So we're halfway through the cyclocross season with about 2 more months to
go! That is, unless you are going to the World Championships in Louisville this
year, which would mean another month of intervals!
For the team, it's been a great start with Tim Jenkinson taking 4 wins in
the elite ranks, and putting the finishing touches on a strong build up for the
National Championships next month.
I've chosen to race in the Masters 35+ category this year, to take a hiatus
from getting beaten every weekend my pros and young riders that get to train
full time! It's been a lot of fun to be competitive again, even given my hectic
life schedule including family and work. I started my "official" race campaign
last month with the first full weekend of North Carolina Cyclocross (http://www.nccyclocross.com/) races in
Southern Pines and Raleigh. It was a bit of a drive, but the courses and
conditions were great, and the competition pretty tight. I was on my aluminum
Crux from Motion Makers which suited me well during the early-season "warm up"
races and had confidence that it would get me through the weekend
successfully.
The second day was in Raleigh, and after refueling at The Pit the night
before I was ready to go. The course was even better than Saturday's (for me at
least) with a long stretch of pavement proceeded by a long, steady uphill and
some fast, grassy turns where you could pedal straight through. I was a little
annoyed by the jests of "sandbagger" the day before, so I decided to try to
attack hard and lead the race from start to finish! I had a great start on the
fast pavement start, but decided to slot into the 2nd position going into the
woods after a few hundred meters. Coming out of the woods, I punched it up the
first hill and never looked back, growing my lead 5-10 seconds per lap, and
having one of my best days ever on the bike!
Last weekend was my second full weekend racing this cross season and one of
my favorites as I got to race only 1.5 miles from my house at Carrier Park!
Again, I chose to do the Masters Race after "racing" with my son Ethan in the
kids race. I was encouraged after watching Caleb win the race prior, and wanted
a good showing for the team. We had a solid field with a lot of the local
Masters showing up. When the gun went off, Tom V. from Asheville Cyclocross got
the hole shot and led me through the sand on lap one before I punched it as hard
as I could on the backside of the course. The field strung out, and from there
it was head down and focus to get to the finish line, waving to my son each
lap!
Check out a video from last weekend (note that EarthFare
alumnus Ricky Muehl wins the Elite race, for a clean sweep of the contested
podiums!):
Sunday was on to Salisbury for stop #4 on the NCCX
series and it was the toughest fought race yet this year. A solid field lined
up and the course was dry, fast, and "flowy" with lots of grass, hoppable log
run-up, some pavement, and a long, big ring climb back up to the start/finish.
The course was long and our field did 5 laps after the gun. It was back and
forth with a group of half a dozen of us taking turns punching it through the
turns. On the 3rd lap I ended up on the front going into the bike path on the
back side of the course and decided to test the group with a hard acceleration.
A Boone Bike rider (Eric) who appeared to be the strongest, ended up at the back
of the group, so I took my 5 second gap and ran with it. I had to "run" pretty
hard as the group was working together and breathed down my back for the rest of
the race as I hovered between 5 and 10 seconds, and was held up multiple times
by lapped riders. Fortunately I was able to stay smooth and hang on for win #2
of the weekend, which put me into 2nd overall in the NCCX series after missing a
race in Boone.
Thanks for reading, and . . .
***Thanks again to our generous sponsors: Earth Fare, Industry Nine, Specialized/Cycle Sport
Concepts, Highland Brewing, Mamacita’s, Blue Sky M.D., DNA Cycling, CarboRocket,
DeFeet, HD Coaching, Omnium Bodyworks, Peak 10, and ABRC (check them all out on
our Facebook page!).***
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