Utah Cyclocross Series Race #6 Wheeler Farm Murray, UT
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For the second time in as many weeks the race was held at the historic Wheeler Farm. The course was essentially the same as last week except run in reverse direction. This was the Utah State Championships and I felt like the course favored me with the long stretches where I could open it up.
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I had decided to change tack going into this week because the quick start-crash-catch up method was not going so well. I have been finishing consistently sixth or seventh the last three weeks. The plan was to take third or fourth wheel off the start, stick to the fast guys, and apply pressure on the longs straits. I got a front line call up along with the rest of the series point leaders. The start went according to plan and I got fourth wheel right behind RacerX. The pace was good but not too fast and I was able to keep with the lead group through most of the first lap. When we hit the long back stretch there was a quick acceleration by the kid who has been consistently destroying the C category each time he shows up. I was the first to react to it and I flew by the rest of the lead group to try to stay on him. He was ahead by about fifty meters and I was at my limit when the others caught on behind me. The other guys were telling me to stay on him and not let him get away, but I was cooked. I got in behind a rider and tried to recover as much as I could. Already, the race for first was over but it was on for second place. I felt like I had already succeded in this race because I had not crashed and I was still with the lead chase group. As the race went on, the chase group got thinner and I was feeling good. Others were crashing and falling off the pace as I continued the chase with two others going into the last lap. All was going well for me and I was starting to gap my two companions when I noticed my front tire getting soft. Figures. I was about as far from the pits as I could be at this point so I decided to try to ride it out, but no dice. I pulled off course and walked it in.
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I am happy with the way I rode and the strategy was good but in the end I get a big fat DNF. This was a double points race so my lead in the series is shot as well. Hopefully I won’t be too far down in the overall and can recover by riding the remaining races smart like I did in this one. The kid who won the C category went on the take third in the B race, so I don’t expect to see him in my start group again. We’ll see. Check out the results at Utahcyclocross.com.
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