Providence Cyclocross Festival

The Providence Cyclocross Festival was not the birthday gift I had hoped for. After three long weeks of training, racing and working, I was feeling pretty fatigued coming into the race weekend. A well-deserved rest week awaited me like a giant cupcake.

Glancing at the list of pre-registered riders list for Providence the field looked competitive but small and I was feeling confident that I could put up a fight for the podium. However, on race day, several faces appeared warming up on the course that would change the race from a local New England race into a National caliber event.
US Olympian/World Cup mountain biker? Check.
Multi-sport Czech Olympian/World Cup mountain biker? Check.
US Road National Champ? Check.
Former Canadian National Champ? Check.

The would-be fast race was now a light-speed event and I was fighting just to hang on to a decent finish. Perhaps “fatigue” isn’t the right word for how I felt during the race, but we’ll just leave it at that. After a strong start, I quickly faded into 4th position and then back to 5th where I spent the remainder of the race with one other rider. We took turns trying to keep from getting caught by the riders behind us and came into the uphill sprint finish where I was able to squeak away with 5th place.

“Happy” birthday; you’re tired and older. You get 8th place today. Yay! That sarcasm just about sums about the less than positive feelings I had after Sunday’s race. Despite my legs feeling a bit better, I was not racing a very sharp race and continued to make small errors that left me gapped at the finish in a four-up sprint for 5th through 8th place. (see first sentence again) However, I have now scored enough points to take the lead in the Verge New England Cyclocross Series.

Later on Sunday evening we joined the Balzano crew and Ed from SRAM for dinner at the Garden Grille veggie restaurant in Pawtucket, RI for a great birthday dinner-thanks again! Time for a nice rest week to rejuvenate the legs and spirit.

Cyclingnews - Day1

Cyclingnews - Day2

Velonews - Day1

Velonews - Day2

Cyclocross Magazine - Day1

Cyclocross Magazine - Day2

Cyclocross Magazine - Day2 - Photos

Granogue and Wissahickon Cyclocross

Rain! Lots and lots of rain! That was the forecast heading into the weekend in Delaware and Pennsylvania. After a morning ride and appointments with a few clients at the office, we hit the road and drove to our host housing outside of Philadelphia. We arrived in time to have a relaxing dinner with Jen and Josh, enjoying the fact that they had the heat on in their house and a big comfy bed for us.

Rain=Mud, which makes for an unpredictable and fun race. The hilly course is set up on a private estate with rolling terrain and several tricky descents. Add mud and you’ve got a pretty technical course with a fair amount of uphill running.

Off the start I settled into second position trying to maintain control of the bike through the mud, opening up a gap on the riders behind me. I stayed in second place for the duration of the race, swapping bikes twice each lap, unable to catch the leader, but satisfied with a strong result on the difficult course.

The recipe for the day was for partly cloudy skies with significantly less mud on a flat and windy course. This course is usually one of the more difficult races for me because you are either pedaling all-out in a head wind or riding very slowly around tight turns unable to pass or shake other riders.

I spent the first three laps chasing the leader in a solo effort until another rider bridged up to me. I was happy to have someone to take the lead and the wind for a while but became a bit too complacent in the last lap and made a few errors including a tangle with some course tape that had me chasing hard to catch back on. In my effort to patiently wait for the finishing sprint to take second place, I hesitated too long and wound up finishing in third at the line. Lesson learned.

Check out the news reports and video from the weekend:

Cyclocross Magazine - Day1 - Granogue

Cyclocross Magazine - Day1 - Granogue

Cyclocross Magazine - Day2 - Wissahickon

Velonews - Day1 - Granogue

Velonews - Day2 - Wissahickon

Cyclingnews - Day1 - Granogue

Cyclingnews - Day2 - Wissachickon

Cycling Dirt - Day1 - Granogue - Race Video

Cycling Dirt - Day1 - Granogue - Post-Race Interview

Next up: Downeast UCI Cyclcocross, New Gloucester, Maine. Thanks for reading!

MM Racing 2009 Calendar of Events:

10/24 + 10/25 Downeast Cyclocross New Gloucester, ME
10/31 Beacon Cross Bridgeton, NJ
11/1 HPCX Highland Park, NJ
11/7+11/8 CycleSmart Cyclocross Northampton, MA
11/13+11/14 USGP Mercer Cup Mercer, NJ
11/21+11/22 NACT Whitmore’s Super Cup Southampton, NY
11/28+11/29 Baystate Cyclocross Sterling, MA
12/5+12/6 USGP Stanley Cup Portland, OR
12/12+12/13 USA National Championships Bend, OR

Photo Matt Roy