Race Report: NCGP

The weekend started with a less than ideal late pre-ride of the course Friday afternoon with my coach, Andy Applegate. I'd only ridden about 2 hours all week since work had been busy. I felt fresh though and just wanted to open my legs up. The course was in a great shape and seemed like a good fit for my fitness and skill set. "Ironically" I ended up shattering my rear derailleur on the same dip that I broke my rear derailleur during last year's race! A stick jumped into my rear wheel, snagged the rear mech and left me to walk back to the car after a 15 minute ride. Andy told me to not let the situation affect my head and 'go fix my bike!!'. A big thanks to Matt at Liberty for straightening my derr hanger after closing, truing my wheel, and getting my bike back to rideable!

Saturday morning was spent cleaning the house and getting ready for Thanksgiving company, before heading over to the course with my teammate Jacob in near-perfect conditions of 60, sunny, and DRY! I was both nervous and excited at the start as I wasn't 100% sure of what to expect. Looking at the start list I noticed that there wasn't anyone in the race who I hadn't beaten previously, however that doesn't assure anything! I didn't get a call up to the start as they call up anyone in the top 10 of the P/1/2 or Cat. 3 fields, and not having done enough races, I barely got a spot in the second row. A solid start placed me top 10 going into the first set of turns, and as soon as we hit the first long pavement section I sprinted towards the front and settled into second place for about 15s before a rider from Lees-Mcrae attacked. Everyone looked at each other, so I bridged the gap and the two of us settled into a rythm over the next lap. He began to sit on and look back for his teammate, so I decided to attack after he bobbled in a turn. I drilled it for a full lap and heard Andy yelling that I had a solid 20s gap. I settled into a comfortable rythym and slowly grew my gap while staying smooth through the turns and technical sections. My only fear was getting caught by Drew, the 15 year old who was chasing me! It was great to get a solid win after several months of hard work! Jacob barely missed the top 10, with a solid 11th place, and Chris Emory didn't crash (his goal for the day)!

Today (Sunday) was like a whole different world: 45 degrees, raining, muddy, sloppy, muddy, raining . . . you get the idea. I got a good warm up on the trainer under the CTS tent (a little sneak preview of our sponsors for next year!), opted not to pre-ride the course, and hit the line. Jacob lined up with me as well today, and I figured that his skills would complement my fitness nicely. He got a great start and we both hit the 'hole shot' in top 5. Unfortunately shenanigans ensued from many other riders who slid into and in front of me, which let me to go backwards quickly on the first lap. I chased back to the front group, but my fitness couldn't offset my lack of mud-skills, and this turned out to be the story of the day. I would chase, catch a group, put time into them on the flats and uphill section, then lose twice that time on the off-camber part of the course. Fortunately it was the exact opposite for Jacob who was gaining time everytime we hit the off-camber portions. He rode himself to an excellent 5th? place (I didn't stick around to check the results), and I was about 8th? Andy Applegate kept saying "the more fun you have, the faster you go". I kept thinking "the faster I go, the more fun I have". Well, I wasn't going quite as fast today as yesterday, so you do the math ;)

Thanks to CTS and all of our great sponsors: Industry 9, Trek, Hutchinson, Liberty Bicycles, Rudy Project, Honey Stinger, Dr. Miller, PML, Eco Concepts Realty, ABRC, Champion, Velosports, and Affordable Home Inspections

Race Report: NCCX #5 Salisbury

Another great day to race! 75 degrees, sunny, hard, fast course. I was a little unsure of my fitness and not super-confident after a 2 week racing hiatus and just feeling kind of flat. However it seemed like a good course for me with a fast grassy start, grassy turns, 2 sets of barriers, not much mud or super-tight turns and a nice wooded section that allowed me to use my fitness to keep it rolling. Again, about 40 riders lined up for the Pro/1/2 race and some big hitters like Jon Hamblen, Will Black, Travis Livermon, and the other usual suspects showed up. However I had my secret weapon - my wife and unborn baby cheering me on!

I crashed warming up when I hit a stump in the woods which threw my rear wheel out of true, so I switched to a pit wheel, which I failed to tighten fully in my rush to get to the line! I'm sure that it was rubbing for about half the race until I figured it out and stopped to tighten it, losing about 10s. I got an OK start but again, like the first two races in the series, I ended up tailed off of the front group by just a few seconds. I clawed my way back towards 10th where I had to stop for the wheel issue, only to crash in a turn when I slid out! After that I got pissed, caught the chase group, went through them, caught Hekman and Wyatt, and ended up 9th on the day, 1
spot better than my last race.

Digging to get back after my mechanical and crash

In the next race (Hendersonville) I need to be MORE aggressive at the start as my endurance seems to be improving, and I was actually passing people on the run up (which I practiced a lot this week), where this has been a weakness in the past. Although I felt a lot better after the race and am really looking forward to the NCGP!

Check out the rest of the series here: http://www.nccyclocross.com/index.html (I'll be at the races in Hendersonville, and Winston-Salem.)

Thanks to all of our great sponsors: Industry 9, Trek, Hutchinson, Liberty Bicycles, Rudy Project, Honey Stinger, Dr. Miller, PML, Eco Concepts Realty, ABRC, Champion, Velosports, and Affordable Home Inspections