December is a tough time of the year to race a bicycle! (Thank goodness this weekend marked the last race of the season for me!) It's cold, the days are short, 99% of the racing is done, and the holidays are all around you. My motivation was so-so before the race and it wasn't a smooth morning as we were coming from a Christmas party the night before in Raleigh. Kudos to my great wife for putting up with my attitude! This was reflected in my worst start of the year as I had an OK starting position, yet missed my pedal and ended up mid-pack going into the first set of turns. During the race however I was able to steadily move up from about 10th after the first lap to 3rd. There were about 30 guys with Travis Livermon, Jon Hamblen, Will Black, Noah N., Nate Wyatt, Andy Applegate, etc. there.
I liked the course and, although it wasn't as fast as it could've been if it was totally dry, it worked for me with a grassy, wide lane leading into a long paved uphill section to start. The course then headed downhill, through some turns and mud back to the pavement, before turning back uphill for a power section through grass and uphill barriers. My technique wasn't fantastic through the muddy section after this, but I seemed to make up for it through the wooded, fast turns on the backside of the course before heading back into the grass field for chicanery heading toward the finish.
After my start I heeded Jon Hamblen's advice and did all that I could to make it to the front group over the course of the next lap. I drove it hard on the paved section as well as through the back stretch and through the field until I was with the chase group. I tried to sit in and recover for a bit, but felt good and figured I'd have a go of it. I attacked up to Scott (Inland Construction) and then kept going until I finally caught Nate about halfway through the race. I crashed going over the barriers which took me about a lap to recover. Nate and I hung together for a few laps and we could see the 'field' of about 10 behind us attacking each other. About 3 laps to go a couple of guys crashed on the slick mud coming off the grass onto the pavement, with Andy Applegate being one of these victims. Fortunately he was OK and was able to work his way back through the pack. I tried to work with Nate, but got antsy again and attacked him with about 2 laps to go, before catching Noah on the last lap, about 1k from the finish on the 180 section. Amazingly after not a great couple weeks of training and what I would say was a poor attitude in the morning, I felt like I really wasn't going hard the whole race. I just felt smooth and in a nice zone that I could've ridden all day. I ended up 3rd, which put my in 11th in the series - which isn't terrible, considering that I did the bare minimum number of races. Overall I think that was my best day on a 'cross bike yet!
NCCX Series 2009 Tanglewood Park
Clemmons, NC
12/6/09
1 53 TRAVIS LIVERMAN 1:03:30
2 4 JON HAMBLEN 35 WINSTON SALEM NC 1:04:33
3 23 CHRIS LARSEN 32 ASHEVILLE NC 1:05:18
4 10 NOAH NIWINSKI 25 BOONE NC 1:05:32
5 24 NATE WYATT 1:05:43
6 7 SCOTT FREDERICK 36 RALEIGH NC 1:05:45
7 38 ERIC WONDERGEM 33 JOHNSON CITY TN 1:05:46
8 65 WILL BLACK 43 ASHEVILLE NC 1:06:11
9 33 ANDY APPLEGATE 1:06:11
10 22 ERIC MARLAND 39 BOONE NC 1:06:13
See more pictures here: http://www.themobgallery.com/MOB%20Cyclocross/2009%20Fall%20CX/CX%20Fall%2009%20Tanglewood%20Finals/index.html
Thanks to all of our great sponsors (and MOB for the race!): Trek, Industry 9, Hutchinson, Liberty Bicycles, Rudy Project, Honey Stinger, Dr. Miller,
PML, Eco Concepts Realty, ABRC, Champion, Velosports, and Affordable Home Inspections
