Ice Weasels

[cbusick]

Killer B's 40+
I hard a hard time getting into race mode, but it was just ice weasels, so no pressure right?
Only Chris Pare's season of anti-point doping had him staged 25th while I was predicted 5th (Colin doesn't account for time off apparently)
So the question was, how long could I hold Chris off for?

Unfortunately, in an attempt to bring the average course width up to the regulation 3 meters the starting loop around the field was about 50 feet across.
I knew once we got to the single track there wouldn't be much moving up, but holding Chris off until then was going to be a tall order.

The siren went off, I good a good clip in and what I thought was a good start for me only to see Chris go flying by before we even hit the first turn.
I ducked under the tree at about 10th. Two guys in front of me went straight through the tape into the tents rather than making the 180 back to the too tall
barriers and opened a gap to the lead group that we never closed. About that time I heard the announcer calling out "There's a Minute Man off the front, must be Chris Busick" Nobody expected Pare to go from 25th to getting the hole shot.

I moved up a spot here and there on the first lap as people screwed up various challenges in the woods and then picked off a couple guys on the field to move up to 8th.
After that I was in no-man's land for the rest of the race, getting a chance to see Chris with a huge gap to the chasers. Coming by the finish line on the 3rd lap I heard Colin anouncing
"And here's the other Chris from Minute Man, I wonder why he just isn't as fast as the first Chris"

It was a good race, people were civil and having a good time. I got the hecklers in the danger zone on my side by both riding the log and grabbing a beer on the way by without slowing down. Consensus was that it was a very pro move.

I loved the chutes, and riding up the stairs was a great challenge. I think I cut my tire on one of the sharp steps, but it didn't get flat until after the race was over, although it explains why it felt like it was folding over on one of the turns in the field.

Katie's pics of MRC riders are here in drop box, free for the taking.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9pxs3u9rawjo ... eXWCa?dl=0

[pace21]

Well that was fun. Literally the first time on my cross bike in 7 weeks since I busted up my ribs at Orchard Cross. I haven't really been training either, just mostly been riding my mountain bike and taking advantage of the warm air and dry trails for the last month or so. Thankfully Colin and Thom decided to build a mostly singletrack mountain bike course for me at Ice Weasels so I felt right at home, nice!

Supposed to line up 3rd row but caught some people napping when the called my row and ended up second row. Good start and got up to speed quickly on the (literally) 30 meter wide starting straight. Was first wheel at turn 1 and then just settled into a groove. It did make the "chase Busick furiously and try to catch him" game a lot less intriguing though. The tabletop jump was SO much fun that I had to hit it every lap, including the first time through the club row area. Problem was it was actually LONGER to take the A line and hit the jump then it was to take the B line, so that seemed backward. Anyway, I wasn't in too much difficulty for the first 3 laps (out of 5 total) and was pulling about 5 seconds a lap on a chase group of Curley, a Riverside dude, and a 3rd chaser.

Not wanting to get called out for sandbagging (I was ahead of the "Stars and Stripes of Sandbagging" after all), I stopped for a beer hand up on the 4th lap with about a 20-25 second lead. Unfortunately my bar got caught in some course tape with one hand on the bars and one hand on a beer so I almost went down. I did manage to place the beer on the ground (no spillage!) but it took me a few seconds and 2 apologetic hecklers to get me untangled. That meant that taking the bell lap Curley was only a few seconds behind after he bridged up from the chase group.

I let him catch me on the field thinking he would pull through and I could get some shelter from the wind in the field (silly me for thinking he would pull through, ha), he stayed glued to my wheel but then the jump came... I hit the jump line and of course he went straight (on the shorter line) and that let me slot in behind for the start of the last lap. That was certainly a crowd pleaser and I heard Ryan K make it a point to call out the move as a "spirit of Ice Weasels" maneuver. The last lap was super fun to race heads up. He pulled out all the tricks, especially the intentional "slow-down-a-little-too-much" on an uphill switchback and squeeze me off my line and force me to dab. I complimented him on that move and I even got a chuckle out of him. I followed on his wheel down to the log hop but since he was on the (preffered) right side line I took the (taller) left side line. I sent it further than I had previously and landed smooth, getting on the gas right away, but since he had a head start and knew what I was doing we both ended up doing a furious standing sprint through the thick sand as we were shoulder to shoulder and fighting for the impending singletrack. He had the inside for the next sweeper but I wasn't worried since I had been riding the upcoming stairs and he had been running and I was gaining a few seconds in that spot each lap. I figured if I could hold off the excruciating 15-20 seconds from the top of the steps to the finish I would be good.

Unfortunately, somewhere between the log sprint and the granite steps I flatted my front tire and immediately went into "nurse it home" mode, riding where I could and running where I must. I had to run the granite steps (that hurt!!!!) but had to keep running over some roots and rocks at the top of the steps and 2 guys got by me. I held off 5th place by a whisker and finished 4th. The only redeeming thing was I didn't have to be heckled on the podium

[JeremyC]

I have mixed feelings. Sounds like your beer hand up,cost you the win?

[pace21]

Almost certainly. That or the flat tire but then that gets into chaos theory. I had 20-25 seconds in hand with just over a lap left and the chasers were out of sight. It was tasty beer though, does Narragensett make a chocolate stout?

[Smudger]

You need to drink faster

[jraguin]

That is the best race and race report I have ever read. I don't care where both of you placed... that sounded awesome. Made me wish I was good at cross...

[rusto]

Started at the back of the pack for the 40+ Killer B's in my one CX race of the year. Finished 71st of 80 with some shenanigans (Coors Light washing down a Snickers bar) and much fiddling with a poorly mounted GoPro.

Had a blast!

Got decent footage and made of vid of my race, then took a bunch of stills and some hand-held GoPro footage of the rest of the day.

All viewable here: https://www.facebook.com/Russ-Campbell- ... 779695431/

Or: 1. The Pics 2. My Race Video 3. Video of Rest of the Day

[michaelcole]

That sounds like a blast. Nice work.
After the first 2 years of actual ice and snow where bike handling was more important than a premium engine, I haven't been back because there was no snow. It sounds like this course would have been right up my alley even without the added slippy factor.
Would it have been total chaos in the snow?

Hopefully they go back to that course again so I can see for myself.

[rusto]

It's a dedicated cyclocross park, you can go there any Tim!