Cycle-Smart Day 2

Thanks to the DNF Saturday, I was rested and out for redemption on Sunday. I had slipped a few places in the Verge standings, but was still able to start on the front row, in 6th I believe. I even had ample course preview, since we got to Look Park at 7:45am to deliver Jake and watch the cat4 race. (Note: the cat4 race was easily the most entertaining race of the day...well worth getting up for).

I got a chance to pre-ride the sandpit a bunch and was confident with my ability to clean it. That is, until I began to ride it in traffic and found that it's difficult to ride through when someone crashes in your line. I then decided I would run it for at least the first few laps. The ride-up was easy enough, save for the fact that my 39x19 gear kept skipping violently, and I would inevitably choose that gear most of the trips up. Luckily SRAM makes a good chain (rather, contracts a good chain manufacturer) and it didn't break.

Temperatures were a little cooler, and I went with a very un-pro look, wearing both arm and leg warmers. Totally unnecessary, especially from a pseudo/former ski racer. But maybe my unassuming appearance would work in my favor?

Ok, so the race.

I had a decent enough start and did a little pack slide into the first ten or so positions, as usual. Still in the hunt, but without the responsibility of setting the pace. Not that I could have anyway...by the time I was through the first right-hand turn, I hear Richard Fries announcing that James "Slim" Patterson is "attacking the downhill/tracks!" By the time we hit the field, he and Colin had an outrageous gap to the rest of the field. I figured they would have to come back at some point, so I tagged onto the back of the chase.

I sat there for probably a couple laps, pretty comfortable with the pace. Patterson was still ahead, but Colin had begun to lose his gap to us. All the other big names were in the group, so I was pretty content with the situation. Well, somewhat.

The group seemed a little too content with the riders ahead, especially when Dylan McNicholas from NorEast jumped clear. Patterson wasn't coming back, and Colin was maintaining a fair amount of space to us. As we came to the back pavement section, I pulled alongside of the paceline and came to the front. I half suspected Hunter Pronovost was soft pedaling, waiting for someone to pull through, but apparently that was not the case. I gapped the group pretty quickly and began to make my move up to Colin. Toby Wells joined me on this.

After a crazy fast start, Colin seemed to be looking for a little respite and I went by with Toby fairly quickly. Up and around the top half of the course, it was just the two of us, and Patterson was not too far ahead. I pulled on the pavement section, eager to close the gap on sections where technical ability was of no consequence. Clearly, I'm not going to close Patterson down in the techie sections. As a matter of fact, Toby was not too happy with me leading after we turned off the pavement. As I slowed to avoid running over an injured Jordan, I was told to go faster or get out of the way, haha.

We rode down to the lower part of the course, and dismounted to run the sand. A bobble on the previous lap further convinced me that running was the better option for me. I guess Toby fell here, and I was by myself, quickly closing down on Patterson.

I can't remember exactly where I made contact, but when I got there, I found James had broken his front lever/shifter. I guess that's how I caught up. I know what it's like to not have a front brake, except for the fact that I DNF'd when mine broke! He's good enough that he doesn't need it.

So that's how it went for the rest of the race. Dylan was fairly out of sight...and not just because I lost a contact lens with 3 laps to go...he was goooooone. It came down to settling for second place. I did my best to make the turns with limited vision, and made my bike wide enough to keep Patterson behind me. I think he paid a little for the early efforts (and his self claimed lack of riding) because he didn't even attempt to come around for the technical stuff, where I was assuredly slowing him down. Where I could, I put some more power in, hoping to finally shake him...which I did as we began the final lap. All I had to do now was stay upright...

As we came down to the lower field, I had a 4 second gap as I hit the turnaround/track crossing near the parking lot. While I crested the tracks, my front wheel crossed up a bit and came down sideways on the far side. I went down in a heap, bending my shifter inwards as usual. This was not the time for this, and I said that to the people nearby as I got up and jammed my brifter back into place. Naturally Slim caught up and passed me here. So much for my earlier efforts...

Since he was pretty burnt at this point, it didn't take too long to get back up to him and make the pass. As I came by, he pretty much said, "Go ahead, my legs are done." After all there was a substantial chase behind and we didn't want to get pulled in by such a large group so close to the finish. I took up the responsibility of driving the train again.

Now, while I was having a pretty solid race...others were not doing so well. Jordan fell and separated his shoulder on the first right hand turn, and they were finally bringing the ambulance in...unfortunately they drove the ambulance right in front of us on the back half of the course! This required some evasive action, and I hoped I wouldn't end up inside said vehicle trying to get around. Luckily the driver saw us and stopped backing up into our path. Thanks guys.

In any case, I used the next few power sections to open up another small gap which I would keep to the finish, floundering technical skills notwithstanding. No sprint loss this year! I checked over my shoulder on the final stretch and saw I could safely cruise in for my top finish of the year. Still no win, but 2nd in a Verge B race is probably more than I would have guessed at the beginning of the year. The points from this also mean I can probably still get a call-up for NBX, since I will be skipping Baystate and forfeiting any points there (noooooo).