Blunt Park Cyclocross report
By Sam Fiorino
Editor’s note: Sam Fiorino joined newly formed cyclocross team CyclingReporter.com late this summer. Along with the rest of the riders, Sam will be targeting the Mid-Atlantic Series races this fall, starting Sept. 11. Along the way, Sam and the rest of us will bring you race coverage through reports and photos. —DM
Race: Blunt Park Cyclocross Race (Sunday, Aug. 22, 2010)
It’s raining and about 65 degrees. Not just damp but raining. And it had been for most of the prior night. I started training a month late this year. I didn’t get a good warm-up. Half these kids are 10 years younger than me. Everyone has better equipment now. ’Cross is getting too big. I’ve been racing a few years now so I’m familiar with the fact that the easiest way to vent is come up with excuses. Seen it a hundred times before, done it a million times myself.
Sam Fiorino last year at Southampton. Photo: Eloy Anzola/groovylab
Blunt Park is in Springfield, MA, about a two-hour drive from my home in White Plains, NY, and it hosts the first USAC cyclocross race of the season here in the Northeast. It is pretty low-key as most people are still counting watts or whatever else a serious roadie does these days. The turnout wasn’t stellar but the fields were big enough to make it count. Last year it was a great race to test my anxious legs in a field that I was relatively new to, the Bs. The course is flat and fast, not too technical. An easy way to start the season.
Today’s race started as a typical day of racing: I arrived two hours early, collect my number, get kitted up, do a few laps on the course, try to stop my teeth from chattering. Typical? What month are we in now? Typical for November. There was lots of huddling in the car and hosing the bike off pre-race so, yes, typical day of racing. Just a few months early. I need a little build-up to get to this level of being miserable on the bike. (Did you catch that? Another excuse.)
OK, let’s make this race report as easy as possible for you.
Things I did correctly: I brought an extra set of bibs to warm up in. I got to the line in time to get a front row start. I took the holeshot and led for most of the first lap. I never really felt like throwing up, though I did get the requisite feeling of abandoning the race in lap two. I felt that my fitness was where it should be.
Things i did incorrectly: I drove alone over two hours to race in the rain. I rode sections of the course I should have run, because anytime you are off the bike it’s slower, right? I let a rider who was easily 30 pounds overweight pass me. Don’t tell me that shit doesn’t bother you! I let the leaders gap me. I came in 18th place when I got 5th last year at the same venue. I let that frustrate me to the point that I almost called this whole ‘cross season off.
IT’S ONLY AUGUST.
The race didn’t play out too much like a typical ‘cross race since it was almost strung out like a crit. The gaps were not too substantial and most time was lost on a few little muddy switchbacks that gave the most opportunity to catch or be caught. For 45 minutes these switchbacks were the bane of my Cat. 3 existence. My white whale. So much time lost on such a short part of the course made the fact that I had the chorus to Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” playing on infinite repeat in my head all the worse. At this point I was not only pack fill but I was also hating life. Not the greatest day in the saddle. Funny thing is, when I strolled back into work, everyone wanted to know how my race went. That never happens when I do well! The cherry on top.
So where does that leave me? I know what’s broke so I can try and fix it. Gotta get my head back into racing shape. Fitness? Check. Mental stability? Hmmmm. Starting off the season on a sour note can make motivation a little hard to find, but the thing to remember here is not to fixate on what was done wrong but on what was done right and use that as fuel for the next two weeks until the MAC series starts.
That’s plenty of time to think of new excuses for why those 17 people passed me!
You can read another take on this year’s racing at Blunt Park here. —DM
