Penn State's Lehigh Valley Campus hosted its first cross race this past Sunday. The weather was really mild (50F plus) and dry. Shorts & shorts was plenty warm.
This was a pretty low-key USCF event and there were only ten B's at the start. We left the start grid at 11:00 AM. The start of the course was a grass straightaway that turned into a couple of steep and tight, ups and downs.
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My new Panaracer Cinder X tires were loving it and I was enjoying staying upright. Then came the fifth installment of "my year of the mechanical". My rear wheel came out of the dropouts as a made my second tight uphill turn (preride was fine). It was stuck quite nicely and it took a minute for my frustration to subside before I could gingerly get the wheel back in place. Obviously, the other nine riders were long gone. From then on I was just pushing to get back whatever I could.
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The remainder of the of the course was pretty fast. Lots of long stretches of grass. The barriers were on a clear and easy flat section. Shortly after the barriers was a short and steep gravel/stone downhill that turned sharply over some small roots at the bottom. After that it was smooth sailing up a hard packed fire road/double track. Then it was a quick stony/rooty uphill that sent you back onto the grass for a serpentine. At the end of this was a quick uphill that led to the last feature of the lap which was a sandpit that doubles as a "beach" volleyball court. In the end I was able to make it to 7th place and almost caught 5th and 6th as they finished just in front of me. Great day overall. Back to MAC next week.
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