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Plymouth North Cyclocross |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Steve Morse
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Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
Plymouth North Cyclocross
11/10/2007
Plymouth, MA
 | | Photo courtesy of Cathy Rowell |
Headed out to the beginning of Cape Cod for another legendary local race. The scene of two CX national championships. As I packed my car that morning, I was pretty psyched - it was cold (mid 30's early morning and very windy). Ideal conditions for me. And since I already knew the basic course scheme (read: power!), having raced there twice before, I could only surmise it could be a great race day for me.
Got to the venue, kitted up and checked in. I prerode the course a few laps. My earlier memory served me well, it was a total power beatdown course. Frozen tundra, wind tunnel straightaway false flats, hi-speed turns, and a few short sections of mildly technical woods singletrack. Everything was slightly damp and tacky. No mud to speak of. Lots of pavement. The temp was still only low-40's but with the windchill it felt like 30. If I couldn't do anything on this course/conditions I may as well pack it in and retire, there isn't anything closer to a "Steve" course than this. I also liked a few of the new sections added since last year, including these sweet off-camber drainage ditch drops and a new grass maze down near the starting line. Wicked fun!
After a nice warmup on the trainer, I lined up with about 25 riders or so in the Masters 35+ field. I was a few guys down the row from Mark McCormack, Kevin Hines and several other local a$$ kickers. At least I knew a podium would be out of the question for me, but I was still fired up nonetheless. The whistle blew, I surprised myself and was sprinting only a few wheels back from Mark, I stayed there until we passed the finish line and started heading into the first woods section. After the initial melee I was probably in about 12th spot. It strung out really quick but I was intent on trying to hold a fast guy's wheel. I passed a bunch more people and made it up into about 8th place. Things were going really well for me, I was hammering as hard as I could, I was taking all the turns pretty fast, and the lead group wasn't getting away too fast. This never happens. I could keep them in sight for the better of 3 laps.
Around the end of lap 3 a Union rider sped past me, and he became my next target to fixate on, I tried to stay on his wheel, but the guy was very fast. He usually kicks my butt in the training races, so I was surprised to be riding with him. Eventually he started to ride away on the power sections, and I was getting worried that I'd end up riding solo (and slow down & get caught by more 35+ guys). My fears were assauged as the top two 45+ riders came up to me. (The 45+'s had started a minute after us). They passed me in a single track section, but I was able to hold these very fast wheels for pretty much the remainder of the race. They had a huge gap on the rest of their field, but they weren't letting up at all. They gave me a sweet tow and I was definately riding faster. They seemed OK with me latching on, and even gave me encouragement to try and stay on when they would gap me a little in the woods. I started gaining time back on the Union rider as these guys pulled me up higher in the field.
Last lap, the faster 45 guy hit the boost button and rocketed off to take his win. I tried to stay on the other guys wheel but he gapped me right before the line. I didn't catch the Union guy, but I definately made up some of the gap.
So I crossed in 9th place. A good finish for me in the Masters field. Looking at the results, I beat some guys who have been finishing a lot higher than me in the Verge races, and was right behind guys who have been in the top 15's, so I am encouraged. Mark M. got beat by Hines, which was surprising.
After that, I jumped in my car to try and warm up. On the way home I had a little bit of a medical emergency as I started to black out (tunnel vision and "lightning" in my field of vision). This triggered a sweet panic attack because I thought I was dying. Good stuff! I pulled the car over, ate a Clif Bar and everything got better again in a few minutes. So I assume it was either low blood sugar or O2 debt, or a combo of the two. Guess I pushed it pretty hard, eh?
Steve
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; "Photo courtesy of Cathy Rowell")
