Granogue

Despite the protocol of last year and lack of description on the website, the staging for the MAC weekend of Granogue/Wissahickon was based on registration order...probably not good that I registered the day before...Thus, I started in probably 85th position, an unfamiliar spot for the season so far. I might be so bold as to suggest that the MAC conference change it to a 2/3 race, rather than a 2/3/4 to keep the numbers lower.

There are definite pluses and minuses to starting at the back of a cross race. The advantages being:
-you can always blame the start for a bad race
-no pressure to clip-in efficiently...you have 30 seconds before you can even move
-riders are usually more fun/chill back there

The problem with starting in the back isn't necessarily that it's impossible to pass so many riders...the problem is that so much other crap goes on back there that it takes your focus and rhythm.

Right out of the start, I slammed into several riders trying to get in gaps that were probably a little tight. On the road, I would have no issue getting in those spots...but with cat4 crossers, it's not so easy. So yeah, I made a little progress on the road, and managed to pass quite a few people in the early turns where people forget how to ride bikes in a non-linear fashion. Then I got severely held up at the tight turns around the watchtower, forcing me to run around half the corners.

Another problem with starting near the back is that you need to ride super aggressive to even have a glimmer of hope for a good race. This means you overshoot turns and slide around a lot. The combined effect of my heart rate (too much frantic running) and the need to take awkward lines to pass on off-camber sections caused me to go down pretty hard...my first legitimate crash of the season (hitting the barriers in VT doesn't count as a failure of bike handling, I think).

I recovered and resumed my charge to the front with slightly less enthusiasm, since the leaders were already several minutes ahead on course. After all, I have no position or reputation(?) to defend in the MAC...let's just do this for the workout.

I started to get a little rhythm, although I was usually held up in the turns in any of the technical sections. But that's racing, and I'm usually the one who's holding people up. In any case, this spurred on another ill-advised pass, which I should have thought about more carefully, save the lactic acid block in my brain. As I passed the pits, I tried to pass between the course tape and another rider who was setting up for the upcoming turn. He forced me into the tape, over a stake, and eventually over the bars. My bike took flight and somehow my saddle became snared in the front wheel of a following rider. This stopped him pretty effectively as well.

We spent the next minute untangling the rubix cube of seat/wheel/fork that was our two bikes. I don't know how they even got like that without destroying his front wheel...perhaps by some variant of a quantum tunneling process. Oh...and then my chain was off, so I had to fix that. Suffice to say, this really damped my enthusiasm for the race.

I was resolved to finish though and I regained some steam over the next few laps, making it hurt as best I could, in the end salvaging 22nd place. Surprising, given that I would have previously guessed somewhere in the 60's. Wissahickon would be an opportunity for redemption, I hoped.