I went into the weekend feeling that I could do well and was really looking forward to racing at the venue. I haven't raced there in several years, and I have always thought that course was designed with a great mix of elements (both technical and power oriented). This year it was changed a bit due to some work being done to the waterways in the park, and although I thought there were a bit more fast, straight, power spots than I was expecting, it was still a fun race, and one I'm going to try to keep on the schedule again for next season.
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| Thanks to the folks from Capital Cross for the barrier prime! I think Chris deserves it though for working so hard for me in the pit! |
Across the dam we went into the Capital 'Cross Stairs and the band kicked it into high gear. The crowd was great, the music was loud, and I was realizing that I felt pretty good. We went through the Mini-Chute, up the Zombie Killer climb which was short, steep, and soft, and into the campground climb. The course took us into The Chute the was twice the length of the aforementioned Mini-Chute, with very fast, flowy corners that took you back to the bottom of the course and across the dam again. Going down The Chute, my rear wheel skipped up and I drifted through one of the corners. I knew I was taking those corners faster than I had planned to and ended up with a really wide line coming out of it, feeling like I was going to slide out in the one semi-slick section of the course. Across the dam and past the second pit entrance there was one more off-camber section before we dropped into the pavement and up the start/finish hill.
I knew I had only a few seconds on Allyson behind me in 2nd place so I was really trying to focus on being as smooth as possible and to push myself more than usual on the power sections. I was heading under the finishing truss, stood to push the pace, and I started to notice the rim was hitting the pavement. I couldn't believe it. I got to the grass section and just started to go backwards while trying to ride it out to the pit. Allyson came around me and I almost rolled my tubular through one of the corners. I didn't have much further to go and I really didn't want to run downhill on pavement so I kept trying to ride it out. But halfway down, for fear of ruining Chris' carbon rim, I got off and shouldered the bike. I ran as hard as I could with my bike on my shoulder. Ten more people passed me before I made it to the pit and as I grabbed my pit bike, I realized that I was going to have to dig to get anywhere near the podium, and I was quite certain that there was no way I'd be seeing Allyson again until the race was over.
I can honestly say I don't remember every single detail of the race after that. Chris yelled time gaps and places to me every time I passed the pit. The band seemed to be deafening at the top of the stairs, and there were bubbles...so many bubbles. There was so much traffic with the shorter laps and big fields in a couple different racing categories that it was hard to tell who I was catching and who was being lapped. I know I made some passes on some of the technical spots that were a little more risky than I usually do, especially when I was getting close to the two that Chris was telling me were sitting 3rd and 4th. I know I caught Alex Campbell-Forte and Lyndsay Bayer at the Mini Chute and the Zombie Killer climb, and Lyndsay rode away from both of us on the campground climb. I caught her again going down The Chute, she rode away from me again across the dam, I got close to her after the pit, she rode away from me through the finish truss, I caught her at the barriers.... we all see where this is going. We did this accordion thing for the last two laps. I caught Lyndsay where I excelled at all the technical features, but her road fitness is just unbelievable and she rode away from me as soon as the course opened up. There is a reason that she is at a pro level on the road, and it showed Sunday. Even if she hasn't been riding as consistent as usual, she is still amazingly strong. (If you don't know who she is then you should probably check out her blog...)
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| Congrats to Allyson Tufano (Sportif Coaching Group/Patapsco Bicycles) on the win, Gabriella Stern (Vanderkitten CX) on 2nd, Lyndsay Bayer (Hagens Berman) on 3rd in one of her few cross races, and Alex Campbell-Forte (Vanderkitten CX) on rounding out the podium! |
I finished the fourth on the day, and although it was not the place I was hoping for, it was certainly a very beneficial race. This turned out to be another weekend that I learned a lot about racing my bicycle. Just goes to show that eighteen years of racing bicycles doesn't mean that you still can't discover something about yourself. I took risks that I don't think I would've taken otherwise. I know now that I can take those risks. I also managed to not panic and get to the pit as fast as possible when I discovered my flat. Something else that you don't know (or forget) you can do until you need to. And staying focused after a mechanical is, I've discovered, much more important if you're digging to make time back up. Always things that are great to know you're capable of, the unfortunate thing is there's only one way to figure out if you're capable of those things!
All in all it was a fantastic day to race my bicycle and what a great event that was! Thank you to everybody that put so much effort making it a great event and I look forward to doing it again!
The NCGP UCI race weekend is coming up in Hendersonville, NC...stay tuned!
#mermaidwinery #tradewindsracing #super8cx #capitalcross #crossishere #cyclocross
