Despite not being on the preferred race list, a few of us made the trip down to Raynham for Crosstobeerfest. This was a power course all the way with long straightaways, no hills and very few tight turns. I signed up for the beginner race which is considered CAT4/5(?) and I was the only MRC guy in the field. I crashed at the start of my last race, so naturally I was terrified sitting at the start line. We started 6 wide and there was a super long straight away right at the start. When the race took off I focused on finding an edge and staying upright. I managed to hold position pretty well going into the first turns of the course. I thought things were starting to spread out a bit when I got broadsided by a 545 Velo guy going through a turn. I checked up for the guy in front of me and apparently this fellow decided he didn't need to slow down. He goes over after smashing into me and I catch myself (at the expense of his front wheel, sorry not sorry) I get untangled fairly quick and manage to squeeze through the carnage.
As things settled down a bit I had a decent gap behind me and a solid group of 5 or 6 in front of me. I managed to close the gap despite feeling like I was dying. I was making up big chunks of time in the mud by shooting diagonally and angling through the first muddy 'S' turn. By the third lap I jumped to the front of our pack by getting off my bike and running through the mud. I held this until what I thought was the second to last lap.
I lost one spot trying to get through lap traffic and then lost another because I decided I better save myself for the last lap. NEWS FLASH, IT IS THE LAST LAP ASSHOLE.... Shit. Okay, so now we've got a couple barriers and a straightaway for me to make a move. I closed the gap down over the logs and he had me by a half bike length going into the sprint finish. I get the jump and start cooking into the finish, only to have some jerk jump onto the course to pre ride, right in front of the finish line. I start yelling to get out of the way and he veers to the outside, cutting me off. I was pretty pissed (which I made very clear), even more so that he didn't even turn around and apologize. Oh well, 12/100+, I'll take the points and see what I can do with a better starting spot next time.
Crosstobeerfest
Re: Crosstobeerfest
I raced the SS and finished 4th
I signed up for the SS and the Elite Masters. My long shot hope was to podium the SS race securing decent crossresults points and then bail on the Elite race for a reasonable bed time zzzzzzzzzzz.
The afternoon started with a couple sunny laps to figure out the appropriate gearing. This was my first SS race, the experts only advise was whatever you choose it will be wrong. seemed like sound advise, I choose 40-18. That gearing was actually pretty good. The course was dead flat so there wasn't much to consider here.
hmmmmm, it's getting pretty dark over there.
I arrived to staging at 5:50, at 5:51 the wind kicks up to 190mph and it starts to hail (maybe just rail) and the temp drops below zero. The sound system blows down, the timing tent blows away, 1/2 the course blows down, the riders finishing up the sport race are impaled everywhere by flying stakes and a pota-potty blows over (yes really). I run to my truck and contemplate my next steps. I think to myself what would Pare do and I decide to do the opposite (mostly because the rain and wind had stopped just as quickly as it arrived). I threw on another layer and arrived at staging just before the delayed call-up.
I get off the line quickly with Mike Wissell, Keith Beausoleil, and Connor Walsh, this is where I need to be to have any shot of the podium. The first few laps are going swimmingly, our group of 4 builds a little gap and we trade off places a few times. Some run the mud some try to ride, running is faster. On the 4th lap for some unknown reason I try to hope the logs at the end of the long fast straight, I make it over both but bail on my landing of the second log. That's enough for the 3 podium spots to pull away and I was never able to catch back on. 5th place was still 15 sec back so the next few laps were pretty uneventful. I rolled in 4th and bailed on the Elite race, it was cold and windy AF.
Next stop costume "race" and Master at Orchard Cross.
Brian
I signed up for the SS and the Elite Masters. My long shot hope was to podium the SS race securing decent crossresults points and then bail on the Elite race for a reasonable bed time zzzzzzzzzzz.
The afternoon started with a couple sunny laps to figure out the appropriate gearing. This was my first SS race, the experts only advise was whatever you choose it will be wrong. seemed like sound advise, I choose 40-18. That gearing was actually pretty good. The course was dead flat so there wasn't much to consider here.
hmmmmm, it's getting pretty dark over there.
I arrived to staging at 5:50, at 5:51 the wind kicks up to 190mph and it starts to hail (maybe just rail) and the temp drops below zero. The sound system blows down, the timing tent blows away, 1/2 the course blows down, the riders finishing up the sport race are impaled everywhere by flying stakes and a pota-potty blows over (yes really). I run to my truck and contemplate my next steps. I think to myself what would Pare do and I decide to do the opposite (mostly because the rain and wind had stopped just as quickly as it arrived). I threw on another layer and arrived at staging just before the delayed call-up.
I get off the line quickly with Mike Wissell, Keith Beausoleil, and Connor Walsh, this is where I need to be to have any shot of the podium. The first few laps are going swimmingly, our group of 4 builds a little gap and we trade off places a few times. Some run the mud some try to ride, running is faster. On the 4th lap for some unknown reason I try to hope the logs at the end of the long fast straight, I make it over both but bail on my landing of the second log. That's enough for the 3 podium spots to pull away and I was never able to catch back on. 5th place was still 15 sec back so the next few laps were pretty uneventful. I rolled in 4th and bailed on the Elite race, it was cold and windy AF.
Next stop costume "race" and Master at Orchard Cross.
Brian
Brian Anderson
Re: Crosstobeerfest
So when Busick laid out the calendar of “qualifying” events based on some loosely defined notions of radness and cool event/course-ness it should have been a clue that this one didn’t make the cut. It was seemingly a cool event and a good vibe but damn that course was brutal.
Things I don’t like in a ‘cross race:
Running
Long, wide straightaways
Wind swept straightaways
Getting off my bike
Running
Running
There was lots of all of it, including a gratuitous mud bog that was sadistically included at the last minute.
Let’s race! Like the metaphorical weather during my race things started fairly well and then became a steady decline into the abyss. I was dangling on a lead group of 6 or 7 for the first 2 laps with one guy off the front. Wasn’t feeling great but was holding my position by riding things that others were dismounting for but that was only sustainable until we hit the “power” half of the course on lap 3.
A series of crashes and miscues ensued for the next lap until somewhere around the halfway mark my right pedal decided to explode. I spent the next 30 minutes obsessing over the fact that maybe it was just mud in the cleat and if I twist my foot around enough it will pop back in. Nope.
I bled spots for the rest of the race with the worst part being that log hopping, stair riding, and mud bogging became treacherous with one foot clipped out.
And then there was a tornado.
Things I don’t like in a ‘cross race:
Running
Long, wide straightaways
Wind swept straightaways
Getting off my bike
Running
Running
There was lots of all of it, including a gratuitous mud bog that was sadistically included at the last minute.
Let’s race! Like the metaphorical weather during my race things started fairly well and then became a steady decline into the abyss. I was dangling on a lead group of 6 or 7 for the first 2 laps with one guy off the front. Wasn’t feeling great but was holding my position by riding things that others were dismounting for but that was only sustainable until we hit the “power” half of the course on lap 3.
A series of crashes and miscues ensued for the next lap until somewhere around the halfway mark my right pedal decided to explode. I spent the next 30 minutes obsessing over the fact that maybe it was just mud in the cleat and if I twist my foot around enough it will pop back in. Nope.
I bled spots for the rest of the race with the worst part being that log hopping, stair riding, and mud bogging became treacherous with one foot clipped out.
And then there was a tornado.
Re: Crosstobeerfest
Holy crap that sounds like fun, maybe we should put it in the list next year?
I was all psyched to do this race when talking with Brian at GPG over the weekend, then Pare talked me out of it Sunday night in favor of a night ride. Then Brian and Pare tried to talk me back into it via texts on Monday afternoon while I was in a meeting from hell at work. Ask Mo, he was sitting outside the conference room laughing at how much fun I was having. By that point is realized there was no way I was going to sneak out of work Wednesday afternoon.
Fast forward to Wednesday and as I'm driving home on the Pike I pass through a dark wall of wind and rain. Hmm I bet that will be fun for the boys...
Did you guys get 7?
I was all psyched to do this race when talking with Brian at GPG over the weekend, then Pare talked me out of it Sunday night in favor of a night ride. Then Brian and Pare tried to talk me back into it via texts on Monday afternoon while I was in a meeting from hell at work. Ask Mo, he was sitting outside the conference room laughing at how much fun I was having. By that point is realized there was no way I was going to sneak out of work Wednesday afternoon.
Fast forward to Wednesday and as I'm driving home on the Pike I pass through a dark wall of wind and rain. Hmm I bet that will be fun for the boys...
Did you guys get 7?
-Chris Busick
Re: Crosstobeerfest
Yes! All can be verified on crossresults.
SS - Anderson 4th
Sport - Pare 19th
Sport - Gibson 34th
Sport - Fowler 27th
Sport - Hagopian 42nd
Novice - Mitchell 12th
Elite - Leger 28th
SS - Anderson 4th
Sport - Pare 19th
Sport - Gibson 34th
Sport - Fowler 27th
Sport - Hagopian 42nd
Novice - Mitchell 12th
Elite - Leger 28th
Brian Anderson