Saturday Lynn, Lyons, Jay and myself, loaded up for an early morning trip up to Goucester. We enjoyed a quiet sunrise drive up to the North Shore. We were nervous, but played it cool. My race was first, after registration as we rode the course, other riders were slipping and sliding in the wet grass. We were beginning to feel confident.
My starting position was in the second to the last row, in a 100+ field. My plan was to sprint hard, gain the best position possible before entering the tape. This worked fairly well as I swam upstream, though the center of the pack. Once into the first tape sections all bets were off, I concentrated on late apexing(sp) the corners, shutting the door on as many riders as possible. Once into the top twenty, the field seemed to thin out. Then it was over, on the down hill section after the barriers, a rider in front of me high sided. I pulled up on the bars, there was no time, I drilled my front wheel into his back, blowing over the bars, knocking the wind out of me. Some spectator told me that I was okay, I believed him. I got back on, can't catch my breath. I finish the lap...but not the race.
Lynn's starting position was better, but not great. It's very encouraging to see a 60+ woman's 3/4 field at a 'cross race, or any race for that matter. The officials still can't seem to give the women their own race. The woman's race was sandwiched between the older juniors and younger juniors. The first group were to ride one more lap than the woman. When the laps cards shown 2 to go, that meant 1 to go for the woman?!?! Needles to say the race results are FUBAR! I'm convinced Lynn completed one extra lap and was scored accordingly. For the first three laps, she was riding a couple of spots outside of the top twenty. The results showed acknowledged lapped riders in the top ten. Frustrating! It was still a wonderful day of bike racing, friend, dogs, beer and splendid New England landscapes! Things could be worse!
3 comments:
I wish I could have been there! Family obligations prevailed, and besides my cross bike is still in 'critical' condition. What's scheduled for next weekend for me to DFL?
Thanks for representing us at Gloucester.
No action shots?? speaking of which, I will try to remember to bring a camera to NBX on Wed.
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