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New England Velo-Cross |
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Written by Steve Morse
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Monday, 22 September 2008 |
New England Velo-Cross Challenge
Londonderry, NH
September 20th, 2008
The first cross race of the year for me actually began the night before, as I went down to my basement to give the bikes a once over to make sure everything was cool with them. As I aired up the rear Grifo tire on my race bike, I noticed a large bubble-like appendage sticking out of the sidewall…doh! I guess I somehow put a nice slice in it, during the last cross practice, and the inner latex tube was now protruding. Not sure how that happened, but luckily I had a spare Grifo 34, and spent the next hour or so wrestling the old tire off, prepping the rim, and mounting the new tire using Big Al’s tried and true, glue/tape method. Then it was off to bed with a sore shoulder, wrist and fingers from the unplanned gluing excursion.
Race day, the drive up to NH was pretty awesome, it was sunny, a bit cool and air had that little bit of a bite to let you know that cross season was here. I arrived at the New England Velodrome in Londonderry to find a pretty sweet course laid out for us. Basically, the place is an old car racing track, converted to an outdoor bike racing velodrome. They had a cross course set up, utilizing the velodrome, as the start/finish area, some grass maze in the track interior, and then a nice jaunt through the woods on some great double-track, then a bit more maze set up on some soil of varying consistency. 2 steep run ups and a bit of loose sand were thrown in for good measure, and I made a mental note as I pre-rode that the course was overall pretty technical, though I did feel ready for it after a tough season of mountain biking.
After my pre-ride, I did a proper warm-up on the trainer, and got ready for my 11 am 35+ race. When start time finally came, I was mildly excited to find out that we would begin on the velodrome track and do a lap on the pavement before hitting the woods. I have never ridden on a velodrome before.
So we go off, immediately the 15 or so guys in my race all started the frenzied jockeying for position before we turned off the track, on to a steep ride-up (followed by a run-up). I got boxed out a bit, so I ended up behind a weaker rider on the ride-up. He stopped on the ride up and I almost drove into his back wheel, so I had to get off and run the rest of the section. Yes, cross season is here! So 30 seconds into the race I’m already at the back of the field. Never fear, because when I got back on, I started sprinting like crazy thorough the woods, trying to pass as many people as I could before the pace had to settle in.
The start was one of the things Coach Demeis was wanting me to work on. Being more aggressive. That, plus he told me to only use this as a training race, and not go all out, overall. Easier said than done, but I did spend the rest of the race floating just below what I would call “hammer mode”. I did manage to pass a few guys as they started to blow up in the 2nd half of the race, and could see I was putting time on some of my regular rivals who were a bit ahead of me. The amazing thing, was that I could feel the hard training I’ve been doing the past few months kicking in. I didn’t feel tired the whole race (pain, yes, but not tired). As for the running sections, I was able to go pretty hard (usually going faster than those around me) and after each run I could get back on the bike and accelerate. Once again, hats off to Matt for the great training program that appears to be paying off.
Not too far back from the lead riders, I managed to finish 7th place. Right behind the guys I usually have to duke it out with all season. Not too bad for the first, considering I know I could have gone harder. I just need to remember it is a long/short season, and I don’t want to go out like a fart in December. Big races just around the corner!
Steve
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