Race report: Hudson Valley Cyclocross, day 2—trying to move up
Event: Hudson Valley Cyclocross
Location: Downing Park in Newburgh, N.Y.
Date: 9:15, Sun., Oct. 11, 2009
Day 2, Sunday
You can read my race report from day 1 here.
Weather: About 50 F, sunny and crisp the whole day. Perfect autumn scene.
Prerace: Stayed previous night in Fishkill, N.Y., across the Hudson, so just had to wake up, eat, and ride over to Newburgh. Got to race early to get bib and warm up on course.
How it unfolded: Twenty-five riders lined up about 9:15 for the Cat. 4 race; like on day 1, I was fast off the front line and second through the hole shot.
Unlike on day 1, when I held my place through lap one, day 2′s lap one was a bit of a different story. I made it around the first set of turns nicely, right behind the leader, and headed for the barriers at good speed.
Problem was, when I got to the barriers I crashed—headfirst. D’oh. Smooth move. I had too much speed and got excited and didn’t clip out of my left pedal fast enough. I ended up plowing into the very first barrier on the course. So much for riding second wheel. I got passed by about 10 guys, fast. Fortunately, I didn’t feel a thing, which I figure had to be because of all the adrenaline in my system.
I got back up and passed a handful of guys, but ended up about 15th the rest of the race. I managed to pace myself and not crash again, amazingly. Again, back pain made its presence about two to go, but it was great to know I was going to finish better than the day before. I found that, with the experience of the previous day’s racing in my legs, today was much more fun and I was able to attack the course a lot more aggressively than Saturday.
Results: 16th of 25. Not the top 10 I wanted but I finished the race and improved on previous day’s performance. I was not content but relieved I made it out alive. Second cross race done.
I hung around to watch some of the other races and tried to take mental notes of the better riders, how they rode. All said it was a great two days of racing. The small fields were perfect as these were my first cross outings. I felt I wanted more, to do the races over, to correct the wrongs. But that’s racing.
Ended things proper with pints at a pub in Beacon with a friend. A perfect fall weekend completed.
I look forward to my next round of races, Granogue and Wissahickon.
Me, my rig: 6’2″, 180 pounds (lightest I’ve been this year and since my return to racing); LeMond Poprad, Mavic CX wheels, mix of Shimano components; 19 pounds. Definitely a starter cross bike.
I got some more pics from the race over on the CyclingReporter.com Flickr page.
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