Photo by Todd LeisterApparently there was alot of complaining about the course and the race all together. I'll admit I was a bit upset at the lack of hoses, but atleast we had a river to clean our bikes in, just like the Pilgrams used to do. Plus, if it weren't for the mud, this course would have been pretty boring.
Overall it was my best 'cross weekend ever and got to spend sometime hanging out with the C3/ADG guys. Saturday I finally got into the top ten, even with the stacked field. I probabaly ran a good 3rd of the course. There were sections that were just completely unridable, ankle deep mud the consistency of peanut butter, and others that were just suspect.
Nystrom was on my wheel for then entire race, I realized early that running was the better option as I could re-open gaps after he closed them on some of the longer power sections. Sometimes the difference was dismounting a few feet earlier and remounting a bit later to keep momentum and not getting bogged down. Fortunately (for me atleast) Chris thought he was in the top 10, if not I would have had to work alot harder. On the downside I somehow managed to shred the casing of my rear Dugast.
After the race we hit the hotel just across the river in Jersey to get cleaned up and finished dialing in the bikes for round 2. We hit a nice little restaurant for dinner with Auer, the Gerlaks, Bad Andy and his wife Kat. Good food, good company.
Sunday came way too early, even after calling it a night at 9. I kind of expected the course to firm up a bit but that didn't happen. I think someone actually went out with a hose and and soaked some of the course. The promoter took out the long running section and added another long power section through the hay field but for the most part it was another day filled with running anything that was suspect.
Sunday was probably my best start, no one seemed to want to take the lead out until fatmarc finally drilled it and Mayhew and I jumped on his wheel flying into the second corner that was a soupy mess. I took the far left line right up against the tape so I didn't even make the shot.
I quickly realized the toll all of the prior day's running had on my legs. One one goal for the day was to not get beat by anyone who didn't race the day before. At one point I'm coming by the pit and Nystrom is running out the entrance and I asked him what the heck he was doing. Apparently his pit bike wasn't in the pit, and unless you change bikes, you can't go out the exit. I finished the day in 14th, which I'm really satisfied with, and I didn't get beat by any one-dayers.
All-in-all a solid weekend. Now it's time to recover and prepare for Reston.
Overall it was my best 'cross weekend ever and got to spend sometime hanging out with the C3/ADG guys. Saturday I finally got into the top ten, even with the stacked field. I probabaly ran a good 3rd of the course. There were sections that were just completely unridable, ankle deep mud the consistency of peanut butter, and others that were just suspect.
Nystrom was on my wheel for then entire race, I realized early that running was the better option as I could re-open gaps after he closed them on some of the longer power sections. Sometimes the difference was dismounting a few feet earlier and remounting a bit later to keep momentum and not getting bogged down. Fortunately (for me atleast) Chris thought he was in the top 10, if not I would have had to work alot harder. On the downside I somehow managed to shred the casing of my rear Dugast.
After the race we hit the hotel just across the river in Jersey to get cleaned up and finished dialing in the bikes for round 2. We hit a nice little restaurant for dinner with Auer, the Gerlaks, Bad Andy and his wife Kat. Good food, good company.
Sunday came way too early, even after calling it a night at 9. I kind of expected the course to firm up a bit but that didn't happen. I think someone actually went out with a hose and and soaked some of the course. The promoter took out the long running section and added another long power section through the hay field but for the most part it was another day filled with running anything that was suspect.
Sunday was probably my best start, no one seemed to want to take the lead out until fatmarc finally drilled it and Mayhew and I jumped on his wheel flying into the second corner that was a soupy mess. I took the far left line right up against the tape so I didn't even make the shot.
I quickly realized the toll all of the prior day's running had on my legs. One one goal for the day was to not get beat by anyone who didn't race the day before. At one point I'm coming by the pit and Nystrom is running out the entrance and I asked him what the heck he was doing. Apparently his pit bike wasn't in the pit, and unless you change bikes, you can't go out the exit. I finished the day in 14th, which I'm really satisfied with, and I didn't get beat by any one-dayers.
All-in-all a solid weekend. Now it's time to recover and prepare for Reston.
1 comment:
I like the first photo. It looks like the are standing around road kill!
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