Casco Bay CX
Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 7:51 pm
18 October 2015 Casco Bay CX 1/2/3
I made the long-ish drive up to Portland, ME to race Casco Bay instead of racing Keene like I did last year because I found out a few weeks ago that I’m leading the NECXBAR series for the elite category, and Casco is part of the series. The start of this course is a long 500m road section, which made getting a good start in the first 10 seconds not as important compared to other races. I led out the start sprint and settled back into ~7th-ish at the holeshot, not ideal, but it was fairly easy to make passes. A few laps in, a solid lead group of 4 formed, Berthram, Kilburn, Follen, and I. With around 2 laps to go, Kilburn took the lead and upped the pace considerably, sprinting out of every corner trying to get a gap. With a lap and a half to go, he dropped everyone and strung out the group to form small gaps between all of us. I held my gap on Berthram and finished 2nd, which I was happy about. I consider this redemption after my first ever DNF in any cycling event at Community CX the previous day when I crashed into a tree, screwing up my bike.
With this result, I’ve garnered enough upgrade points to become Cat 1, which is a goal I had set for myself this season. It’s also a benchmark I wanted to reach before participating in UCI races, (although I’m not 100% sure I’ll buy a license this year). The new goals now are to finish lead lap in a UCI race and win NECXBAR.
I made the long-ish drive up to Portland, ME to race Casco Bay instead of racing Keene like I did last year because I found out a few weeks ago that I’m leading the NECXBAR series for the elite category, and Casco is part of the series. The start of this course is a long 500m road section, which made getting a good start in the first 10 seconds not as important compared to other races. I led out the start sprint and settled back into ~7th-ish at the holeshot, not ideal, but it was fairly easy to make passes. A few laps in, a solid lead group of 4 formed, Berthram, Kilburn, Follen, and I. With around 2 laps to go, Kilburn took the lead and upped the pace considerably, sprinting out of every corner trying to get a gap. With a lap and a half to go, he dropped everyone and strung out the group to form small gaps between all of us. I held my gap on Berthram and finished 2nd, which I was happy about. I consider this redemption after my first ever DNF in any cycling event at Community CX the previous day when I crashed into a tree, screwing up my bike.
With this result, I’ve garnered enough upgrade points to become Cat 1, which is a goal I had set for myself this season. It’s also a benchmark I wanted to reach before participating in UCI races, (although I’m not 100% sure I’ll buy a license this year). The new goals now are to finish lead lap in a UCI race and win NECXBAR.