Well the first two races of the year have past one went badly and one was great.
Race #1 Conyers GA. Horse Park Oct 21st 07
Arrived the day before and pre-rode the course enough to get the turns and barriers in my mind. Next morning got to the venue did a couple laps of warm up got the camera ready and lined up on the front row with the usual suspects and some new faces to the 45 + crowd.
The whistle blew and off we went, was not anxious to go hard from the gun and was happy to see that everyone else must have felt the same, Gerard and Dan were up in front setting the pace with the others in tow, about 1/2 lap into the race moved up to Dans wheel just behind Gerard and settled in to see how long I could hang. It was going well, heartrate was not skying and seemed easy enuff to stay in contact but of course it was still the first lap, and then it happened, I felt the rim hit something hard and them moments later I could feel it on the ground, done, race over, flatted a 100.00 tire. I made my way back to the pits and put my spare wheel on and waited for the leaders to come around just so I could ride and see if I could keep pace. I jumped back in just as Dan, in 2nd, went by and followed him for a while then passed and rode up to Gerard and followed him for a lap. Didn't seem too hard but again I was much fresher since I was on the sidelines for a while. Here's the video I took.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2496556249650700986
Race # 2 Fort Yargo, Winder Ga Oct 28th 07
Having flatted at the previous weeks race I was an pumped for this race, I arrived the day before and went to the course and spent 1 hour riding the course, learning the lines and practicing the barriers and the sand. I was able to ride about 1/2 thru the beach but then the dismount was not too pretty but decided to ride as much as I could during the race, I just hated to waste all that speed going onto the beach.
Race morning and I was feeling really anxious, I didn't sleep that well the night before, I just kept going over the course in my head and playing out how I thought the race would go over and over in my head.
The masters lined up and this weeks field was about 10 short of the previous week and no Gerard, but Dan, Torre, Lamar, David, Brad, Jim, Wojtec and other strong riders were there to take up the slack. Brad was kind enough to give me a spot on the front row for the start and off we flew. For the first 1/2 mile we were on a fast paved road section and the big guns all grabbed their place near the front, I choose not to get caught up in the holeshot action and was about 8 back from the front but moved up several places as we went off road the first time. Brad, Lamar and David were setting the pace up front and I noticed that Dan was a few places behind me, which suprised me a little. At about 3/4 of the 1st lap I had moved to 3rd behind Lamar and Brad and went past in the single track section somewhere around the headless GTC rider. At this point Dan was behind me, I didn't know it at the time, and I kept going my same pace which kept putting time between me and the field. Looking at my video afterwards I see that at some points during the race I had pulled out a lead where that no one can be seen chasing on the road after you make the left turn at the top of the hill. I never let up the pace though and kept riding onto the sandy beach and actually fell twice in the sand which let Dan catch sight of me and he pulled me in on the last lap. Now I didn't fall on the last lap but Dan was really charging and he caught and passed me just past the finish line of the last lap, I figured I could save a little energy right then and repass in the fast woods section, so I got on Dan's wheel and we went off the pavement into the woods pretty damn fast, the 3rd left hand sweeper I made my move and passed Dan taking his line and causing him to overrreact and hitting the course marking tape wrapping it in his wheel, this gave me about a 30 second advantage which I held till the end and my first ever cross win.
Here is the news page for the Ga cross series web site.
Race #1 Conyers GA. Horse Park Oct 21st 07
Arrived the day before and pre-rode the course enough to get the turns and barriers in my mind. Next morning got to the venue did a couple laps of warm up got the camera ready and lined up on the front row with the usual suspects and some new faces to the 45 + crowd.
The whistle blew and off we went, was not anxious to go hard from the gun and was happy to see that everyone else must have felt the same, Gerard and Dan were up in front setting the pace with the others in tow, about 1/2 lap into the race moved up to Dans wheel just behind Gerard and settled in to see how long I could hang. It was going well, heartrate was not skying and seemed easy enuff to stay in contact but of course it was still the first lap, and then it happened, I felt the rim hit something hard and them moments later I could feel it on the ground, done, race over, flatted a 100.00 tire. I made my way back to the pits and put my spare wheel on and waited for the leaders to come around just so I could ride and see if I could keep pace. I jumped back in just as Dan, in 2nd, went by and followed him for a while then passed and rode up to Gerard and followed him for a lap. Didn't seem too hard but again I was much fresher since I was on the sidelines for a while. Here's the video I took.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2496556249650700986
Race # 2 Fort Yargo, Winder Ga Oct 28th 07
Having flatted at the previous weeks race I was an pumped for this race, I arrived the day before and went to the course and spent 1 hour riding the course, learning the lines and practicing the barriers and the sand. I was able to ride about 1/2 thru the beach but then the dismount was not too pretty but decided to ride as much as I could during the race, I just hated to waste all that speed going onto the beach.
Race morning and I was feeling really anxious, I didn't sleep that well the night before, I just kept going over the course in my head and playing out how I thought the race would go over and over in my head.
The masters lined up and this weeks field was about 10 short of the previous week and no Gerard, but Dan, Torre, Lamar, David, Brad, Jim, Wojtec and other strong riders were there to take up the slack. Brad was kind enough to give me a spot on the front row for the start and off we flew. For the first 1/2 mile we were on a fast paved road section and the big guns all grabbed their place near the front, I choose not to get caught up in the holeshot action and was about 8 back from the front but moved up several places as we went off road the first time. Brad, Lamar and David were setting the pace up front and I noticed that Dan was a few places behind me, which suprised me a little. At about 3/4 of the 1st lap I had moved to 3rd behind Lamar and Brad and went past in the single track section somewhere around the headless GTC rider. At this point Dan was behind me, I didn't know it at the time, and I kept going my same pace which kept putting time between me and the field. Looking at my video afterwards I see that at some points during the race I had pulled out a lead where that no one can be seen chasing on the road after you make the left turn at the top of the hill. I never let up the pace though and kept riding onto the sandy beach and actually fell twice in the sand which let Dan catch sight of me and he pulled me in on the last lap. Now I didn't fall on the last lap but Dan was really charging and he caught and passed me just past the finish line of the last lap, I figured I could save a little energy right then and repass in the fast woods section, so I got on Dan's wheel and we went off the pavement into the woods pretty damn fast, the 3rd left hand sweeper I made my move and passed Dan taking his line and causing him to overrreact and hitting the course marking tape wrapping it in his wheel, this gave me about a 30 second advantage which I held till the end and my first ever cross win.
Here is the news page for the Ga cross series web site.
GA CX Series #2 - Fort YargoFort Yargo saw another great weekend of racing in Georgia. Opening up the day was a great battle between Dan Coy and Wayne Nix in the Masters 45+. Nix opened up an early lead but Coy bridged back for some tight racing on the last lap. The Men's 1/2 race came down to a battle between Thomas Turner and Jacob Fetty with Turner pulling out the victory on the last lap. The Women's 1/2 race saw Ellen Carroll give a dominating performance and solo away to her first victory of the cross season. The sand proved to be vicious again this year and many riders taste tested the gritty mix before the finish.
A video of the first lap with a shot of Dan with his pass on the last lap.
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