Race #6 - Mill Creek - Willingboro, NJ 1/2/3 Race
That's right! Cat 1/2/3. The hour race. Zach and I showed up to the venue around 12:00. If it we're for a mountain of a now grass covered dirt pile you could see the whole course from one spot. I bet you could still see the whole course from one spot, the top of the hill???
ANYWAY because of results last year I decided for local series races I would race in the A, and stay a Cat 3 for stuff like Gloucester. This was my first 60 minute A race of the year. The two in Springfield were actually 45 minute races with really fast dudes.
I stopped by the MTBNJ/EE tent row with my bounty of stuff and said hello to erryone, hit the porta john, cheered on the Women's race, changed then hit the course.
I had watched a video of last year and expected a lot of flat grass with some corners and a bunch of straights with a mondo climb thrown in. What I got was a lot of flat grass with a LOT of tight 180 corners, a few straights and half a mondo climb. Some off camber sprinkled in for good measure. OH! and a straight away single barrier! I have to say the course really was great everywhere that it touched the hill. I enjoyed the challenge of the off cambers and would say the feature was utilized VERY well. The rest of the course however was not exactly my jam. The corners were really tight and much lower speed. There was not many flowey corners connected to one another. The surface was also brutally bumpy. Paired with heavy wind and no shade made 9 laps were VERY difficult.
I cheered on the B race and took a few shots of some friends. Here is
@Dutch Frog, congrats on the 4th place finish homie.
I lined up first row of the 1/2/3 race. The USAC official went through the typical feeding crap that led to more confusing but decided we could feed which led to less confusion. I had stuck a bottle in my pocket, I'm taking a cage to Gloucester. We asked if we wanted to run a little shorter than 60 minutes. Most of the 11 person field sounded pretty ok with a couple less laps with exception to the man who would win the race. He very strongly insisted we had to race the full hour. The same dude was actually lined up behind me. In my head I saw him making an aggressive pass on the start and me eating it ruining Holy Week for myself so I actually offered to trade with him. He was surprised by my generosity and jumped at the trade. I made fart noises at 1 minute and 30 seconds.
THE WHISTLE - NOT MUMBLE!
Hudson dude ripped away and I jumped out pretty quick behind him with
@Delish, and 3 or 4 other guys ahead. I stuck with them until about just after the first pit entrance when I decided the chase would be fruitless. So I started my Garmin and started racing my race. A lap in I had a little gap on JP. Zach was yelling to work together so I figured hell, this thing is long, maybe it would be fun to work together. I slowed up a little and JP connected. I got back up to my tempo but JP fell back again
Another rider was hot on
@pearl's wheel and I saw him come around. My mind went from work with buddy to run from stranger and fast as possible. He caught me and passed me in about a lap. I would basically do some work on the straights to close ground, as well as hit the single barrier at warp speed. Speaking of thanks
@Norm for the cool shot!
Then I would mess up some corners and he would open his gap back up to about 8-12 seconds. I never had enough juice to attack and maintain. The water bottle was indispensable. The first time I caught the lap cards was at 45 minutes. It said 3 to go. I honestly didn't even know that I had already ridden 6 laps, but 3 more was really discouraging. I complained to the officials, they laughed and responded saying "you chose to do 60 minutes."
The next lap through with 2 to go I yelled back "FOR THE RECORD I DIDN'T VOTE FOR THE FULL HOUR." more chuckles. Those last few laps I was also engaging the guy ahead of me with the usual "this sucks" SLOW DOWN" kinda stuff. Just enough to get a chuckle. Gotta have fun.
Up the hill with a couple to go.
The last lap I turned it on as hard as I could, cut the gap in half, then popped and it opened one last time. I ended up passing someone who was off the back of the lead group earlier. Not sure if he bonked or had a mechanical. Through the last few turns Zach heckled me that I had to sprint even though there was no one around me. So of course I did, and tossed in a side of bike throw for good measure.
Soooooooooo I ended up 5th/11 on the lead lap 15 seconds behind the guy ahead of me. Turns out that dude (Chris) also raced AND WON the B race just before our start. *fart noise*
I split a leftover NJ Fondo imported Belgian waffel with pearl, changed then hit the road after collecting my CHECK!! yeah buddy! IN THE MONEY. Also congrats to
@Delish for 3rd place of the A race, and
@mandi and
@Dominos on their Womans A podiums AND
@Dominique on the Womens B podium!!
Sushi in Morristown for dinner and ice cream from the new CVS for dessert. SHHHWWWINNNGGGG!
Great to see everyone this weekend, thanks for the cheers!
Next up Gloucester/Holy Week!!!!!!!!
Lap Times
6:57
7:18
7:22
7:21
7:24
7:32
7:26
7:33
7:38
Total time: 1:06:27
Beard Report
Coming in, I need to trim up my neck. My face is pretty burn and I have raccoon eyes from Saturday at the beach and Sunday in the Sahara.