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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Josh West
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Friday, 17 November 2006 |
Guy's Cross
Mid Atlantic Cross Series #6
New Hope, PA
Borderline tornado weather Thursday made for significantly soggy ground and led to the marking of a more than temporary cyclocross course on somebody’s private property in New Hope, PA. Apparently the land owner didn’t mind as we turned grass into mud Saturday and Sunday. There were 55 B’s at the start. The start was on grass and followed the perimeter of one end of the farm. The mud showed itself right from the beginning as we were all running through it within a minute of the gun. All the running spread the field out nicely. I was feeling pretty good and was able to put myself at around 20 back after the initial running section. Not a bad place to be considering I was at the back of the starting grid.
The course was flat with the exception of one slight uphill that was probably about 75 yds. There were two lines up, one beaten mud path, and a less traveled hay covered one. I found the hay just a bit easier and took it every lap. The descent followed pretty quickly with the first set of barriers at the bottom. Then it was a quick paved section that led into a twisty wet and wooded section where there were a few roots to navigate and the only technical feature which was a steep and deep mud pit that you could ride down but not up. Even if you could get up, the course went sharp right at the top where there was a well placed log. After remounting there was a significant stretch of mud that was ridable, but a lot faster and cheaper to run. Then it was out of the woods and into the open field again where all was ridable except a 30 yd stretch leading up to the second set of barriers that were just before the start/finish. Just before the second set of barriers on my last lap my chain started to skip around because my cassette was filled up with mud and hay. Really could not pedal, so I ran to a 14th place finish.
Josh West
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