Race Report - Ed Sander Memorial Cyclocross - Race #5 of the 2011 BikeReg.com MABRAcross Super 8 Series

Preparation for the Ed Sander Memorial Cross race began early in the week, though I should say for the 2012 season.  Yes it is November; I am already beginning to look at next season; mainly because of a few goals that I have discussed in previous blogs that would be achieving my optimum race weight for next year.  So over the last seven days, I have logged every morsel of food that I have ingested, used Matt’s Fitzgerald’s formula for my goal weight (or % body fat), and spent a morning in a bod pod to get a good baseline.  Interesting enough, just logging my meals cut a pound or two, I guess it is easy to eat a cheeseburger but hard to write down that you did.

I had initially planned to race at Patapsco on Saturday so I went ahead and made my donation via bikereg around Wednesday.  By Friday night I was pondering my decision and by Saturday morning, determined that I wanted to wait and be fresh for the Lilypons.  I was able to get a few outdoor rides in, nailed the CompuTrainer a couple of times, and like always, checked out my race predictor on crossresults, this week, looking like 61^st.

Sunday morning, with an extra hour sleep because of daylight savings, I loaded up and headed to the Lilypon Water Gardens.  I had been sent a preview of the race from my buddy and clash challenger Doug Owens and it sounded as if this year the course was completely different.  The sun had begun to bake off the morning dew and harden up the ground.  I went back and forth on whether or not embrocation was necessary and if I should wear arm-warmers.  I decided this decision could be made closer to race time.  So, I had plenty of time to warm-up and pre-ride a bit of the course, seemed fairly technical, but had some pretty open areas that could be used for passing and gaining ground. 

I ventured over to the registration tent to see how my double-click action had done for start position.  Sh!!!t, once again, at least eight rows back, starting in 76^th place.  Well to meet crossresult predictor, I need to make up 15 positions, but this would not help me with the overall series.  I knew to climb that ladder I needed to be close to 30^th.  As of Sunday morning, I was sitting 9^th overall with Dave Tambeaux only a few points behind.  I looked around for my clash challenges, Adam and Doug.  Both of them had faired fairly well in the double-click race and were around 30^th.  Oh, my second goal, catch’em.

Sitting in and following JB

The race started, then the back half of the race started, well that is what happens when starting 76^th of 98.  There was no prologue to this race but a fairly long uphill paved road.  It appeared that in this race we all stayed up right on the road, so no carbon clashing.  The first half dozen turns were bottle-necking but I was able to squeeze a few places here and there.  Then there was a long straight stretch that dove down, a drop in to a mud area.  Jason Berry came flying around on the inside and threw his leg over bike and prepared to dismount, this amongst the dozens attempting to ride the drop in.  Great idea JB, I am following. 

There were several guys tied up with each other, an one of my nemeses, Thom Moore, fell victim to a pile up, nothing he could do.  JB took off and I stayed behind him.  Over the next lap, I was doing everything I could to stay with him, in the past he finishes in the top 25.  After exiting the lilypons area and heading to the back half acre there was a small gravel section, I was only 20 feet behind JB when his bike lost traction and he went down, before I was upon him, he was up and gone, so I followed suit and went down too.  Both of us hit the same gravel area.  But I recovered fairly quickly and was back racing.  Over the next forty minutes I continued to chase and catch the riders in front, occasionally giving up a position but passing more than being passed.  By the last lap, I was cooked.  The decision to wear a long sleeve base layer was ill advised, I should had gone with just the jersey.  I even contemplated stopping and removing the base layer, but soldiered on.  At one point I heard someone in the crowd shout that I was in 27^th position.  But on the last lap, two more went by.  Here is where situational awareness failed, both were 45+ riders, they were in 3^rd and 4^th place (for 45+).  I could see a group of five trying to bridge up, so I just turned myself inside out and pushed through the last lap.

By the end I had added another 44 to my kills, I moved from 76^th to 32^nd which was 5^th in the 45+.  Good day.  I gained more points on the series moving from 9^th to 5^th.  With three races to go I am 23 points out forth, maybe a hard road to climb and I still have Dave Tambeaux breathing down my neck, with 6^th to 10^th place only 10 points apart, anyone’s game.   Doug once again fell to mechanical issues; somehow he ripped off his rear derailleur.  I didn’t see Thom again, figured the pile up cost him a bunch of time.  Saw Adam on the first lap, he was looking good going through the mud, but with the help of JB, I got far enough away that he didn’t catch up.  So I am up 3-0 on my Rapha Cross Clashes, sitting 5^th overall in series, and finishing higher each week.  The only thing that I hated doing for the day was writing down two beers and two waffles at 180 calories each.  Hmmm were those whole wheat or not?  Okay, another 360 calories and that should work, but they were sooo worth it.   On training peaks where it makes you select which meal, I just put 'special'.  If I can continue to drop weight and ride, I am hoping to ride this trend for the rest of the season, that would be the riding not the beer and waffles.