NC Cross Series Starts
Cross racing in NC ain't like it is up in the good ol' mid-atlantic. I had to drive over 3 hours to get to the first race of the NC cross series out in Salisbury, NC. There's a couple of races that are probably going to be 4 to 5 hour drives. Then again, races are $15 and you can go to the start line 5 minutes ahead of time to get a front row spot. Got to say I miss the crowds of the MAC. I think they had about 185 racers at Salisbury, it's like I stepped into a time machine and went back to the way cross was in the mid-Atlantic 5 or 6 years ago when I started.
Temps were in the 50's with a light to steady rain falling, perfect cross conditions. A good course in a nice county park with some slippy turns in the grass, a run-up, barriers, and an unrideable sand pit, good long paved road section, a fun section thru a woods. Thirty starters in the master's 35+ race. I wish they'd start the 45+ with us as well, so there would be a good 50 or 60 rider strong field, instead they start them a minute later.
Anyway, I had a good start and my old school green michelin muds were hooking up perfectly once we were in the fields. Coming to the run-up for the first time at the end of lap 1, I was in third and thinking this isn't so bad. Then it went shitty. I slipped and fell on the run-up, promptly dropping myself to the back of what was a group of 8 riders. Fast drop off, short pavement section, a couple of 180s and we hit the sand pit. Now I thought I'd be slick and use a not so obvious line to ride it, but like I said above, it was unrideable for the most part. Afterall, I was able to do it in warm-ups once. Needless to say, I didn't make it. This let a big gap open, so I spent most of lap 2 trying to close it with varying degrees of success. I quite foolishly tried riding the sand pit again the following lap in a bid to close the last few 10s of meters and get back in the group, instead when I botched it again I lost all hope of rejoining. So the front group ever so slowly pulled away and I rode most of the race by my lonesome. I kept seeing guys that appeared just behind me when we'd go thru a 180 degree turn but no one ever came up to ride with me. Finally a guy cracked from the front group and I caught him. We exchanged blows for a few laps and then he outsprinted me. So I ended up 8th. I'm not sure I had much more in me than that but it would have been fun to have stayed in the front group for more than a lap and seen what would have come of it.
Next week I catch a break as the race is only about an hour and half away in Cary, NC. Maybe they'll get a better turn-out as weather prediction is sunny and temps in the low 60s.
Temps were in the 50's with a light to steady rain falling, perfect cross conditions. A good course in a nice county park with some slippy turns in the grass, a run-up, barriers, and an unrideable sand pit, good long paved road section, a fun section thru a woods. Thirty starters in the master's 35+ race. I wish they'd start the 45+ with us as well, so there would be a good 50 or 60 rider strong field, instead they start them a minute later.
Anyway, I had a good start and my old school green michelin muds were hooking up perfectly once we were in the fields. Coming to the run-up for the first time at the end of lap 1, I was in third and thinking this isn't so bad. Then it went shitty. I slipped and fell on the run-up, promptly dropping myself to the back of what was a group of 8 riders. Fast drop off, short pavement section, a couple of 180s and we hit the sand pit. Now I thought I'd be slick and use a not so obvious line to ride it, but like I said above, it was unrideable for the most part. Afterall, I was able to do it in warm-ups once. Needless to say, I didn't make it. This let a big gap open, so I spent most of lap 2 trying to close it with varying degrees of success. I quite foolishly tried riding the sand pit again the following lap in a bid to close the last few 10s of meters and get back in the group, instead when I botched it again I lost all hope of rejoining. So the front group ever so slowly pulled away and I rode most of the race by my lonesome. I kept seeing guys that appeared just behind me when we'd go thru a 180 degree turn but no one ever came up to ride with me. Finally a guy cracked from the front group and I caught him. We exchanged blows for a few laps and then he outsprinted me. So I ended up 8th. I'm not sure I had much more in me than that but it would have been fun to have stayed in the front group for more than a lap and seen what would have come of it.
Next week I catch a break as the race is only about an hour and half away in Cary, NC. Maybe they'll get a better turn-out as weather prediction is sunny and temps in the low 60s.
posted by Venga, Venga, Venga! at 5:53 AM
2 Comments:
it's tough to pass up a good sand pit.....nice job & welcome to the masters div
lv
You should have came North for Granogue and Wiss!
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