November 28th, 2004
Last race of the season. When I saw the race schedule, I was disappointed that there were only 6 races instead of 7 like last year. However, with one race every week for 6 weeks straight, I guess 6 is just right.
The weather decided to break this week... cold and snow on Thanksgiving, not much better on Friday. I ended up on the trainer on Thursday, and did a cold weather ride on Friday. Saturday, the day was beautiful and above 50, so I did another hour... just to keep my sanity. I tried to go easy on Saturday, to save it for Sunday.
The forecast called for cloudy and 49... It was 35 when we left the house. I've got the kids, and it looks like 2 will be in the C race. My wife is cooking and getting ready to have my mother-in-laws birthday party, so we have to be back and cleaned up by 4:00. My job is to keep the kids away, so Peg can get her stuff done. We left the house and arrived at 10:30. Plenty of time to get the three of us ready, run a prelap with the kids, and then get in a decent warm up.
I met Rick on the road, and we made our way to Boughton Farm. Same location as race 6 and 7 of last years series. One was 65 and sunny, the other was a snow covered, cold and cloudy race. Today looked like a it would be somewhere in between, but closer to the cold day.
As we pull into the farm, my wife calls... a bit panicked. She found one of my bike shoes in the car, and was sure I had only taken one with me. She even offered to bring it down to me. Fortunately for both of us, it was a spare shoe, the match was at the shop getting fixed. It's the thought that counts though, Peg gets points for offering. Now I'm even further in debt.
The Course
This course is at Boughton Farm. It's a real working farm, the course traverses the tractor roads around the crop fields, and hits some wooded sections between the fields. Pretty flat with some minor terrain to keep it interesting.
We sign up in the greenhouse, and they build a fire to keep the scorers warm. They need it to, because it's not getting much over 40, if at all. The Finish is at the fire, we follow the gravel road around the greenhouse and between the barns and head down a fast, flat sandy road between two fields. At the end, we hit a 90 degree right hander that is a bit slick, and leads us into a short eroded section. Climb a little, then do a grassy S and get to the next field section. This one is grassy, with a slight rise to sap the legs, then it descends to the barrier set. Over the barriers and run the 180 degree climbing right hander. We follow this level about half way back, then hit a 180 degree climbing left hander. This one is ridable, but you're almost stalled when you get to the top. Back to just past the first turn, and we hit a descent back down to the barrier level.
It seems this is a low point of the farm, since it's pretty wet here. We then climb to the first wooded section. It's pretty tight, not very technical, but there is one tree that makes the trail do a tight left/right to get by. Back out into the field that heads to the second wooded section. This one takes you through a tree... or two trees with about a tire width between them, then loops up, out of the woods, a 10 yard section along the woods, before you take a 180 back in. Twist around, and hit the lower field again.
More grass, to the far edge of the farm, the trail goes through a wide open, lightly wooded section. Twisting a little, and leading back onto the tractor road. This is a false flat that runs about a quarter of a mile back to the finish. There are some ruts running across the road and some along the edge. There are also some big holes filled with water. If you twist just right, you can get through without getting wet.
The course is about 1.6 miles long... one set of barriers, and an almost insignificant run up. The hardest thing about this course will be the wind (same as last year) and the cold.
The Pre-Race
The kids and I suit up. I've got each of them in a PI Kodiak, so we don't have to make a mess of their winter jackets. I've also dumped my extra full finger gloves, and helmet caps on them to keep them warm. I'm running knickers again, and I oiled my legs. On top I start with 2 base layers, one short sleeve and one long sleeve, and arm warmers, and a skull cap.
First pre-lap with the kids, and it's going OK. My daughter is fine. My son doesn't like the bumpy parts. Luci made me proud when she carried her bike through the barriers... one hand on the bar, the other on the top tube! What a natural 'crosser! All the more impressive considering her bike weighs about 30 pounds. We eventually make it around. Luci is racing for sure, Vitor is tentative. I'll do my warm ups while he decides.
I end up getting in 2 and a half laps. It's cold, but I think I'll be warm enough once we start racing. I shed the long sleeve base layer, and the skull cap. Now I've got to keep moving to stay warm.
Vitor decides to race, so I sign him in, and give them instructions. Main rule is stay out of the way of faster racers. Get out of the way when someone goes to pass you. Matt from Spin (the guy helped me out in race 3) was talking about bringing his 9 year old next year. That'll come back later today.
The B Race
We lined up about 200 meters before the finish... a little uphill to spread it out. As they're getting ready to start, I look around and Brian and Rick aren't on the line. I know they're here... I'm thinking about Delgado missing his time trial start time at '89 tour! Brian is my only points competitor. He has to be on the line. They end up holding up the start for a minute, while Rick and Brian finish their warm up. I'm next to Derrick again, Matt from Spin. Then we're off.
Remind me to line up to the left of Derrick next time. Three times I've been on his right, and twice he's steered right into me. A little pinch, but not bad. Phil Hines is on the front, then Matt and Derrick, then myself, Brian and maybe this guy on a mountain bike. Past the finish, and into the field. Phil told me he planned on dropping the hammer in the field, but he's just coming off a cold. I feel like the pace is dropping, so I do the only smart thing. Pull into the center of the tractor road, and GO HARD!
I hit a deep puddle as I came past Matt, THAT woke me up. Well, I'm wet now, so I need to go hard to warm up. So I get to the front and push the pace. I'm not sure how much damage is being done... but I hit the barriers first, up the run up and lead it through most of the first lap. I get some gap, but they close it down. When we hit the false flat straight, I ease up and let someone else pull for a bit.
A minor gap opens up as we come through the start finish, but I close it down again on the field straight. John Lorson and Matt lead heading to the barriers. John is on a single speed though, so his speed is all over the place. I come around him and pass Matt through the barriers and up the run up. I'm leading again and pressuring. I get a good gap, and I wonder if I can hold this for the duration. Then the guy on the Mountain bike bridges up and just sits on my wheel... interesting move.
The chase group, including Brian and Matt, make it back up to us as we finish up the second lap. Matt is leading it after the barriers and switchbacks. We open a small gap on the group. I'm on his wheel in the wooded section, when his shoulder clips the tree, and I t-bone him as he tries to recover. Not real hard, but enough to rattle him. We probably only lost a few seconds. Then he bobbles again in the next wooded section, and I hit him again. I tell myself I won't follow him through the single track again. A little push and I'm in front again.
The C race starts about 2 minutes after the B race. My kids are the back markers for the race, so I know how their race is going when I pass them. First time past, and Luci has about 100 meters on Vitor. Pretty much as I expected.
Remember, I'm not very aware of what's happening behind me. I can tell when I get gaps, but I don't always know who I'm towing along. Seems to me, that every time I'm in a group, Brian is right there. Every time I get a gap, usually at the barrier, Brian claws his way back up to me. My problem seems to be that false flat straight to the finish line. This time I'm looking for the right lines, and I find a reasonable one about the fourth lap.
Some where in the fourth lap Brian puts in a nice attack... and I go from aggressor to defender. I'm not panicking, I just went into defense mode. If I finish in the top 4, I've got the series wrapped up. I don't need to win, only finish in top 4 if Brian wins. If he doesn't, top 5 will do. So I start to ride defensively. I'm trying to conserve, and I'll chase in the last lap or two.
About a half lap later, the guy on the MTB has caught me, and starts working to bring back Brian. For some reason, I can't or don't let him tow me up to him. So now I'm third.
Second time past the kids on the fourth lap, and she's doubled the gap to Vitor. I look at my HRM, and see 27 minutes, and start to worry about her having to do another lap. So I tell her she may have to do one more. She's not happy about that.
As I come through the line, Matt is on my wheel. I don't know how he caught me. I see that the C race is finishing up, and I ask the scorers to tell my kids when they are done. I then told Matt that was one down side of bringing your kids to the race. Then I told myself to stop worrying about the kids and start racing! I push the field again, and loose Matt. I really want third place. Phil Hines is not far behind in fourth and John Lorson is also close in fifth. If Brian wins, I need fourth to protect the overall.
As I come through the barriers, I see Vitor is ahead of Luci on the finishing straight! I have no idea how that happened. Whatever, I'll figure it out later. I can now race without worrying about them. I've opened a nice gap to Matt, I can't see Phil or John anymore, but I'm not really bringing Brian and the MTB back. Brian is doing all the work as the MTB just follows. Lap 5, 6... no change. They aren't far ahead, but they are not coming back.
Start of lap 7 somewhere near 42 minutes. Let's see what I can do. I really would like to bring them back and get into a three up sprint if possible. The gap remains the same.
Bell lap, and now we're lapping people. We've been passing C racers pretty regularly. I hear Matt calling "lead lap" at the switchback section. Good iea as we head toward the single track. I pick up one at the descent and two more in the first wooded section. I end up following one through, which slows me down a bit, and the gap is still there. I can see the two of them about 150-200 meters away. Still the MTB is on Brian's wheel.
Up to the second wooded section, and I catch Rick before entering it. I tell him this is it, so pick up some places. Three more as I hit head back into the woods... calling "lead lap" as I go. Two of the guys still head into the single track, but almost hop off the bike to get out of the way... not what i expected. Rick took advantage of that to make the same passing move. I'm still not bringing the gap down. Keep up the pressure!
On the finishing straight, I can see them still at 200 meters. I will not be able to bring them back. They've only got 200 meters to go. MTB is still on Brian's wheel. So I back it off a little. Checking behind me, there is no one. So I finish in third.
Finish
I again thought about a little salute having taken the series, but I pass. I was just glad to be done, and safe. Brian was stopped about 100 meters past the line, so I asked if he won it... nope. Nipped at the line. He was still trying to recover his breat. He said blew the sprint and was NOT happy about it. He wasn't paying enough attention to where the guy was, and wasn't ready for him when he came around.
Somehow, Luci did beat Vitor... who knows what happened at the finish, they can't tell me, so we'll never know.
The A Race
I couldn't stay and do the A race, much as I wanted to. Plenty of time for that next year I guess. I did hang around while they finished up the point tally to do the B awards.
Crazy start to the race though. One of the farm dogs was wandering around the course, and decided to lay down on the tractor road about 100 meters from where the A's were lining up. A couple of the kids were trying desperately to get the dog to move, but it wasn't budging. They started the A race, and just then the dog gets up and starts trotting toward the finish... as the pack bears down on the dog. Somehow the pack split and everyone got past the dog except for Paul Martin, who ended up going down. Not exactly the handicap he wanted.
One other A race postscript... 2nd lap, I see an Ohio Bikes and Boards jersey. Interesting, as there weren't any in the B race. Turns out Ross Clark jumped up to race A's. I've been grousing about him sand-bagging the B races since the second race, and he stepped up. He actually did really well and came in 6th place riding his mountain bike. Everyone else in the race was on 'cross bikes, on a very 'cross specific course. It'll be interesting to see what he does next year.
Post
It would have been nice to be part of the finish, but I was happy enough with the overall. My two goals were to win a race, and take the B points series. I'd met both goals. Brian came in second in a hard fought battle for the series win. John Lorson ended up in third on his single speed with only 4 races, mostly because Ross only raced 3 B races. The points series is really like a TdF green jersey competition. You have to show up, and race consistently every week. I won it because Brian had one really bad race, were he slid out on a turn and went down hard. He was on my wheel when he went down, and didn't recover well at all. Other than that, we were neck and neck every race, usually with him in front. I had the technical advantage, he had better legs. Without that one bad race, he'd have taken the series, and I'd have been second. He beat me in by one place in four of the six races. I beat him by one place in one race, and by 6 places in one race.
So on to next year. Brian and I will be battling again, only this time in the A races. And nobody sand-bags the A race. It'll take a readjustment of goals, as winning is pretty much out of the question... finishing on the lead lap may even be a stretch... but it's a good pipe dream goal. I finished 18th overall in the A points series with only doing three races, and those were after racing the B race. If I can get to all the races, a top 10 in the points may be a doable goal.
I won't have to worry about my kids racing while I race, since they run the A race after the B and C race finish up. The down side will be getting the OK to do the races, as that will definitely mess up some family plans. We'll handle that when the season gets set. In the mean time, time to take a little down time, and get started on the winter training for next years road season.
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