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NEOCX race 4, Hiram College 10/1/17


redkow97
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My strava times tell the whole story.  First lap was like 17:00, and my subsequent laps were all between 6:40 and 7:40ish.   The starting gate clusterfuck is really unfortunate, and the guys at the back of the pack seem to want to dismount on the steep uphill switchbacks while everyone is tight.    I was literally second-to-last when the last guy ran into my back tire.  He went down.  I had slowed because the guy ahead of me nearly went down.

I also suck at re-clipping in when other people stop in front of me and block the course, forcing me to dismount...  I realize that's part of CX, but I am much quicker riding it all than trying to hike until I can re-clip.  Frustrating.

Once I had some room, I did okay, but the damage was done.  I was pacing for another lap when the leader caught up to me.  We sprinted to the line together.  I was the first rider to finish a lap down.  Makes me that much angrier that traffic tripled the time on my first lap, because I obviously had the fitness to avoid being lapped...

Oh well.  I did make a nice pass on the outside in some sketchy grass/loose dirt.  The rear started to slide out on me, but I collected it and powered up the hill, staying in front of the guy I'd passed on the outside.   I was describing this sequence of events to my wife, and said, "so that was kind of badass."  My 3 yr old chimes in, "no, that was GOOD-ass!"  We couldn't help but laugh.

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At least you got to race. I didn't get to start due to torching my pawls on the rear hub during course preview, to much power! lol...

I just got to run around and get footage of my friend racing. That course was fast and after pre-ride I was looking forward to racing it!

IMG_2600.JPG

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:bicycle:

Yeah, I enjoyed the course.  The loose dirt on some of the cambered sections and the tight switchbacks were tough.  I've really noticed that some of the road guys suck at that stuff.  I guess some of the MTB guys do too.

 

I had seen 2 laps to go displayed, and then didn't realize the leader was catching me, and they changed it to 0 laps to go.  I would have made a better "sprint" rather than pacing for another lap.  The start of the cat 4/5 races is so shitty.  You're either being held up, or holding up someone else.   The first tight turn is a clusterfuck.

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Found results. 35/46 is actually better than i expected.  I feel like I could have been in the top 30, if I'd started more aggressively.

http://www.sfwtiming.com/results/2017CX/4-Hiram/2017-10-01-Hiram-R4-Mens Cat 4_5-r4-.html?raceCat=M Cat 4/5 (Men)

Edited by redkow97
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I just confirmed it was the leader I edged out at the line (by 6" or less).  His time is listed at 31:12, mine is 31:11 :p

But it shows my first lap as 8:09, so maybe the clusterfuck wasn't as severe as strava was leading me to believe.

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4/5 race is such a huge gap in skill set. From people like myself that just have a few races to people that are almost CAT 3 racers. It makes it hard to judge where you are in the race. I try to get to holeshot mid pack and go from there to pick people off and not get passed. Not always possible and I've been held up by others before too, all just part of it. 

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