Cycle-Smart Intl. Day 1

Sarah and I drove out to NOHO Saturday morning, arriving at 10, for my 12:30 race. I was excited to be racing later in the day, after dealing with the Cat 4 Ice World of the year before. On my inspection lap, I found the course to be surprisingly dry, and very fast. The Cycle-Smart crew and JD, did a top notch job putting the course together. There was a nice mix of power sections, coupled with enough technical sections to keep the strong time trial riders from getting away. The start was set up much like I remembered it last year, with the first big bottleneck coming at the run-up. With a starting position near the back of a 150 person field, I knew that I would have to try to push hard from the start; I didn't want to be stuck at the back of the queue, zombie shuffling their way up the hill. I also wanted to beat Todd, who has been edging me out all season. These aspirations were dashed before I even left the starting grid, when I was caught right in the middle of a crash seconds after the starting whistle. After dislodging myself from the pile, and getting my shifter pointing forward again, I was ahead of 6 or 7 guys, 3 of which didn't have functional bikes.

After the starting grid crash, I was at the very back of the pack.

I counted myself lucky, since I wasn't seriously injured, and my bike was mostly working. I did have plenty of room at this point, so I got on the gas, and tried to get back a few places before the run up. I pulled back a few folks, and soon found myself making the obligatory cow sounds, as I got in line at the hill. I was joking with some guys that we were joining "Occupy the CSI Run Up". I was next to my MRC teammate Matt , who also happens to be one of my Cross Clash rivals, as we made our way up the loose dirt. After losing to him many times last season; I made it my goal to make sure I was ahead of him, no matter what happened.

My plan of attack, was quite simply, to attack. So attack I did, again and again. I spent a good portion of the race out of the saddle, pulling myself up to small groups; Fighting my way to the head of them, then trying to bridge to the next group. This meant that I was spending a fair amount of time out in the wind by myself between groups, but I was feeling great. Matt was also doing well, pulling through groups after me. He finally caught me at the top of the run up on the last lap, when I slipped. We worked together to try and reel in the next group ahead of us, before I blew a tight turn. Matt got a nice gap on me, before the sharp descent off the hill. Andy was right there yelling at me to catch him, that I couldn't let my teammate beat me. This gave me a boost, and I slowly brought Matt back. I was able to make a good pass on him right before club row. I saw an MIT rider about 15 yards ahead of me. I turned myself inside out trying to catch him, and keep Matt off my wheel. When we hit the pavement, the MIT rider only had a 15 foot lead on me. I dropped it into high gear, and still had enough in my legs to make a strong sprint. I was able to nose him out with a well timed throw at the end. Granted I was sprinting for 92nd place, but damn it it felt awesome.

Attacking through the barriers, with Matt in pursuit.

Aside from the crash at the start, I felt like I had a very strong race. I don't think I could have put in any harder of an effort, and I managed to beat the pre-race predictor. I had fun, which is why I'm out there. So while the results didn't look that great, I will chalk this one up as a win.

Post race observations
The Good:
-Fun course
-Sprinted out of every corner.
-Attacked constantly.
-Passed 45 guys.
-Young kid at the run up, who told me I had the best mustache that he had ever seen.

The Bad:
-Playing pig pile at the start line.
-Todd not getting stuck in the pig pile, and pulling away.