Howard County #2/ Rockburn Recap

Well alittle recap from the #2 version of the Howard County cross weekend in Maryland. Was the infamous Rockburn Cross, third version (year) of this race I have frequented. Love this race, never have done really well here, but just like the course(except for the long hill always on the backside of the course). Well girlfriend and doggies come along with me, start out on time(0615) and making great time down the road, probably get there @ 0745 or so. Get on 95 see signs saying accident on 95 south at same exit, I need to get off. It give alternate exit on sign, so figure be ok, but pull out GPS just to be sure. Well get further down the road and Blam! Standstill in traffic on 95. I see another unfortunate biker with bike on roof caught in same dilemma. folks are turning around, yeah turning around on 95 and going back down an entrance ramp to get off of 95, and go another direction. These freakin Marylanders are crazy!!! Saw almost 4 other accidents from this abuse of stupidity! HONESTLY FOLKS IS THERE ANYWAY ON EARLY SUNDAY MORNING THAT YOU NEED TO GO, THAT ENDANGERING OTHERS WILL ACCOMPLISH? Come on now!

Well did see three other actual fender benders besides actual wreckage that caused the closed down originally. Fine finally through the muck and rumble, 45 mins later and arrive at rockburn @ 2025. Just enough time to run(warm-up now) and register and visit por-pot(if you dont know what this is well you are missing out! : ). Get back , don my gear and get bike ready, got time for quick warm up ride up. Luckily parked in overflow right near race start, so can be there in flash. Getting close to time, and see noone lining up, HMMMM did i miss something? check with UCI judge and they kicked start back 30 mins because of accident. cool! But now ready way to early. I go back to car, relay info to better half and dog kisses await, then put on vest and go out and check out newer course this year. They made some changes, and i even like the changes: lots of turns and twists, short hills, stroll the woods remains, and few barriers, actually like this course even better. See my cross nemesis, Adam, and few others. Get chatting well soon time to go now.

Mass start of race, but position is decent for once! 2-3 rows back form adam, but not bad. Fast road start, no problem, bunch up a little at off camber entrance, but rolls quickly. Actually had good start and decent pace going. Love all the quick turns and flowing corners, nice combinations and yeah, NO long climb on backside of course. already reallyl liking this race now. See adam up ahead as usual(Mr early pre register always gets better starts!!!) Through one lap no problem, ending second lap and hear bell, well because they started late they decided to shorten race as well by one lap. Snap! time to put the heat on now. Wasnt even close to tanking yet, so speed up and flowed through corners that a lot of riders were getting sloppier at becuase of being tired. Come around a corner and adam right in front of me, we do another right 120 degree corner and then Adam goes down on slick corner, i go to outside and keep riding through it. He recovers and pulls in behind me, well i gunned it and started taking corners close and flying up short hills, he never comes back at me and i pick up 2 more riders along the way and trample them. Come in with gusto, and ready for sprint but noone takes the charge. Adam comes in few places behind, so the cross results margin is narrowing now- AHA! Come to find out he went down 2 more tiems and i finished strong with no wipeouts or any other problems.

Found out got 26th out of 66 , not too shabby still feelign pretty good, not wiped out like last season. have at least 2 more races to shine, so no holds bar- gotta go! did 2 more road rides in sloshy rain post race Tuesday and Wednesday, felt great and rode strong. Definitely feeling it for this weekend at Taneytown! See you there all and beware adam, I am gunning for you partner!

Fairhill and Tacchino Recaps

Well Had a blast of a race weekend, this past weekend. Started off with Fairhill race in Maryland. I have always loved this race, and even the mountain bike race back in the days I use to MTB. Great venue, shame more people never show up to this one, but well kept hidden secret. SHHHH! I arrived there with plenty of time to spare, chatted with few folks, normal get ready ritual. Rode some of the course because some changes form last year, looks to be nice changes at that. rode on the road for last minute stretch out and waited for whistle. Started off in mid pack position, and managed to stay up well with the other riders. loves the twists and turns of this course. Hurry up to the sandpit(horse arena) area, which has always been my favorite section. They changed it slightly, but all rideable and went strong thru that section each lap. Didn't know where i was position wise but felt great and even felt confident about my riding. finished strong, and ended up 21st place out of @ 55 racers. not bad at all, did much better then last year, where I was in the 30's. No crashes, no mechanical issues, and a great race with solid results. Stayed around and cheered on my fellow teammate Mark. glad to see him out, he will be back to this race cause it is a nice course. Gorgeous day with slight chill, but warmed up nicely.

Sunday at Tacchino: Whole new venue this year- different park, location, city and course of course. Hoping to do another recap of fairhill's race. got there after a few misjudgments of location. Rode to registration because it was about 3/4 mile away. Only 1 urinal and 2 toilets for men, a little weak if you ask me, considering the amount of racers at last year Tacchino race. Course was set up nice, not my style though, too many long straights , there were some short sections for speed, but the longer staights are not my forte. not a lot of places to recover either. Well rode most of the course for warm up and saw my fellow Cx results nemesis, Adam. Chatted for a few minutes with him. Dang its 70-80 degrees out and i have my thermal skinsuit on9forgot to check weather night before), at least i took my underarmor thermal shirt off, even put some light chocolate embrocation cream on, becuase it was slightly cooler earlier, but warmed up real quick. Kiss form girlfriend and ready to fly! Mass start without prolog is a mistake. You have got 80-90 racers all vying for a small area to an off camber upgrade and a quick sharp right turn after that, and then another quick left turn to a slight straight away. Well started off with elbows and positions at stake, took a few and even gave a few got off 100 feet of road and then on grass on off camber upgrade. riders on both side, probably mid to 2/3 back of pack. At least 3 riders go down off the left front of me and then one right in front of me he went sprawling to ground bike in my path, no where to go, cant stop cause others bearing down on me form behind with a clue, eyeballs got huge and lifted front wheel up and rode over his rear wheel and managed to stay in motion and upright at the same time. Next quarter lap, was checking tire/wheel alot, worried i would have a flat. Had my spares , but never pitted them-DORK! , well continued up the steep inclines and long rolling flats with corners around bushes, bike riding well and no flat. Really short course only at 2-2.5K length, so they stated before that lapped riders would be pulled. Saw Adam up ahead after 2 laps and with 3 laps to go. Still quite a bit of carnage going on, folks rolling tires, flatting, broken ankles, small crashes, but managed to stay free of all this luckily. Was going to jump barrier for a sausage premium, but chickened out instead. Have no idea where my position is riders everywhere, even I was lapping some riders. Couldn't quite catch Adam, he powers to much on flat areas, which is not my game. I would be close and then lose him again. After 5 laps and coming to finish, 3 riders in front of me, gained on them in corners, but they pulled ahead on flats, but gained on technical sections right before finish. One guy took off 2nd guy started to, but i had changed rings and started to kick it in and finish strong. The rider in front weaved and tried to push me off course, but beat him by @ a helmets length and own my third sprint finish this year. WhoooaaaaHHHH sprinted for 47th place(after checking results). Well 47th out of @ 90 some riders isnt too sucky, but not great. i hope they fix the cross results for it only has 57 because they stopped numbering the lapped riders. Now it looks worse the i actually did.

Anyway, no actual crashes from me , no mechanicals or flats, and got to watch the Tacchino turkey having fun with masters racers and ate some Belgian frites!!!! now thats a race!!!!

Mid Season Thought

Having a fun season so far this year, not the results i was hoping for, but its all good. Having fun, staying healthy, and finishing the races are more important. Hup camaraderie is nice as well. Always fun to cheer on fellow Hupsters. Well doing another double this weekend. Fairhill and tacchino. Should be fun, having normal fall weather looks to be, not the usual rainy Belgian style weather. Peace out and keep up the pedal power transfer all.