CX @ Brewery Ommegang -- part of the NYCross.com Series
One day last week I decided to head up to New York for a cross race rather than going to the large cyclocross weekend event in Gloucester, MA. The race in Gloucester was going to have over 125 cat 4 riders, and over 125 cat4 35+ riders, and races were scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday. The race in Cooperstown, NY at the Ommegang brewery only had 20 some odd pre-registered riders signed up for the cat 4 race (ended up being 35 racers), and only took place on Sunday. I wasn't feeling like racing both days and I didn't want to deal with the massive herds of riders, so I figured I would drive a little further, but take part in a race where I would have good chances for a top 10 placing. As an added plus, it was advertised to have a beer tent that the racers pass through as part of the course. How cool!
My day started out pretty good. I was up at 4 am and drove until 7:30 am. My organizing and packing of the car the night before had proved to be helpful to get me out the door and keep me on schedule for the day. When I arrived at the brewery in Cooperstown, the registration folks weren't even ready yet. I took care of business and got my bike and gear ready for a good hour of warm-up. I went back to the big beer tent some time after 8 o'clock, and signed up for the cat4 race and the 3/4 men race. What the heck, I figured. I drove this far, so getting in nearly 2 hours of racing wouldn't kill me. They gave me my number for each race, along with a corresponding ankle bracelet timer chip. When I asked the folks at registration which side my number went on, they seemed befuddled. I'm not sure if it was because it was a shivery 30 degrees and their brains were frozen, or if they didn't have a chance to have coffee yet… but nobody could give me an answer. I asked them which way we were going past the timing tent, and they motioned up the hill, so I figured it out. Oh boy. I was hoping the rest of the day wouldn't be like this.
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I went back to my car and on my numbers, ate some fruit, spun some high revs on the trainer to get my heart going, and drank some glucose. I was ready. I did a quick pre-ride of the course and found it to my liking. It had lots of tight turns roped off, one tricky barrier setup in the middle of some turns, and a few short flat sections. On the back section of the course there was only one short hill, and another longer hill that wasn't as steep. Mostly of the course was wet grass, with a few 10 meter sections of dirt gravel mix, and one section through the woods that was spongy wet compacted mud. The downhill along the open field was bumpy grass, so it limited the ability to pedal hard and therefore limited top speed. My game plan was to do the first lap as hard as I possibly could, and then see what happens.
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Sometime along the second lap, a rider caught up to me. Where the heck did you come from I asked him. I let him by me and followed his wheel for half a lap. When I felt rested and sensed he was slowing, I hit the gas again and left him behind. I went a couple more laps off the front. When I came around the start finish area with two laps to go, I had a rider charging hard behind me. I let him by me and tried the same tactic to sit on his wheel. I was hoping I could follow him and then take him on the last lap. I followed hard, but the harder I followed, the harder he went. Finally on the last lap he was opening up a gap on me, and I decided to concede for second place. I rode out the rest of the lap in cruise control and was super happy to cross the line with a good result.
I did a cool down ride and still felt pretty good. My leg muscles had gotten some abuse, and I could feel it, but I still felt strong. I started to strategize the 3/4 race in my head. I decided I would try the same approach and see what happens. I got the lineup a little too late and the good spots were taken. I ended up wedging my way in to the far left hand side in the front row. At the sound of the whistle I was off and again had a great jump. I had shifted thru almost my entire cassette in the first 70 meters and was flying. I caught onto the wheel of the rider who beat me around the corner on the inside, and I followed his tempo for the entire first lap, then things got hazy. I hung on and hung on for a few more laps. If memory serves me right I was still in top 3 with 4 laps to go, then I popped. My legs would have no more and I couldn’t recover the overly rapid beats of my heart. As I fell out of fifth position, I gave up…I rode along the edge of the bushes and watched a train of racers sail past…ugh! Then I decided I would ride back to the beer tent and take the rest of the day off.
On my way back around the course to the beer tent, I got passed by a bunch more riders. I was still catching my breath, then all of a sudden I felt fine again. I noticed there were still quite a few riders behind me. I started to think that maybe I should stay on the course. To upgrade from a cat 4 to a cat 3, you need to have completed 10 races, so…If I complete this, it will count as another race. I picked up the tempo again and rode out the last three laps in good form…in fact I didn’t get passed by anyone…and might have passed one or two riders who popped. I wasn’t sure about my result, but I went back to the beer tent, listened to the band, and enjoyed a cold one. I had fun watching the other races, and helping heckle the riders for the rest of the afternoon. Results were later posted and I was 25th out of 59. I was shocked. I thought for sure I was near the back since I lost track during the race…Cheers to another fun day and two more completed races!
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Link to the Team Ommegang – Syracuse Bicycle:
Results:
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