Minuteman Road Club

Fun times at Ward Hill. This was the 2nd installment of the Rookie Cup, well at least for me. The Battenkiller and the Pirate have been getting in some "PRACTICE?" to quote Allen Iverson. It was mostly raining all day, meaning my first REAL cross race in the wet and mud. In warm ups I thought the course wasn't that bad, still pretty hard without much mud. That didn't last long. 2nd row next to the Pirate, I got a solid but not spectacular start, I was probably 25-30th at the first turn. I started passing people and was cruising until the latter half of the lap when shit started going sideways. A guy crashed in front of me and I rode through the tape. The last 2 turns weren't my favorite and crashed again at the end of the 1st lap and lost some places. Moved back up for a while and crashed again on the back half of the 2nd lap. My front wheel was off kilter and my brake was rubbing, it took me a while to figure this out and I lost a lot of places, including to the Pirate. Pulled over and fixed it and rode the last 4 laps without any mishaps. I caught back up to JR who was stuck in a logjam which I proceeded to break with a dive bomb in a 180 turn. To john's credit he repassed me until the log which I now realized was totally ridable. I passed about 4 guys there and got some separation. No highlights after that as I rode in no-mans land for the rest of the race. Almost caught 2 other Fred's but passing was next to impossible as the rain was really coming down. 10th in the 40+, 18th overall out of 100. More importantly, 2-0 in the Rookie Cup (sorry John). The Pirate had more tire difficulties and settled into 18th. The Diesel was close behind so a solid MRC showing.

The beer tent was excellent so I spent some time with Ike Turner heckling everyone. Good times.

Not much to add to Jeremy's post. I flatted again. Longest wheel change in the history of wheel changes. Almost gave up but kept riding. Course was tough but the weather was actually not that bad. Jeremy won the cup fair and square though as I still don't think I would have beaten him although it would have been close due to his mishaps. We definitely looked like rookies out there with our handling of the course. I must have slid out 4 times. At least we were consistent as a team. I think both Jeremy and I crashed on the same turn. I crashed there twice, I know Jeremy did at least once (this was at near the end of the lap with the off camber downhill turn). I hope Rich had the same mishap so we can call it MRC Rookie Team Corner.

"Slicker Than Snot" that's what the 3 race felt like. Starting 4 rows from the back isn't a fun way to race, but ohwells..... Much sliding much shedding corners, and much back pain. I think the weasel jumped out and took a bit out of my lower back with two to go. Wasn't too far from Chris Busick till about two to go and then started sliding backwards (and sideways). Gatta work on core.... #ouch

Ah, so sliding sideways isn't isolated to roadie rookies to CX? Nice to hear, in a sick sort of way.

Providence will seem like a cake walk!

Patrick, way to find a way to make dirtwire tv

http://dirtwire.tv/2014/10/night-weasel ... -my-gopro/

Was just coming over here to post this.. I think my stairs crash might be in the highlight reel.

Ha! That video defined my night, I crashed so many times that I lost count. I was riding the wrong tires, the smallest amount of trust I put in them was immediately denied, sending me into a muddy grass slip 'n slid. I had a good start too, probably near top 20. I somehow managed to hold on for 25th, and I didn't get lapped by Justin Lindine!

i have a grin/smirk on my face reading about all the slipping and sliding. The video is classic. Wet + slope + inexperience = very funny.

Six Shooter is the weekend. Race predictor has me in the top 5 in the 40+ on both days, but my fitness is suspect. Detailed race report will be provided.

I remember yelling as I was following you "use your outriggers!" That race was so much fun I wish I had not crashed on the last lap and lost 7 spots. I was closing on your group.