Hidden Valley CX
Deliberations
I didn't want to go. It was close to 2 hours away, not very big, probably muddy and without a powerwash. I was going to miss the older one's hockey game in Philly.
Yet, as the days ticked by, the CX side of my brain kicked the crap out of the logical part of my brain, and I registered late Friday. I mean, it wasn't even a contest. In fact, if HV wasn't going on, I'd be in Emmaus.
I scanned the pre-reg list, Mike Goret was there, as was Frank O'Reilly who took 2nd in my group at Battenkill, and took 4th at last weekend's HPCX beating some insanely fast guys, plus he's on every podium in almost every Cat 1 H2H race. There were a few other fast guys, including Chris Esnes. I figured Frank would run away with the race, and me and Goret and maybe one or two others would battle it out for the rest of the top 5. The other scenario was that me legs wouldn't show and I'd stink up the joint.
I also considered this to be a training race, so I played hockey on friday night. Then on Sat I went out for what I though would be a short ride that turned into a close to 4 hours out in the Sourlands. So by evening my legs were pretty soft, and I pretty much thought about the latter scenario.
The race
I was called up, Mike Goret next to me, and off we go up the asphalt. Four or five guys jumped ahead into the muddy right hand sweeper, and Sal goes down right in front of me, and takes his time getting up, while Goret is pulling away.
I get back on the bike, and chase Goret and 2 others down. Mike drops chain, but catches up quick. I drop chain on the run up, and catch up to Goret and another kid. I see Frank behind me getting closer.
Goret is riding strong, and I'm feeling ok. Frank catches up and we ride together for the rest of the race, giving chase to Goret who is gapping bigger and bigger. I ride technically without any mistakes, maybe one dab.
Frank and I play a cat and mouse game on the straightaways as to who will tuck in. I try to drop him once or twice, and it doesn't stick. His kids are yelling for him, which is great.
Last lap, Mike is 10 seconds up and uncatchable, Frank says 'good luck', I say you too. This guy's a real gentleman.
We go over the logs, he makes a move. I regain position through the mud run up, and he is 5 bike lengths behind me going into the last set of turns to the finish. I'm feeling good and get probably too confident. Left hand sweeper fine, then into a right hand leading to the straightaway.
The finish
I've always been nervous about this turn as it's slippery and you go full steam into it, so I do as always go wide. I watch with horror as Frank comes screaming into the turn, goes well inside, and swoops me to finish 2nd. That was a super sweet move, and this guys clearly is no roadie.
Later we get talked for a while, and he's a super cool dude, like there is an instant bromance or something. This is what I love about this sport, every season I meet people who I will know forever, and every race is a reunion of sorts as we are all in a kind of graduating class.
I liked the course a LOT. Great flow, and fantastic risk-reward on the muddy turns, as well as a lot of places to lay down the power, and a run up.
I didn't like the fact that we waited probably close to 1.5 hours to get on the podium. This sucked big time, because we were told it would be 15 minutes after the results were posted. An hour went by and we had to pull aside one of the staff to ask what was going on. And he was like "oh aren't you guys just getting medals?" What a bullshit response, not to mention that this race paid out. Later he apologized.
Despite that, good event and good beer.
