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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Josh West
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Saturday, 11 November 2006 |
Highland Park Cross
Mid Atlantic Cross Series #5
Jamesburg, NJ
Finally some stormy weather for CX season. Not exactly chilly at around 55F but there was sufficient precipitation for a mess of a CX race. Note that due to "construction" at Highland Park, the race was actually held at Thompson Park. Very different courses. Highland Park is like a crit on dirt whereas Jamesburg was set up as a shorter, more technical course. 11:00 AM rolled around and there were 55 B's at the start. Once again I'm at the back of the start grid.
Gun goes off and we fire down a short stretch of macadam that quickly turns left onto a grassy/muddy uphill that, with the exception of the first few riders, we were all running. After a seemingly short descent it was across a macadam road to another run-up that dumped onto a short uphill stretch of macadam that turned into hardpack before a right turn onto a power stretch of grass (as expected, the top of the park was much dryer than the bottom) then there were a few switchbacks that ended with a muddy, off camber, sharp uphill turn which was not bad if you took the inside line. At the top the corse went right onto a muddy, off-camber straight section. (Learned something new by watching a couple of the Pros pedal through this section with one leg while using the other to balance) A few muddy roots followed, then a pretty fast curvy section through the heart of the park, which included a little macadam and a mulch pit. The barriers came up shortly before the end of the course and were kind of tricky, but fun, because of slight pre- and proceeding descents. My consistent nature put at 37th - same as yesterday. Probably couldn't do that if i tried.
Josh West
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