Saturday:
This was the "mandatory" Halloween costume day - show up without a costume and you get a 30 minute penalty. Needless to say, everybody came in some sort of costume. I opted for the Green Lantern.
Got there early and decided to take a spin around the course and check it out - like I have done every year for the past 5 years.
Alas, according the official who apparently knows a lot of rules, I was not allowed to pre-ride when a race was going on. Must of been friends with the guy at the Cincy 3 day cross weekend a few years back that I saw going around checking pit bikes for bar end plugs because he was getting ready to not allow the bike in the pit if he found one missing.
So I continued to warm on the parts that he couldn't see - I mean the road - and I prepared for a muddy and slick'ish cross race.
Gun went off and we all went a blazing through a short lap loop.
At the garage door stream crossing, Phatty and Steve went down.
I slowed and made it, others did not.
Gaps went out immediately. I got around Phatty and joined up with John P.
I was able to ride the barriers which was good as I didn't want to deal with possible mud issues with remounting.
I soon parted ways with John and then tried to get back time on Steve. Things were slick and muddy, but I had some pretty awesome lines and I started to grab back seconds from him.
With the laps closing, I was running out of time. With about a lap and a half to go, I bobbled and lost about 10 seconds. I lost the chase to catch Steve, but rode in steady for the next 10 minutes to hold on for second.
Sunday:
The course was the same only reversed this day and the sun had come out somewhat and had dried things up a bit. Brett added a bridge to save us from the mud and with things tacky it was going make some corners slippy but most of them grippy.
With a smaller field the gun went off and I somehow got the hole shot for once in my life. Immediately I was off with John and Ross.
I pulled for most of the first lap, John got around me and pulled on the second and Ross was hanging in with us riding a 29er.
Pace was hot as we went back and fourth with strong pulls, then Ross slowed a bit and dropped from our group of two.
John and I would go back and fourth, pulling and sprinting as hard as we could out of the corners and on the straights trying to drop each other. John ended whacking his head off a tree in the pine section (which I think was the same one I hit really hard last year) and got cut a bit, but it was merely a flesh wound and we continued on.
Gaps were holding, but Dan creeped up on us a bit, then we upped the pace a bit as we tried to drop each other some more. I was saving a move for the last lap as the person going into the single track on the last lap would be hard to pass at the finish.
John lead in the field heading into the triple barrier that we had been jumping the whole day. Right before it, I got in front of him and ran over the barriers and remounted - and nailed it. I had a gap, but then ended up loosing it in the left hand turn by the garage. John got around me.
Through the twisty stuff, I got right back on him. Over the garage door bridge he slowed a bit thinking that the line was closer - we sprinted and he got the win by about a wheel'ish length or so. Good hard racing, congrats to John as I took home 2nd for the 2nd day.
Ohio State cross coverage:
And, in case you missed it - the Ohio State cross race got some coverage in CX magazine which has a nice article and some great pics.
You can check it out HERE
Ernesto out
So I continued to warm on the parts that he couldn't see - I mean the road - and I prepared for a muddy and slick'ish cross race.
Gun went off and we all went a blazing through a short lap loop.
At the garage door stream crossing, Phatty and Steve went down.
I slowed and made it, others did not.
Gaps went out immediately. I got around Phatty and joined up with John P.
I was able to ride the barriers which was good as I didn't want to deal with possible mud issues with remounting.
I soon parted ways with John and then tried to get back time on Steve. Things were slick and muddy, but I had some pretty awesome lines and I started to grab back seconds from him.
With the laps closing, I was running out of time. With about a lap and a half to go, I bobbled and lost about 10 seconds. I lost the chase to catch Steve, but rode in steady for the next 10 minutes to hold on for second.
Sunday:
The course was the same only reversed this day and the sun had come out somewhat and had dried things up a bit. Brett added a bridge to save us from the mud and with things tacky it was going make some corners slippy but most of them grippy.
With a smaller field the gun went off and I somehow got the hole shot for once in my life. Immediately I was off with John and Ross.
I pulled for most of the first lap, John got around me and pulled on the second and Ross was hanging in with us riding a 29er.
Pace was hot as we went back and fourth with strong pulls, then Ross slowed a bit and dropped from our group of two.
John and I would go back and fourth, pulling and sprinting as hard as we could out of the corners and on the straights trying to drop each other. John ended whacking his head off a tree in the pine section (which I think was the same one I hit really hard last year) and got cut a bit, but it was merely a flesh wound and we continued on.
Gaps were holding, but Dan creeped up on us a bit, then we upped the pace a bit as we tried to drop each other some more. I was saving a move for the last lap as the person going into the single track on the last lap would be hard to pass at the finish.
John lead in the field heading into the triple barrier that we had been jumping the whole day. Right before it, I got in front of him and ran over the barriers and remounted - and nailed it. I had a gap, but then ended up loosing it in the left hand turn by the garage. John got around me.
Through the twisty stuff, I got right back on him. Over the garage door bridge he slowed a bit thinking that the line was closer - we sprinted and he got the win by about a wheel'ish length or so. Good hard racing, congrats to John as I took home 2nd for the 2nd day.
Ohio State cross coverage:
And, in case you missed it - the Ohio State cross race got some coverage in CX magazine which has a nice article and some great pics.
You can check it out HERE
Ernesto out
1 comment:
I would have checked your bar tape to see if it was installed in the proper direction. If not, disqualified!
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