NoHo 'Cross Report - Day 1

For those of you unaware of the 'cross racing scene, this last weekend marked the 19th annual Cycle-Smart International Cyclocross race in Northampton, MA, which happens to be the longest running UCI level 'cross race in the US. There is definitely some history and with Witches Cup repeat winner Adam Myerson as the race organizer, I figured I should check it out. Because of some unknown weekend plans, I didn't sign up for the race until Wednesday, which put me starting 90th out of 115; not ideal considering, 1) I'm not a very fast starter and 2) I'm not a very fast rider. So, out of bed at 4:45 and off I go, 2 hours of driving for 40 minutes of racing... Makes perfect sense right? I got my race number, kitted up and just as I roll out from my truck, super omnium rider, Scott Wilson rolls up next to me. So now we have a team... As it turns out Scott signed up at the last minute as well, so we both started in the 8th out of 9 rows. After a quick warm-up, we staged and were ready to go, with Scott to my left by about 5 riders and me, right where I like to be... The outside edge so that I can get the fastest line through the first sweeping left hand turn. A quick survey of the riders around me and I recognize a few that I did battle with at Canton and two MIT riders, one in front and one overlapping his front wheel with my back wheel and actually lining up outside the grid lines. Now, as an engineer that didn't go to MIT, I have always a little bit of a grudge against MIT, because while it may be a good school and the people may be very bright, they always seem to be missing just a little bit of common sense, and with that thought running through my head, we get the whistle and sure enough, what happens, the MIT rider that is behind me thinks its a good idea to try and jump around me before we get to the starting chute barriers, which were about 3 feet in front of us. He manages to not only cause me to stop, but also his own teammate... Really, did that just happen... the brightest students in the world and he thinks he can make pass with a 6 foot long bicycle in the span of 3 ft!!!! But I digress... As we collect ourselves and roll into the first turn, I look to my left and see Scott has gained, about 30 spots. He got an awesome start!!!! Way to go Scott!!! As I slowly started to work my way up from what felt like dead last, I jumped from little group to little group until I caught pack of 6 riders. Looking at the numbers in the pack, I had gained back all the spots I lost, plus about 30, so I was content to recover a smidge. After about 30 seconds of recovery, I start working my way through the pack of 6, and hit the sand with only 3 guys still in front of me. I ride through the sand as the rest of them run and come out in front. I drill it coming out of the sand because the next group has about 8 seconds on our little group. I have the group I just passed in tow and we are slowly making up time, hit the run up, weave my way through the technical section and then.... BAMM! I'm on the ground... A little too hot into that corner and next thing you know I'm losing every spot I worked so hard to gain. I stand up, assess, regroup and off I go, chasing my group of 6 which has started to spread out again. I catch all but two, and one happens to be a Cyclonaut! I pass the first guy and going into the last lap of 5 (or 6, its foggy), I come through the start finish and hit the run-up and notice the Cyclonaut is having a hard time on the run-up. I close the gap, running hard, remount and now the race is on! We were both going super hard, I was faster through the turns, he was strong on the flats and straights. We battled for the entire last lap and coming into the sand, which is only about 30 seconds from the line, I ride through the first section, the 'naut runs it, we exit the sand at the same time, me on the bike, him running , I downshift, stand up and hammer for the next hairpin turn, get a little gap and look back... 2 seconds, max, I hammer through the sweeping left hander, around the sand, into the last hairpin, drilling it, 3 seconds gap, long power straight... wait a second, where did the other guy come from... 2 chasers, hot on my wheel, I drill in into the finishing straight and finish 2 seconds up on the cyclonaut to finish... 68th out of 115... Yes folks, you read all that to find out I finished 68th. On the other hand, Scott hammered his way to 26th spot. That's a huge gain! Awesome job!!!! And there you have it, another weekend of racing in the books... See you in Plymouth!