Maris Farm
I highly recommend this venue. It's a great place to bring the family. The race will probably end up being held on Halloween day next year.
We were staged on a gravel road at the bottom of a short hill. At the top of the hill, the road took a 90 degree turn to the right going to a short run to the finish line. Past the finish line we had a right-hander off of the gravel down into the pumpkin patch.This part of the course was downhill, pretty fast and lined with pumpkins. The course zigzagged up and down the field a couple of times and then ended up going into the corn-maze. After the corn-maze, we ended up going through a grassy field, up and down a couple of short steep hills and then came to a couple of tight slippery off-camber corners. Eventually we made our way back over to the gravel road where we started.
I signed up for the Cat 4 masters 35+ race at 9:15. I did a quick warm-up lap and decided to drop the pressure in my tires a little. By then it was time to stage.
I had raced the day before and didn't know how my legs were going to feel for this race so I lined up at the very back of our group. When they started us I was surprised how slowly everyone was climbing up the hill. I hung to the left near the tape and passed a bunch of guys. As I got close to the top there was a big pileup. I was far enough back that I was able to completely avoid the tangle of riders and get past a bunch more guys. When we dropped down into the pumpkin patch, most of the riders were bunching up on the right side of the course. The left side was completely open. I gave the left side a shot and was able to get a run and bomb down to pass even more riders. I had passed most of the riders in my group in less than a quarter of a lap.
I continued to move up during the 1st lap. When we passed the finish line there were 4 laps to go showing on the board. At this point I could see the leaders and I was surprised that they were not further ahead. When we dropped into the pumpkin patch again I decided to hang to the left as far as I could and bomb through one of the muddy sections to make up more ground. I made it most of the way through the deep mud before I caught a rut and was pulled into a pumpkin that lined the course. I knew that I was going to hit it, but was not sure what was going to happen when I did. It didn't take long to find myself flying over the bars and landing in soft mud. It took a couple of seconds to figure out that I was OK. I rolled over and watched several racers pass before I stood up, grabbed my bike and tried to get back into the race.
It took most of the second lap to get back into a groove and start feeling like I was racing again. Half way through the third lap, a rider went down in front of me in a slippery off-camber corner. I didn't have much time to decide whether to go above him or below him. I decided to go below. At the time, I thought that I had just enough room to squeeze between his bike and the tape. Unfortunately, he didn't see me coming and he and his bike ended up right in front of me as I was trying to get past him. I found myself on the ground for a second time during the race. I was able to get back on my bike with only one rider getting by me. I was pretty tired though, crashing had sucked a lot of energy out of me. At the bottom of the hill on the gravel road, Gentry, a friend of mine started yelling and cheering enough motivate me to mash my way past a rider up the hill and get moving again.
Half way through the fourth lap, I started feeling my rear tire bottoming out on bumps, it was gradually getting worse. It felt almost completely flat before I made
it to the hill before finish line. I pulled over thinking that my race was finished. I checked the tire and found that there was still a little air left in it. I decided that there was just over a lap left and I would baby it as far as I could and then run what I had to in order to make it to the finish line. It was slow going but I was able to ride most of the lap until I reached the gravel road at the bottom of the hill again. At this point I picked up the bike and struggled my way up to the finish line. I crossed the finish line suffering more than I ever have at a cyclocross race.
It amazes me how addictive cyclocross is. You suffer and can't wait for the race to be over while you are racing, but as soon as the race is over, you can't wait to do
it again.
Kim and Daniel were with me for this race. We hung out with Jim Albright, his wife Erin, their daughter Charlie and Ron Collins for a while and then cheered for Jim, Ron and Matt Lynch during their race before we had to leave. I tried to convince Kim that I should do the 2:30 race, but she wasn't buying it. We had plans for her birthday celebration that night.
One note, Matt Lynch looks like he is having far too much fun while he is racing. I don't think that he knows how to suffer while he dominates his fellow racers. I'm happy that I don't have to race against him!
I can't wait to suffer with my cyclocross bothers and sisters again this coming weekend.......
~ Bob McGee
Bob's photos were taken by Joe Martin.
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I did race in Portland last weekend. Jenn was cheering on the sidelines as well (Parker is a lucky guy). I didn't see many of the other races while I was there, I was out looking at motorhomes during the afternoon.
I was staged in the front row for the start. I was amazed to be in the fourth spot when we hit the first turn. The leader opened a gap and just kept going from there. I was able to slip into third place and me the the guy in second started to open a gap. We ended up trading places for most of the race. On the last lap, we both went down a couple of times (oxygen deficit). I was pretty well "blown up" after going down. I ended up sliding back to 13th place by the time I crossed the finish line.
On Sunday morning, Portland was hit with a bit of a wind storm. The course was a mess when I got there in the morning. There were pop-ups and debris laying all over the place. The metal barriers on both sides of the start/finish straight had even blown over. The race crew was able to get everything fixed ready and to go without delaying the first race though. They did a great job.
The course was frozen solid for my entire race on Sunday. It was like racing on concrete all the way around the the circuit. It would not have been fun to fall. I started in the front row again and planned to take it a little easier right off of the start. I was in around the 10th spot when we hit the first corner this time. I rode smoothly and stayed out of trouble the first couple of laps and then planned to get on it harder towards the end. The problem was that the race was over a little sooner than I expected. I crossed the finish line in 18th place. I had been a little too conservative.
It's been a fun cyclocross season and I'm looking forward to getting spanked racing with the Cat 3 masters next year. ~ Bob McGee
