Second race of the year. Cat 4 at the midnight ride of cyclocross. Day started out a bit rainy, which I was not thrilled about. Don't mind riding or racing in the rain, but I was still recovering from a cold I picked up last week, and was not looking forward to getting wet and cold. As the day went on, the rain stopped, and it warmed up quite a bit. GAME ON!
This was to be a fairly big race. It was billed as the "Ash wednesday of the holy week of New England cross". There is this race, the big UCI race in Gloucester this weekend, Night Weasels Cometh next wednesday (I'll be at that), then the Providence Cross Fest, another UCI race the following weekend. Gloucester fields filled up before I could register. I'll add that to the list for next year for sure.
Got to the race about an hour before the start, so I had plenty of time to warm up on the course. Fairly flat and fast, one long gradual hill. No sand, but there were several S turns through a big pile of wood chips to get a similar effect. Big ring the whole way!
Race started, I was staged about 1/2 way through the field. Got out to a good start, but was fairly soon getting passed by riders every lap. Made a few passes myself, but I was not at full power due to still being congested from this cold. One of the first riders to pass me was a young guy. I was wondering "who the heck is he?". Overhear the announcer that he was a 13 year old, who was in the lead for much of the race. Not sure if he pulled off the win, though.
I rode pretty well, but had a few bobbles on the barriers. I recently installed some new pedals, and this was my first race on them. The release is set a bit tight. Some times I could not get my foot out until just before the barrier, other times I would clip out early w/ my foot on top of the pedal, and it would clip back in. This was giving me fits for the entire race.
Last lap I really bumbled the last barrier, and two guys passed me just after it. I had hope of catching them on the downhill and flat section heading into the finish, but my chain jumped down to the small ring, and I had some difficulty getting it back on the big one for the finish sprint. Eventually got things together, and gained a lot of ground, but passed those two 2 meters AFTER the finish line. Oh well. Had a good, though not great race. This was the first intense workout I have had since I got sick. Finished 56/65, which was further back than I know I can do, but I did not get lapped, which was HUGE! First race where I was not lapped. I was a bit surprised I pulled this off, as it was a fairly short course, we did 6 laps at about 6:40/lap (winner riding 5:55 laps).
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