Come Saturday, some of the snow had melted, but this had just made more MUD to bog down in. Luckily, reversing the course meant that we would be riding down the sled hill which had been a tough run up last week. The other big difference was the gravel descent which led to a small bridge and up a steady gravel climb on the other side.
The Start/Finish was near the top parking lot and the course lead quickly into the single track at this point. I didn't get a good position at the line, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway as I chose too high of a gear and spun/got bogged down in the mud. Once I got moving, I was able to build good momentum and move from near last place to the top 15 by the first turn. I was able to pick off a couple more people before we got to the single track, but at this point passing wasn't really possible.
I did manage to pick up a place or 2 in the woods and then caught another rider on the gravel climb. Surprisingly, I caught Cameron Jackson right before going between the two baseball fields and down the hill. The rest of the race was jostling back and forth for position between me, Jack Turner, and a rider from Team Awesome. Tony Marut had flatted so we ended up catching him with 2 laps to go, but he wasted no time coming back and overtaking the 3 of us.
The loop from the parking lot around the soccer field and back to the lot was really bogging me down and taking it's toll. When a attack came here leading into the last lap, I didn't respond in time and got gapped. I maintained position from here to the finish and grabbed another 9th place finish.
Pics of the 'A' Race are posted here.
4 comments:
Congrats on another top ten finish! Sweet bike that Sadie got.....what tires did you guys run on Saturday?
Ciao,
Rick
I decided to run Michelin Mud 2's 700x30c at around 35psi. I wasn't sure if the Ritchey SpeedMax 700x32c that I usually run would have enough traction in the slop. I also haven't had much luck with the Tufo Elites, since I've flatted 2 of them this season.
The worst parts of the course for me weren't the muddy spots, the worst was the long straights through the mushy grass that just sapped all the power I could muster.
Sadie was using the stock Maxxis Larsen MiMo 700x35c on her bike. She said the handling and traction was good and she was able to ride most of the muddy single track.
Gary, I kept waiting for you to blow by me. Nice racing and see you next week.
No such luck for me this week. You had a great race! See you on Sunday; looks like we're in store for more true cyclocross weather. :)
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