Minuteman Road Club

Thanks to the "volunteers stage up front" rule, had a prime front row starting position. But it was squandered thanks to the douchetastic pack riding skills of a KMS kid, who took me, PJ, Abel, and several others out within 30 seconds of racing. It wasn't so bad for me, as I just ended up riding over a bike and getting tangled in the tape, but Abel got hammered pretty hard.

Anyway, despite the fact that the bazillion turn course didn't exactly play to my stregnths, I actually think I rode quite well. Except for the sandy turns, which were my kryptonite, and where everyone who I'd gapped on power sections would catch back on. In the end, I finished 41st/80.

But I still won the day, as my son Eli came out to ride the kids race and had a blast. After getting "Curleyed" into the tape by the youngest Pare , Eli settled into 5th place. He then used an extremely unorthodox, yet somehow kinda fast, barrier technique to make a pass on the last lap to finish 4th. The best part of the whole day, though (maybe the whole month), came after the race, when he said "Dad! How come you never told me bike racing is SO fun!" Win. Thanks to Todd and Anna Savage and the Girls First kids for setting up and running that race.

And, most importantly, HUGE thanks to Chris P. and Doug for doing the really heavy lifting to make yesterday happen. There are a bunch of us in this club who regularly volunteer to help run these things, but without guys like them (and, in other ways, Bill T., Russ, and Smudger) MRC wouldn't be half the club it is.

For me, the MRCx race was like my wedding: I saw a lot of people, shook a lot of hands, handled a lot of stuff, drank a few beers...but the whole day is now a complete blur. For sure, the race doesn't go on without a ton of effort from a bunch of people. Thanks to everyone for contributing in whatever way they did. Throughout large portions of the day, I had nothing to do (other than pace around like an expectant father) largely because everyone was handling their assignments superbly.

I hope that this year's race was the best MRCx race so far, because I hope that we're learning and growing as a club and that the collective knowledge that we gain gives us something to build upon year after year. To this end, I think it's really important that we do a post-mortem on Monday to record the things we need to change & improve for next year.

Great job, everyone!

"...but the whole day is now a complete blur" about sums it up for me as well. Very nervous the whole day and couldn't concentrate on ANYTHING. So grateful for the weight lifted from my shoulders leading up to yesterday by all of you but especially by Doug who didn't hesitate to jump in and take the reins when life threw me a curveball.
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Meanwhile, Minuteman CX photos!

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Web gallery: http://russcam.com/cycling/131013_mrccx/

I might actually pay here for Jeremy to write a race report... the question is how many beers it will take?

Great job to all who helped out at the race. I was busy this weekend so was a useless pile of s**t.

swawersik wrote:After getting "Curleyed" into the tape by the youngest Pare

Oh really, Wawersik? I submit Exhibit A.

Hold your line!

Um... I meant "After 'Curleying' the youngest Pare into the tape...?" Stupid autocorrect

This was a great event, let me throw in my thanks to Doug, Chris P, Smudger, Russ and all the other volunteers. I actually came prepared to work all day, but there wasn't much to do because everyone was on their A-game. Even tear down took about 1/3rd the time of last year. And my daughter had a great time, although next year she's doing the kids race. Instead of racing she helped me heckle on the mega-phone which was fun.

jraguin wrote:I might actually pay here for Jeremy to write a race report... the question is how many beers it will take?
.

On to my first (and last for this year) CX race report. I always wondered how Doug and Stefan could write such long reports about a CX race, and now that I've done one I'm still wondering because it was basically ride as fast as possible on verge of crashing without actually crashing, which is exactly what I did. My only regret was not going all out for the hole shot. I hung back and got passed by 20 or so racers, then passed lots of them, and a bunch of Cat 4 slackers. I was slower on the straights than I expected, but did almost all of my passing in the turny sections. All the feedback from people that you couldn't pass because there were too many tight turns to me is inaccurate, as long as you were willing to talk smack (AKA warn of inevitable passing) and dive bomb, which I am perfectly willing to do. 8th place overall in the (ahem) Cat 5.

Anyway, the course was great, my increased body weight and lack of training wasn't as bad as expected, and there was beer on hand afterwards. Maybe CX isn't that bad after all.

BTW Check out this technique. That can't be taught...

Looks like your arm is on the wrong side of the seat. You are tall enough to get away with it most of the time though.

Great race and huge thanks to Doug, Chris, Smudger, Russ and the help. I didn't race because of Jamestown the next day but two of my kids raced the cub jrs so I got to hang out and fix a few sections of broken tape. My kids and all the juniors they raced with loved the course and had a great time. It's a great venue and they felt pretty special about how they were treated. I also spoke to a few coach-types (one was the KMS coach, Turner's dad) who all had high praise for the way the races ran and most of all for the course layout. The KMS coach said his kids really like this kind of course and the evidence of that was how many of them did two races.
Hell of a job fellas.