Torin Tries Cyclocross

Well, I apologize for not putting up a post-GMSR blog. I was still trying to figure out if I had died or not. For those interested, here is the recap I sent out to my team after the ordeal.

After GMSR, I hung up the slick tires and tried this weird event called Cyclocross, which involves throwing skinny mountain bike tires on a road bike and riding it places you probably shouldn't.

It's amazing.

My first four races came in late September/early October at Deer Farm and King Pine CX, venues which are roughly a half hour and half-mile from my house respectively.

I entered the Cat 3/4 and 4/5 races at each event, and by some miracle placed top-ten in each. (DF: 5th 4/5, 9th 3/4. KP 2nd 4/5, 7th 3/4)

The courses were tough in each their own way. Deer Farm was a much more technical, sprinty course than King Pine, which featured a monster climb 3/4 of the way through the lap, followed by a descent with a mini-headwall before the finish.

I won beer for my podium placing.

Fast forward to Hallowweekend, and I made the trek down to Hampton Falls for Orchard Cross, a day that started at 4:30 in the morning. Arriving at the venue before sunrise is something I haven't done since my Eastern Cup racing years, but at least it was warm this time. My race was the first of the day, and the dew hadn't quite lifted by the time we were on course. Early corners were slick, and sprinting 4-wide into them saw some (including myself) go down in the first couple laps. At least we figured it out by the pump-track.

Regardless, I found my pack with my teammate Ben and we held a good pace for(read: heckled) each other for the first three laps, sitting just in sight of the lead pack of 5.

After a little bit, I made my move heading up the straightaway and entered no-man's-land for almost a lap before branching up.

At this point, CX races become a contest of who can make it the longest without something breaking or crashing. In this case, over the last two laps, the group of 5 dropped to just 2 between two crashes and a puncture.

For the final half-lap, I hung on to the leader's wheel, and didn't try anything until I saw him fumble while remounting his bike after a set of barriers. I tried sprinting past him on the outside lane of the course (which at this point was between rows of berry bushes), but he headed me off in the last corner, taking the lead into the finish straight.

After eight years of racing, you learn to always take it to the line.

I haven't sprinted this hard since I duked it out my junior year against my teammate in Cross Country, and felt like I was going to die afterward. Looking at the finish line photo, the leader started posting up just before the line, and I was able to come around him and take the win by less than a bike length.

GMSR Recap

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started at the Warren Store, and ended with a crit. 

Stage 1: The Warren Store TT featured just a slight amount of Head and cross winds to make things a bit squirrelly. I started 4th, but quickly made my way past my :30 and minutemen by the top of the climb. With about 150 meters to go, I passed the first starter and hammered through the line and into the leaders jersey with a time that would've won the Cat 3 field and placed top 5 in the Cat 2. 

Stage 2: With a 26 second GC lead and a sprint stage on tap, I played in the group and finished in the bunch. May have taken too many pulls, but it was an easy stage so I didn't think anything of it. Day one in yellow complete. 

Stage 3: Still holding 26 seconds on GC, hell on Earth was the stage description for the Queen stage. High of 50 degrees, driving rain, a trip up Midd and App Gap, and not nearly enough layers. I (along with everyone else in my race) was entirely soaked by the time racing started at the bottom of the 4 mile neutral descent. One guy attacked a couple of miles later, and fearing an escape, I gave chase with one other rider for about 20 minutes. He stayed away for the time being and we got brought back in for the intermediate sprint. Still raining. 

Up Midd gap we were able to catch the soloist, and on the descent I got to practice some CX skills at 35 miles an hour while unclipping to keep my balance around a wet corner. By the bottom though, I was very much cold, and hung on to the selection until Baby Gap. That's where the (insert word for shit here) hit the fan. 

Too cold to pull food out of my pockets while on the bike and cracking hard, the adventure up App consisted of no fewer than three dismounts, two walking sections, and one spectacular implosion resulting in 18 minutes of lost GC time in the last 10km. Ouch. Spent a fair amount of time in the refugee/warming tents at the summit eating Cheez-Its and drinking coffee. 

Stage 4: No longer in yellow and not having to worry about doing GC math, I came to the crit just wanting to race. After winding up for the first sprint points prime, I kept going until I had a sizeable gap off the front. Rolled solo for a few laps until the guy who was 2nd on GC at the time branched up looking for bonus seconds. I let him take the GC sprint ahead of me in exchange for equal work in the break. We got absorbed after the last prime with 5 to go (after 15 laps off the front), but that time in the bunch gave me enough time to recover and wind up 5th in the finish sprint. Came home from the crit with $50 in primes, third in the sprint standings (after only contesting them in the crit), and (hopefully) enough to finally upgrade to Cat 3 for next year. 

End scene

Race Report(s): Concord Crit and Witches Cup

How much time did I spend on I-89 and I-93 last week? A lot.

After spending a night in Ashland, NH last weekend, on Saturday I hopped down a few exits for the 37th Concord Criterium. Looking at the radar, we were expecting the skies to open up and for the course to be a swamp starting at any minute during the run-up, as there was a massive storm rolling through central New England that day.

Artists rendering of Concord Crit Chicane after ~10 minutes of rain.

Luckily, the rain held off until after the Men's Cat 4 race, which made things pretty easy in terms of bike handling on this technical course. 

After my show at Beverly, and with many of the New Hampshire racers also attending Concord, people were more wary of me, keeping me at (but not off) the front for a large chunk of the race. I was (mostly) fine with this, as it allowed me to control the pace to what I felt was sustainable (and let me go mostly uncontested for the primes), but some points it just got old.

Like when I started riding in my granny gear or started weaving to try and get someone to pull through (they didn't).

Ultimately it came down to a crash filled final 300 meters for the sprint, and getting caught out through the last corner cost me valuable positioning for the final push, leaving me chasing for third.

A couple of days later, I suited up for my first official category 3/4 combined filed at the Salem Witches Cup, and my first race in which I had teammates to work with.

We discussed race strategy beforehand, and not knowing how we would fare in the final sprint, we decided to go for the money and attack the primes.

I assumed my position at the front of the pack (as usual) and kept pulling back attempts at breaks while waiting for the sprint laps.

When the time came, my teammate would come up and join me towards the head of the bunch and do as teammates do for the sprint.

The team ended up taking home $75 worth of primes ($25 each for the three of us in the 3/4 race), which is still more than we would've gotten for a race win.

After getting swallowed up on the last prime (which I didn't go for but came too late to reposition well), I fought through for a 14th place finish in the bunch, taking home the 4th Cat 4 spot.

Taking a couple of weeks off from serious racing now while the summer wraps up. Expect to see me at the Green Mountain Stage Race over Labor Day Weekend, and potentially at the Fall River Criterium the weekend before.