Today I raced my first B race at the Breast Cancer Awareness race held in Hagerstown, MD. This was an absolutely epic, mud bog, wheels-like-big-chocolate-donuts, cross race. Complete with thrills, spills and plenty of mud in your eye. Even mud in your teeth. ... my teeth even.
I got up at 6am and pedaled my cross bike with all my gear through a soaking wet, Baltimore, in a state of tremendous downpour and meet my teammate Sean at the Patapsco Park & Ride, where we set off on our merry way to Hagerstown.
As I said before, this was my first B race and I feel really good about how I did. Mike Rea took 1st. An NCVC guy earned 2nd (with much resistance from yours truly) and I ended up loosing a finishing sprint battle to place 3rd.
The course had a lot of challenging sections. There were pretty much NO clean lines left after the 4th lap around what was, in my opinion, a great cross course. There was one steep sloppy run up, and one hairpin "F-U" turn with a run up that gave me a lot of issues on my last two laps. Only one set of barriers in the middle of a flat field. Also, I give the promoters a big thumbs up on the water crossing! During my race the water was a good 12 inches deep. My cleats were so packed with mud, I just couldn't clip in right away and the guy behind me was constantly gaining on me because of this.
Mike Rea and I stayed away for the entire race and I was only caught by the NCVC guy on my last lap, so I feel good about the race. If I could change a few things, I'd have ran different tires (something more knobby) and I'd have worn my sidis. That's about it. This race ROCKED!
Now it's time to get my kit cleaned up for tomorrow's B race in Buckingham, PA. The first of the MAC Series!
-Mike.
1 comment:
Nice job!
You are built for 'cross...great bike handling & loads of power.
I'm looking forward to racing the B's with you.
My next race is Granogue.
Good luck today.
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