Here are two weeks worth of results and photos( sorry I have been slacking on the posting.
Last weekend Greg and Mike Hoffman made the trip to " Nittany Cross"for Saturdays race . Greg overcame a large group of starters in the 2/3/4 race and worked his way up to a solid 7th place finish. He is right where he left off before his sabbatical leave in 08. Mike lined up with the 80 or so cat 4 men and ended up 56th.
Clark and I made the Charm City race on Sunday and all I can say is WOW!! This course was always one that I liked, but after this year it ha become one of my top two (Granogue usually wins ) . It is now a UCI event which forced them to reformat a section that once contained barriers. I have to admit I was no big fan of the old section , but what they did with it was pretty creative and made the course flow much better. A "Belgian style" set of dirt stairs added a nice, but pain full touch.
Mikes race went off first and he started with 125 other cat 4 men, and ended up 56th place after a little mishap with the barriers. Clark raced with 125 other guys in the 3/4 Masters, and started in the second to last row. He worked his way up through the field and settled in a little around mid 30's, but with one to go he fought hard and finished a respectable 31st place. He has been working his ass off and is set to have a year of good results.
I raced later in the day in the 1/2/3 Masters. My start was not so bad considering I was lined up close to the back . The problem is that when we reached the first corner everyone hit the breaks and the first 30 or so guys were up the road ( or should I say grass) . I worked hard the first two laps and settled in a little trying not to go backwards. With three laps to go I cramped really bad on the stair section . I hoped that I could work through that for the remainder of the race, and tried to maintain my spot. With a little over a lap to go Dave Weaver catches me after what must have been a bad mechanical followed by a furious chase. Dave is a former pro Mtn biker and I just tried to latch on and go his strong pace. We caught and passed at least 3 guys and I started to fade after the barrier section, but somehow I caught back up to Dave before the finishing road section, and we had a nice little sprint. I ended up 29th on the day and felt ok with that. The MAC series is no joke and makes a tough rider out of anyone that does one.
9/26/09
Greg took the trip to north Philthy area to do the " Whirly bird" cross . He races the 1/2/3 race and raced in no mans land chasing some of the regions finest racers around to end up 9th place.
9/27/09
Izzy and I made it down to the muddy Lilly ponds for the " Ed Sanders memorial race" . I got there just in time to see Izzy start behind the 90+ cat 4 guys. He used his Mountain bike skills and worked his way through the mess to end up 47th. He said that he wants to back down to score some "fried Twinkies".
I did the 1/2/3 Masters and had a descent start position, but chose a bad gear to start in , I used the wide sweeping prologue to get back up to the top 10 area. We hit the barriers and I could hear someone hit the deck behind me ( sorry Marc) When we got to a rideable mud section I picked a good line and worked up to 3rd. When we entered the actual Lilly pond area, I came around the corner and then to a dead stop as guys like Chris Auer were off the bike running(shit, it wasn't like this when I pre-road it 1.5 hours before) I tried to limit my losses and maintained a top ten position most the race. I ended up with 8th place but more importantly happy that the work that I am doing seems to be on track.
photo courtesy of Kevin Dillard www.demoncats.com
thanks and see you next week!!
Last weekend Greg and Mike Hoffman made the trip to " Nittany Cross"for Saturdays race . Greg overcame a large group of starters in the 2/3/4 race and worked his way up to a solid 7th place finish. He is right where he left off before his sabbatical leave in 08. Mike lined up with the 80 or so cat 4 men and ended up 56th.
Clark and I made the Charm City race on Sunday and all I can say is WOW!! This course was always one that I liked, but after this year it ha become one of my top two (Granogue usually wins ) . It is now a UCI event which forced them to reformat a section that once contained barriers. I have to admit I was no big fan of the old section , but what they did with it was pretty creative and made the course flow much better. A "Belgian style" set of dirt stairs added a nice, but pain full touch.
Mikes race went off first and he started with 125 other cat 4 men, and ended up 56th place after a little mishap with the barriers. Clark raced with 125 other guys in the 3/4 Masters, and started in the second to last row. He worked his way up through the field and settled in a little around mid 30's, but with one to go he fought hard and finished a respectable 31st place. He has been working his ass off and is set to have a year of good results.
I raced later in the day in the 1/2/3 Masters. My start was not so bad considering I was lined up close to the back . The problem is that when we reached the first corner everyone hit the breaks and the first 30 or so guys were up the road ( or should I say grass) . I worked hard the first two laps and settled in a little trying not to go backwards. With three laps to go I cramped really bad on the stair section . I hoped that I could work through that for the remainder of the race, and tried to maintain my spot. With a little over a lap to go Dave Weaver catches me after what must have been a bad mechanical followed by a furious chase. Dave is a former pro Mtn biker and I just tried to latch on and go his strong pace. We caught and passed at least 3 guys and I started to fade after the barrier section, but somehow I caught back up to Dave before the finishing road section, and we had a nice little sprint. I ended up 29th on the day and felt ok with that. The MAC series is no joke and makes a tough rider out of anyone that does one.
9/26/09
Greg took the trip to north Philthy area to do the " Whirly bird" cross . He races the 1/2/3 race and raced in no mans land chasing some of the regions finest racers around to end up 9th place.
9/27/09
Izzy and I made it down to the muddy Lilly ponds for the " Ed Sanders memorial race" . I got there just in time to see Izzy start behind the 90+ cat 4 guys. He used his Mountain bike skills and worked his way through the mess to end up 47th. He said that he wants to back down to score some "fried Twinkies".
I did the 1/2/3 Masters and had a descent start position, but chose a bad gear to start in , I used the wide sweeping prologue to get back up to the top 10 area. We hit the barriers and I could hear someone hit the deck behind me ( sorry Marc) When we got to a rideable mud section I picked a good line and worked up to 3rd. When we entered the actual Lilly pond area, I came around the corner and then to a dead stop as guys like Chris Auer were off the bike running(shit, it wasn't like this when I pre-road it 1.5 hours before) I tried to limit my losses and maintained a top ten position most the race. I ended up with 8th place but more importantly happy that the work that I am doing seems to be on track.
photo courtesy of Kevin Dillard www.demoncats.com
thanks and see you next week!!
posted by SeanM at
10:55 PM
1 Comments
