Sportif Dave Chiu and accompanying band, we found out Alex broke his jaw. Ouch! But he appears to be in good spirits. I'm hoping he has a quick recovery.

Next stop on the bike racing train is Myles Standish, get pumped.