Race: Verge MAC Series—Capitol Cross
Location: Reston , Va.
Date: Dec. 5, 2004
By Eric Ragot
The 2004 MAC Series finale was in Reston , VA. So, I got up at 6, my usual waking time, made it out of the house at 7 and pulled into the parking lot in Virginia at 10:30 with two pit stops along the way. The objective, move up or maintain my top-6 overall series standing in the Mid-Atlantic Cross
B-Men standings. Success. After competing in 7 of 8 MAC races this year, I was in 6th place, 5 points out of 3rd. The races this year took me to:
New Castle , DE
Buckingham , PA
Granogue , DE
Philadelphia , PA
Bridgeton , NJ
Highland Park , NJ
Reston , VA
The travel times ranged from 50 minutes ( Highland Park ) to 3.5-4 hours ( Reston ). Total miles traveled were in the 1800 mile range. All of the races were well worth attending and chasing the series crown was a reality. Had I not missed one race, I could have been challenging for second, even with my results... I started the series off strong in October at New Castle (Blue Diamond CX) with a 4th place in muddy and slower conditions (See story elsewhere on web/yahoogroups). That day, I dropped my two up companion, Pat Cusack, on with over one lap to go and soloed in for 4th. The following day, saw Noah and I head to a farm in the middle of nowhereseville, PA for EVO CX. Ouch that 5th place hurt (See story elsewhere on web/yahoogroups). I don't think I mentioned that a fair was going on in another area of the farm. Something about country living that seems so tranquil.... After those two races were over, I was sitting in 3rd or 4th overall and feeling like I just needed to pull it together to challenge the guys who swapped 1/2 over the weekend.
Granogue should have given me the chance. Charlie and I ventured down, watched the Juniors and Masters and warmed up. I took the hole shot (7 of 7 MAC race hole shots) and make a wrong turn off the course. Never do that if you can avoid it. Suffice it to say, getting back into the field around 50th or so makes your work cut out for you. Alan Atwood and Rob Spillman kept encouraging me to be patient and pick guys off. Their advice and a little "I don't belong here" thinking paid dividends as I managed to finish 6ht. Phew, it could have been worse, but I had the legs for the win that day. Oh well, it wasn't meant to be...
Charlie and I head back to Philly the next day. What I thought would be a fast race turns out to be all climbing and instead of grass, there is a substance that looks like grass, but acts like velcro. Unfortunately, your tires acted as the opposite form of velcro and really sucked your energy, speed and desire to move from your bike. Took the holeshot and slid backwards. I just couldn't stay with anyone. Just wanted to quit. Just can't stay with anyone. I was headed for my first placing outside of the top ten in 2 years. I tried everything I could, but my legs were shot from the day before. Reminder - don't travel long distances to race two days in a row... I ended up pulling it together a bit at the end to finish around 14th.
Will wonders never cease. Due to one person not showing up, Wes Schempf solidified his lead (and eventual win) in the Series with a 3rd place, but his runaway counterpart from the prior weekend did not show up this weekend. Thus, I moved up to 2nd in the Series standings. Pat Cusack also moved up, but I was sitting pretty, or so I thought. I missed the next race on the MAC schedule in early November. But I returned with a vengeance in Bridgeton for Beacon CX. Sandy , fast, tough. After taking the hole shot there, I faded (sensing a recurring theme here?) but recovered to be in a group fighting for 7th through 10th. I pulled and I pulled and I pulled. I wanted to be able to control the group as much as possible so I could minimize their ability to attack me and make me go harder (which, truth be told, I really couldn't do as my CX racing has turned into a time trial). I got us to within 5 seconds of the group with the top 6 in it. I guess I must have been pulling quite hard because nobody from my group could make it across. Hmm, BANG. That was me blowing up. Jerry from Wonder Wankies, errr, Wheel, went by with the rest of the group and I never saw them again. I managed to hang onto 11th even by almost riding off the course on the last lap (inattention after remounting). Not good, but better than the Philly debacle. JP, Charlie and I packed the car and nursed our wounds with some WaWa donuts on the way back - JP, don't drop donut pieces on my seats, they stain!
Sunday rolls around, time to pack the car again. Did I mention that it rained Saturday night? Well, it did. Highland Park CX, the NYC Metro area's closest CX race was up next. Normally a very fast and flat course, I knew it was reversed this year, but I did not imagine the hell that the rain would bring. While Beacon on Saturday was a fast and speedy course, Highland Park turned into a power and strongman course. With numerous sections that required a choice between riding deep mud or running, HP turned into a disaster. I was chugging along and going backwards after the hole shot when JP came up to pass me. YIKES, gotta get it in gear. I took over pulling and gapped JP and the guy he was with and gradually gapped them until JP faded. It was nice to see him up there. Eventually, I was with Alvaro Arnall, a rider who had been consistently, just beating me recently. He came around me in the sprint, but I started it from much too far out and couldn't actually sprint after such a long lead out. He was beating me by four points or so, and I wouldn't be overtaking him in the overall anyway. No biggie to lose a point.
Post-race, I got some bad vegan food and Charlie and I froze as we waited to wash our bikes. I still haven't gotten the mud off of my bike, three weeks later. Race highlight - having a large chunk of dirtenter my head through my nose and come out through my mouth. Yech...
Got slightly ill after HP, could have been all the goose shit we were riding through. I dunno. Any doctors have ideas?
Series standings had me down in 6th. I was the aforementioned 5 points out of 3rd. 1st was going to Wes as he won the Series, and 2nd was going to Pat Cusack, barring disaster in Virginia . That left 3rd, 4th and 5th within my grasp. I knew that of the two 3rd place guys, one was from New England and would not likely show. I also knew that the 4th place guy, while strong early in the year, was now placing consistently behind me in races. I figured that I couldn't catch Alvaro in 3rd, but I could leap into 4th if I scored 5 points more than the other 3rd place guy. As a reserve plan, I could just mark my friend Tom Mains (NJ B-Men State Champ) and make sure not to lose to him by too many places and I would end up with my 6th overall.
SO, WHAT HAPPENED IN VIRGINIA ???
4 Santa's showed up to race the Killer B's. I got a call up, I got the hole shot. Tom didn't show, neither did one of the 3rd and the 4th place guys. Shweet... Now all I had to do was score 6 points and 4th was mine as Alvaro rode away from me early on as I, can you guess???, FADED. I was really sucking after having barely ridden my bike in the last two weeks. I slammed a root with my down pedal in one section and came flying out of my opposite pedal and smashed into my stem with my knee (reminiscent of a crash that took out my knees two years ago). I recovered, but kept slipping back. this, despite my new found daring in turns. I was flying through muddy and rutted turns that were fast and had my wheels slipping all over the place. It was really fun actually.
I ended up in what I thought was 14th place about 1/2 way through the race. I decided that the group of 4 that I was with was not a good place to be, so I gunned it on a short rise and got a little gap. I then went as hard as I could for the next three laps. With one flat section that allowed me to spin up to a speed that the other guys couldn't match, I was gradually able to get rid of two of the guys, but one kept coming back. I never should have tried to put in a 25 minute effort, but who was thinking then? The course ends with a long, steep and slow grass climb. Then you turn onto pavement, head downhill and then into a headwind and a rise to the finish line. After the guy I was with caught me at the top of the climb, I was cooked and knew that I had my 6 points sewn up, so I motioned him through. He refused to take the lead as he must have thought that I was going to use him as a leadout. I just wanted to roll into the finish. But alas, he wanted me to lead him out, so I guess I needed to suck it up and race for a change. I went with about 150 m to go and handily took him. In fact. the results show me gapping him sufficiently to give him a different finishing time (I don't trust that).
I finished, got off my bike and collapsed. I could barely breathe, had nausea and felt like poopy. That hurt like no CX race had hurt before. Turns out I got 8th! Alvaro DNF'd and unofficially, that will give me 3rd overall in the MAC B-Series. Yippee!!! Next year, I will try to train and then win it.
AND, check out these results:
http://www.midatlanticcross.info/2004MACCapitalCrossClassic.htm#BMen Lap
times are included which are pretty cool.
Thanks for reading.
E.R.
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