@ChrisG, the mote in my eye for 6 laps.
So much of CX is prep. And this early, my internal checklist is all goofed up. Didn't bother hooking up the PDX wheelset. Threw a beater set of 40mm Maxxis in the bag instead. NOT a mud wheelset. The bike is sporting Happy Mediums. (Think a Chicane for poor people. Or a LAS with good side traction.) Only remembered rain-stuff at the last minute, and even forgot most of it anyway. Out the door, feeling relaxed, with plenty of time. To remember that I had no food, no money and the wrong 2nd wheelset.
The rain falling as I crossed over the Delaware reminded me that I suck at packing and would have a terrible day, sliding through everything to a DFL. Thankfully, the rain stops just before Easton.
Off on 222, headed right to the Whole Foods. Which will be awesome in 2 months when it opens. More aimless driving, more time eaten up, find a bank, find a gas-station store. Stocked up on crap and chocolate milk, which will get warm in the car because I forgot the cooler, I roll up to Nittany. First thing I do right: park near Dan Larino, Stacey Barbossa and Erin & Angelo M. Win!
That would be as close as I got to winning
Quickly dive in for a half lap before the 9am race. Left some stuff on the car - another vote for not screwing around in the morning:
Like Eric said, I may be the only person who can see what's on top of a Honda Odyssey.
Rain begins to fall again at 9am, and I am reminded again, that I am a lazy dummy.
They all brought rain tires. See how happy?
Rain stops and I get two solid laps in before the 10am race. The parched ground has already soaked up the rain, and with the murky exception of the Ebola Pit behind T-Town, it's drying nicely. The HMs are grabbing the corners well and I'm starting to feel like I dodged a bullet. Right before being crushed by a bus.
The line up sees me in 3rd row. I dunno how that happened. I'm with guys who are running 2-3 minutes faster overall than I am. I am resolved not to crash them, or myself, out. That's job one. I can't remember job two. I think it had something to do with remembering to keep my mouth closed in the mud. Succeeded at one, not so much at two.
Ramjet in full effect-
(Stolen from Brandy Boyle, who is awesome)
The start is relatively mellow. I hemorrhage spots like a bleeding ocelot for a half-lap and the race starts to settle in. Despite being 10lbs heavy and totally lacking in pop, the snap and crackle are in there somewhere: lines are good, I anticipate getting chopped and avoid a couple of em, I can move when I need to, within our lil group.
For about 200 yards.
Then effing
@ChrisG moves and busts our little pack into pieces and I'm chasing, remembering how much fun we had at Town Hall two years ago. Today, though, it's like when you drunk-dial an old girlfriend, remembering all the fun times, and you get together and THEN you remember her penchant for torturing animals. Today I was the animal. Me and a coupla old people try to chase Chris down. There's a brief moment of hope when he goes through the tape on the top side, but he refuses to stay there and continues racing, still ahead. I auger a pedal on a corner (loving the high BB of the Kona, btw. Even with a 180mm crank, I'm able to pedal through stuff other folks can't.)
What it looked like from the side. All I saw was Chris' butt.
(Again, stolen from Brandy)
Fun things that happened while Chris was riding in front of me:
-The log-over was removed just prior to our start, so I was unclipped and half off the bike when "NO LOG NO LOG NO LOG!" became something I could understand and I got to gimp back on without touching the ground.
-I ate mud. Every single lap.
-I didn't suck over the barriers as much as I thought I would. GODDAMN those things come up quickly. Followed immediately by a tricky lil downhill juke. Just perverse enough to be fun.
-The MTBNJ corner was AWESOME! HI
@pearl! Hi
@mandi!
-My lap times were consistent:
7:40
7:43
7:48
7:45
7:47
7:51
(While not fast, I'm happy. By January I could be ready for CX!)
I love to hate on Nittany: early season, too hot, roadie course, same course. I take it all back. I had a great time.
@Robin crushed it again. The Sole kids, Dan and Erin both got well-deserved wood, and Barbossa's 7th behind Arly's 1st in the Elite Womens was icing on a very happy cake. (I missed
@The Heckler's ride as I had to get back home, but I was happy to see that his usually super-specific race report was like a kid's finger-painting, meaning all of that magical "how does he remember that" specificity was sacrificed to the gods of SPEEEEEEEEEED!)