On Saturday I raced the Phelps School Cyclocross race in Malvern, PA. It was a well put together race and a great venue. Its a shame that not many people showed up. Hopefully next year more will come out.
It was a nice course. Not very technical, but had a very tricky off-camber turn that was basically a giant U-Turn on the side of a hill. Mix in a little bit of rain, mud, and shitty brakes packed full of grass clippings and you have a teeth clenching experience.
The Men's B race started pretty fast as it was going to be a fight to the first turn which was more than 90 degrees and off camber. I wiped out in the last turn on the first lap and as I rolled onto my back I saw Woody go by and knew I had to get my ass back in gear. If you know Woody, you know the guy has a 1km sprint, so you have to go with him or lose him.
Half way through lap two I had caught Woody and we worked together and started putting some time into any chasers. We had a solid 40 second gap by lap 4 and knew we would go 1-2 as long as we stayed upright. I was stronger up the run ups and climbs (I think), but Woody was much stronger on the long flat sections.
So last lap I would not come around Woody and was planning to hammer the final climb, but Woody hammered the shit out of the long flat section and dropped me. The guy has a motor. Kind of annoying to be dropped on a flat section. WTF? If you look at the HR file above, you'll see my HR didn't go any higher in the finish - I was toast when he attacked. Anyway, I came in like 10 seconds behind Woody for 2nd place and a minute ahead of the next finisher.
I have to work on my facial expressions when I race.
I developed a cramp in my left hamstring during the race and figured I might as well ensure I can't walk the next day, so I entered the A race. Plus there were only 9 guys in it. I finished 6th and got $10!
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