It has taken me a week to write this post. I was going to put a fully detailed race report up right after the Night Weasels race because somehow I remembered it clearly. And then I never found the time to write anything.
The weather was perfect for cyclocross; it rained for a bunch of days leading up to the race. It abated that afternoon so everyone would freeze. It would just be really muddy. I got to the race early enough that I saw it with all the grass still intact. I thought, "This course is great for me. Lots of climbing, grass in the corners for a lot of traction. No problem."
For the first time ever, I was racing at night. The race was at the Ski Ward in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. The ski slope has lights for night skiing. White snow is quite reflective, allowing you to ski with not too much lighting. Brown mud is not so reflective. Some of the course was pretty dark. Ski lights do not equal cyclocross lights. But in the end it wasn't a problem.
After the first race, the course turned to slop. Every lap there were changes in the course's character because of all the mud we pushed around. The start was even in a mud puddle. It didn't go too well for me. I went from second row to twenty five guys back by the first turn. I'm not sure how I had such a terrible start but it happened. I set about picking people off.
Going through the first turns into the first climb I guess I passed a bunch of people. I was last in a group of four when we hit this sharp, short hill. The guy in front couldn't ride it and stopped everyone. I ran. One guy managed to come around the stopped guy. He rode on for third place. That was the critical moment of the race for me. On the first lap. That, and the start.
I passed the rest of the guys in my group and kept digging. I caught a few more guys. Some guys were trailing me. I tried to open on the up on the power sections. That worked on a few of them. The technical, sloppy, muddy turns were pretty slow for me and allowed some to close time to me. At some point in all of this, Rosey said I was just off of fifth place. And then fifth place had a mechanical. I kept sliding my way around the course.
I rode essentially alone for a while. The atmosphere was great and the course was fun. There were a set of fast barriers, a set of stairs, a pipe that was unrideable and a couple of powerful climbs. It may have been the most fun I've had racing my cyclocross bike.
Ryan White caught up to me on some sloppy section. I would try to crush his soul riding through the straightaways or up hill and he would claw back on the slick turns. And then on the last lap he managed to pass me going through a turn and then put time descending. I'm getting better at driving my bike, but not like a born mountain biker. Ryan put ten seconds into me going downhill and I got sixth.
Prizes went ten deep! That's really generous, especially for cyclocross. I got socks and water bottle (always useful) and a $25 gift card to the Ski Ward (not so useful but very good of them). Pedro's had a bike wash for everyone and it was full service. And cool pictures and video abound!
But before you see any cool pictures, I did a couple of other great things between the race and this moment. I went to the new Yankee Stadium for the first time for my first playoff game ever. And I got to see the Yankees clinch the series against the Twins. Sweet! Double sweet because I live in Boston! And then I took the Mayor with Niv today and went on a hike. I mistakenly didn't bring a camera. But we had a great time in the woods. I'll be sure to bring the camera next time, because there definitely will be a next time.
Be sure to look out for the red and black NYC Velo kit in these videos.
You can see me descending embarrassingly slowly here:
The weather was perfect for cyclocross; it rained for a bunch of days leading up to the race. It abated that afternoon so everyone would freeze. It would just be really muddy. I got to the race early enough that I saw it with all the grass still intact. I thought, "This course is great for me. Lots of climbing, grass in the corners for a lot of traction. No problem."
For the first time ever, I was racing at night. The race was at the Ski Ward in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. The ski slope has lights for night skiing. White snow is quite reflective, allowing you to ski with not too much lighting. Brown mud is not so reflective. Some of the course was pretty dark. Ski lights do not equal cyclocross lights. But in the end it wasn't a problem.
After the first race, the course turned to slop. Every lap there were changes in the course's character because of all the mud we pushed around. The start was even in a mud puddle. It didn't go too well for me. I went from second row to twenty five guys back by the first turn. I'm not sure how I had such a terrible start but it happened. I set about picking people off.
Going through the first turns into the first climb I guess I passed a bunch of people. I was last in a group of four when we hit this sharp, short hill. The guy in front couldn't ride it and stopped everyone. I ran. One guy managed to come around the stopped guy. He rode on for third place. That was the critical moment of the race for me. On the first lap. That, and the start.
I passed the rest of the guys in my group and kept digging. I caught a few more guys. Some guys were trailing me. I tried to open on the up on the power sections. That worked on a few of them. The technical, sloppy, muddy turns were pretty slow for me and allowed some to close time to me. At some point in all of this, Rosey said I was just off of fifth place. And then fifth place had a mechanical. I kept sliding my way around the course.
I rode essentially alone for a while. The atmosphere was great and the course was fun. There were a set of fast barriers, a set of stairs, a pipe that was unrideable and a couple of powerful climbs. It may have been the most fun I've had racing my cyclocross bike.
Ryan White caught up to me on some sloppy section. I would try to crush his soul riding through the straightaways or up hill and he would claw back on the slick turns. And then on the last lap he managed to pass me going through a turn and then put time descending. I'm getting better at driving my bike, but not like a born mountain biker. Ryan put ten seconds into me going downhill and I got sixth.
Prizes went ten deep! That's really generous, especially for cyclocross. I got socks and water bottle (always useful) and a $25 gift card to the Ski Ward (not so useful but very good of them). Pedro's had a bike wash for everyone and it was full service. And cool pictures and video abound!
But before you see any cool pictures, I did a couple of other great things between the race and this moment. I went to the new Yankee Stadium for the first time for my first playoff game ever. And I got to see the Yankees clinch the series against the Twins. Sweet! Double sweet because I live in Boston! And then I took the Mayor with Niv today and went on a hike. I mistakenly didn't bring a camera. But we had a great time in the woods. I'll be sure to bring the camera next time, because there definitely will be a next time.
Be sure to look out for the red and black NYC Velo kit in these videos.
Night Weasels Cometh from David Deitch on Vimeo.
You can see me descending embarrassingly slowly here:
Night Weasels from Scott Rosenthal on Vimeo.
This picture nicely illustrates the muddiness of the situation. There are a couple of pictures of me on Embrocation Cycling Journal too. On to the daytime races.
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1 comment:
intense! the videos, pictures, and retelling of it! you amaze me!!
definitely take the camera next time you and niv hike!
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