Saturday Jake and I went up to Sykesville for the Psycho Cross race, a new race in the “Sportif Cup” series. Jake did his first 3/4 race and did great, finishing 12th (out of say 30 or so). I did the elite 35+. It was a tough race. There was a run-up that really hurt (and my right achilles started to bother me). I had a great battle with Karl Kensinger of NCVC and was able to get around him just 1/4 of the lap before the end. I was 15th overall (I haven’t seen the 45+ break out). It was a good race. The officials weren't going to short change us and I ended up racing 58 minutes. Ouch.
Today, Jake, Liam & I went to Hyattsville CX, part of the MABRAcross Super 8. This would be Jake’s last Cat 4 race. He’ll do the 3/4 starting with DCCX. He was hoping to get a podium result in a Cat 4 race. Starting with a front row start, Jake immediately slotted into the front 4.
He got shuffled back a little early but by the end of the first lap was within reach of the front 2, but then had a hard crash and got caught in the tape. I came into this late at which point he was in 4th and the announcer was saying that Jake was chasing back. Here he's chasing over the barriers (he would catch this guy 2 minutes later).
On the last lap he caught and passed the guy in 3rd, blowing by him in his chase for the front 2. He didn’t have enough time to re-connect with the front but easily cruised across in 3rd. A great finish. I let the announcer do the talking this time.
After Jake's Cat 4 race, Liam did the 10-14. He did it in clip-in pedals for the first time, which was a great advance.
His friend Dustin Goodwin, who also rides under the Coppi banner had a good race, but the results were badly messed up so I don’t know what his ultimate finish was. Top 10 I’m sure.
Liam ended up riding with Will McNeely in his first CX race.
They had a tough time in the technical woods section.
Then I lined up for the 123 45+. My legs felt decent after Saturday. I got a good start and was in 4th until a little chaos in the woods on the first lap. I rode with Steve Dontigny for a bit but was faster than him on the flats so went around. Ultimately I ended up with Thori Wolfe of Route 1, who is super strong this year (he had dropped his chain like 9 times). We were chasing David Kay of DC Velo for the last 2.5 laps or so. I told Thori would help pull if he got us within strking distance. We came very close, but Thori pulled away from me in the last 1/3 of the lap. He finished 1 second behind Kay and I was 3 seconds behind him. I was 7th and was only 14 seconds behind 4th. It was the first race where I felt strong. So it was good.
Finally, Jake lined up for his 3rd race of the weekend in the 15-18 juniors. I kind of figured he’d be exhausted so I missed most of his race as I was at the car changing. But when I got back he and Tanner Browne were sprinting for 2nd and 3rd. Jake’s tired legs brought him another 3rd, which was great given how many races he had done at that point.
As we were about to leave, having just picked up the pit bike, we watched the start of the 3/4 race. Kimani took the hole shot but crashed making the turn on the pavement. His chain was all messed up. Jake ran down to help, and after too long I yelled to meet me at the pit. I ran down to the pit which was just 100 yards away. Luckily Kimani uses the same pedals and the Jamis Supernova was set up for Jake and it fit Kimani fine. We ran his bike to the mechanics who fixed the chain and the bent derailleur hanger. Kimani did an incredible chase to go from 1 minute behind the field into the top 30. In the mean time, Brad Evans scored a well deserved strong 2nd in the 3/4 field. A great day for the Squadra
Comments