CX season officially underway! Morris CX Recap

The race went pretty well today. My goal was to not get lapped by the big guys and beat someone - not really I just wanted to beat everyone but a few of those guys weren't going to let that happen. I wasn't sure how it would go as it was the first cx race of the season. Especially since I was on my personally glued tubular tires that I tried for the first time this past weekend. If the tires stayed on I would be happy. So 18 of us toed the line and they did call ups for those that did hillbilly so I found myself in the second row behind someone. Anyway we took off and the big guys took off harder of course. There was some shuffling as there was a lot of brake checking here and there but it got into a nice single file race pretty quickly. I felt ok and kept plugging along and seeing where I could make a more or not. I was waaaaay too patient to make a move. I should have been more aggressive so I just stayed in line. I was in the middle of the pack somewhere.

I saw a couple behind and a bunch ahead but I was focused on the man in front of me. It was Kyle at this point(2nd lap?3rd lap?) and I was closing on him and being patient to get around him at the right time. Just ahead of him was Foco so I was anxious to make the pass and get onto Rogers wheel. So into one of the hard 180's Kyle brakes too hard with the front wheel and it slides out and he goes down. I brake to avoid him and the same thing happens to me. He stalls me from getting around him and Dave Wilson shoots by. Dammit! so now we both recover and Kyle is behind me and Dave gets a good gap. CRAP! Dave is setting a good pace and gets through a few and I just keep it steady to let the race unfold. I start to concentrate on opening the gap on Kyle. It opens little by little and then I look up and see Alejandro in front of me(cue the Lady Gaga song...no really - it popped into my head). So I start trying to close the gap on him and it was working. I made some mistakes here and there and the gap starts to close. Then with about 2 laps to go he takes off and opens the gap wide as he cuts through 3 or 4 that seem to be fading. Using that momentum I try to speed up as well and the next guy I see is Dave Wilson coming back to me. I put it down but there wasn't enough room to get him. One more lap and I would have had him most likely.

So all along while I'm tracking Dave down there were two guys fighting it out behind me and I kept a close eye on them to see where they were and if they would attack. They didn't but I see the black kit of Mike Yozell coming through the tow riders behind and coming up fast. He was on a mission. So now my mission was to stay ahead of him and try and get Dave at the last second if possible. Into the spiral of death I was closing on Dave and holding off Mike at the same time. With little to no runout after the finish line the race ended as it did going into the spiral. I couldn't get to Dave. He finished 10 seconds ahead of me while Mike finished about 10 seconds behind me. I was so happy to finish ahead of Mike as I thought he was the leader and I'd be holding him off so I didn't get lapped. He wasn't - he flatted somewhere in there and was chasing back on so I held him off for the better finish. I'll take it!

12th of 18 was where I ended up and that's fine for me as I'm starting to get back into the groove of racing in small circles again. What a great race - awesome field of 18 - and a great crowd around cheering us on while we tried not to vomit. I almost did at 38 minutes in. Average HR was 180 and I hit a max of 188 at some point. The new race format was nice as the A race wasn't the last part of the day with 5 people and no spectators. This makes it SOOOOO much more enjoyable. A much better vibe was felt all over the event. It was fun and I can't wait to do it again tomorrow at West Point. Should be fun. Good to see everyone out there!