Cyclocross With Grandpa Tommy -- Vint Hill

Saturday was the Vint Hill Cyclocross race, put on by 540 Cycling.  Vint Hill is just a few minutes from Warrenton and my dad's house, so even though it was a new event, I had identified it early on as great chance to do a race that my dad could attend (by way of brief background, he has been fighting lung cancer for several years). 

Unfortunately, for me, the back tightness I mentioned last time went nuclear on me on Thursday morning.  I had driven to Hains Point to do a ride because I needed to bring stuff home that evening for a court appearance Friday morning.  After my ride, I was in the drivers seat and reached over to pick up my courier bag/brief case from the passenger-side floor and my lower back completely seized up.  Just horrible.  I've never ever had any problem with my back, so this was a major shock and scary.  I was able to get in to see my physical therapist, Sonja Evers (remember from my Achilles injury) on Thursday.  She was shockingly positive about how soon I'd be back on the bike (I figured cross season had just ended).  But racing over the weekend was out (and the subsequent spasms confirmed that).

So Saturday morning I played team manager and packed up the boys' bikes and gear and drove out to Warrenton.  It was a beautiful frosty morning.  My dad got there a little after us.

Jake lined up with 40 guys for the men's Cat 4 race at 9am.  Other coppis included Jon Burns, Micah Smith, Chris Grengs (riding my old Fuji) and Patrick Dolan.   Tanner Brown was the other 13 year old racing with the Cat 4s, just to make the grown men nervous.  Jake got a decent start,  

but was behind Tanner and Jon and others on the first lap.  

But the fast starters faded and Jake pulled back up to Tanner and they were starting to move up toward Jon.

Jake and Tanner were moving forward mid race and I yelled to Jon Burns "the 13 year olds are coming," which apparently motivated him to go harder.  By the start of the last lap, it was Jake and Tanner together about 20 seconds behind Jon (Jake told me he was more motivated to try and get up to Jon than he was worried about racing Tanner, which is good, positive "think forward" thinking).   Jake looked good and I thought he might finally beat Tanner head up this season.  Jake looked like he made a move on Tanner early in the lap and had a gap.  But Tanner came back.    (just ignore the things I yell in the heat of the moment to try and motivate Jake; I apologize to all involved).  Jake still looked good and I thought he could take Tanner on the final hills.  But right after the pits Tanner opened a small gap through some turns.  I thought Jake had cracked, and coming up the last hill and over the barriers the gap went out to 20 yards.  Jake was looking down at this bike after the barriers.  Well, it turns out he had flatted at some point during the turns just 1-2 minutes from the end and his rear tire had gone soft.  Bummer end to a head-to-head battle. 

Micah did well and came in 3rd.  Patrick was top 10 (8th I think)  Jon was 20th, Tanner 21st and Jake 22nd.  Still pretty good for a couple 13 year old boys. They all ended up hanging by my dad when they stopped.   

We hung around and watched the other races.  Jeff Trihn did well in the 3/4 race.  I watched with longing as the 123 Masters raced without me.  At 1pm, the junior 10-14 race lined up.  Grandma Lee had arrived just in time to see the junior race. 

Tanner and Jake would duke it out again.  Liam had enjoyed the Tacchino so much he wanted to do this race to (he was also thrilled to learn that he has points in the MABRAcross series, and kept asking if this was a series race).  There were about 7 kids total.    Tanner took off fast and immediately had a little gap, but Jake clawed him back on the first lap (and apparently Tanner crashed).  The second lap was more battling with Jake constantly just 10 yards behind.  This is the start of Lap 2:      Jake lost ground early in the lap when he failed to clip back into his pedal (and like me at All Hallows, whacking his calf with the pedal), but closed that back.  The final hill toward the finishing straight was brutal.  You could tell that both of them were shot from the earlier race.  Jake couldn't close the last 10 yards. Bryan Burns got some footage

 

Vint Hill Cyclocross Juniors 10-14 from Bryan Burns on Vimeo.

 

 Liam's race was basically a solo effort.    The bumpy course and hills were hard for him.  He really hated this gravel hill.       There was a little bit of drama for Liam.  Liam's shoe was untied and on the second lap I made him stop at the pits for me to re-tie it.  He said "if I come in last because of this I'm blaming you."  There was a girl who had been trailing Liam and that stop let her close the gap.  So Liam had a little race for the last 1/4 of the lap including the final barriers (you can see her in the background as Liam goes over the barriers in this picture) but he held her off (lucky for me).

It was a beautiful day.  On the way home, after a tip from Bruce Buckley, we stopped at the Wegmans in Gainesville and got some 12oz bottles of Ommegang Hennipen (the big bottles are too big if you just want 1).  My back was pretty sore, but I know my dad and Lee enjoyed getting to see the boys race.

Comments

[Bill]

Nice report. What did you think of the course?

[Jon]

Great job by the Thompson crew this weekend. On the drive home I casually commented how Jake was likely to be punishing the older guys for years to come. No flat, maybe top 15 for Jake? Could be.

Anyway, another great race by your boys and thanks for the motivation that made me HTFU and dig a little more.

[Scott]

Thanks Jon. Kind of you to say.

[Grandpa Tommy]

It was a beautiful day. A little frost early then sunny and a light breeze. The boys were GREAT.

It was nice meeting the rest of the team as I have read about them over the years.