Last night of the NHMS Track Series Monday. They switched the night from thrusday to monday for some unknown reason. Works for me.
At the start, the organizer asked us if we wanted 24 or 27 laps. 27 laps by popular demand. It's a ~1 mile loop on the flats. This was my first night racing the "B" race. I have race the "C" twice, winning twice early last year, and coming in second to my buddy Richard two weeks ago. He sent me an email saying "hey man, let's do the B race next week". OK. I was a bit nervous that I would get dropped at some point, but resolved to work like a dog to make sure that did not happen.
This is a points race, so a sprint for points every 3rd lap. No primes, except for special prime nights. 20ish riders at the start, which was a little less than most nights from what I have seen, but it was the last week of the year. We took off, and I just sat in, 6-10th for the first 2 laps. Decided to just sit in on the 1st sprint and see what happened. About 7 guys contested the sprint, gaped the field by a couple dozen meters, then it all came back together. Was nervous about a split forming, but that never happened. On the 3rd sprint, I was feeling good and decided to start giving it a go on the bell laps. I was in contention for several of them, and thought I may have picked up a few 3rds ( last place for points), but in the end it looks like I was finishing 4th or 5th. Still pretty happy to be in the mix, rather than sitting on the tail avoiding getting dropped. Been there, done that. Went for about every other points sprint. Toward the end, I was getting a little tired, and found myself on the front in a headwind on the finishing straight on a neutral lap. Pulled off a bit to let someone else on the front, and felt my bike suddenly slowdown. Thought maybe I got a flat, or got my wheel stuck in a gap in the concrete on the track. Then herd a "BANG" just behind me and felt a sudden acceleration. Oh, that was someone touching my wheel. Was moving too fast to look around. Richard pulled up to me on the back stretch and told me someone tapped my wheel and went down. Yep. The guy who went down was OK, got right back up and kept riding from what I heard at the finish. Glad they were OK. The last few laps were a blur, I was loosing track of when the sprint was until everyone suddenly picked up the pace, and I started sprinting as well. Pulled in 4th, and someone said "that's it" Race and season over.
Was really happy with how I rode on my first night upgrading to the "B" race. It is more fun riding in a larger group, the "C" race often only had 4-9 riders the 3 nights I did it. It was a lot of fun to be placing in that group, but I think I will get a better experience and grow more racing in the faster paced group from now on, even if it takes a while to get some points.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Saturday, September 15, 2012
first cross race of 2012
Today was my first cross race of the year. Cat 4 at the Blandford Beer cross.
Was pretty excited. Thought I had my equipment dialed in for the start, but as it turns out, not so much.
Lined up in staging about 2/3 behind the front, which seemed like a reasonable place given my expectations. My first goal on the day was not get get lapped. Second goal was to finish in the top 30. In the past few years, cross has been an afterthought after a full season of road racing. This is the first year I took it easy on the road, and have been working to parlay my fitness from the Alps trip into cross.
As soon as we started, I regretted starting so far back. The course was 100% grass, a lot of twists and turns and a few hills. One interesting spiral feature, with three loops into the center of the spiral, two back to back 180 degree turns, then rolling back out of the spiral. Right from the gun, there were riders slowing to nearly a stop to navigate the first few corners. After less than a half a lap, it started to open up a bit, but by then things were pretty strung out. Starting closer to the front would have put me much closer to the leaders. Lesson learned.
I was riding well, picking up riders here and there, passing more than a dozen in the first lap. Had a couple of bobbles on remounting after the barriers. I have not practiced that at all this year, will have to get out with Darren and Tim to do some cross practice this week. The second lap, there were less passing happening. I got passed a few times at the runup. I always struggle to keep the gas up running up a short hill. A few riders nearly pedaled up the whole bank, which would have been advantageous, as the top was an off camber, with the rider downhill from the bike. Long legs really helped get back on the pedals, which several riders struggled with.
Two and a half laps in, I started feeling my rim hitting ground on a few small bumps. Looked back at the rear wheel, and said "Oh no". rear flat. I was able to nurse the bike into the pit w/o getting passed, and had a spare wheel, so inverted the bike and switched wheels. Got back on course, and started passing riders I had already passed 10 or 20 minutes ago. Felt a bit deflated, but tried hard to keep up the pace I had on the first half of the course.
Finished up, took a short recovery ride, then went back to check results. 52 out of 66 starters. A bit disappointing, but a much stronger finish than any of my previous cross finishes. Had I not flatted, I would have been in the 40s. Top 30 riders did not get lapped, anyone finishing behind 31 did get lapped, which is hard to avoid on a course with laps taking 9-10 minutes, especially when riders stack up early in the course.
Was pretty excited. Thought I had my equipment dialed in for the start, but as it turns out, not so much.
Lined up in staging about 2/3 behind the front, which seemed like a reasonable place given my expectations. My first goal on the day was not get get lapped. Second goal was to finish in the top 30. In the past few years, cross has been an afterthought after a full season of road racing. This is the first year I took it easy on the road, and have been working to parlay my fitness from the Alps trip into cross.
As soon as we started, I regretted starting so far back. The course was 100% grass, a lot of twists and turns and a few hills. One interesting spiral feature, with three loops into the center of the spiral, two back to back 180 degree turns, then rolling back out of the spiral. Right from the gun, there were riders slowing to nearly a stop to navigate the first few corners. After less than a half a lap, it started to open up a bit, but by then things were pretty strung out. Starting closer to the front would have put me much closer to the leaders. Lesson learned.
I was riding well, picking up riders here and there, passing more than a dozen in the first lap. Had a couple of bobbles on remounting after the barriers. I have not practiced that at all this year, will have to get out with Darren and Tim to do some cross practice this week. The second lap, there were less passing happening. I got passed a few times at the runup. I always struggle to keep the gas up running up a short hill. A few riders nearly pedaled up the whole bank, which would have been advantageous, as the top was an off camber, with the rider downhill from the bike. Long legs really helped get back on the pedals, which several riders struggled with.
Two and a half laps in, I started feeling my rim hitting ground on a few small bumps. Looked back at the rear wheel, and said "Oh no". rear flat. I was able to nurse the bike into the pit w/o getting passed, and had a spare wheel, so inverted the bike and switched wheels. Got back on course, and started passing riders I had already passed 10 or 20 minutes ago. Felt a bit deflated, but tried hard to keep up the pace I had on the first half of the course.
Finished up, took a short recovery ride, then went back to check results. 52 out of 66 starters. A bit disappointing, but a much stronger finish than any of my previous cross finishes. Had I not flatted, I would have been in the 40s. Top 30 riders did not get lapped, anyone finishing behind 31 did get lapped, which is hard to avoid on a course with laps taking 9-10 minutes, especially when riders stack up early in the course.
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