Well, the Raccoon Rally is done and over for another year, and although i didn't do as well as last year, i am pretty happy with my result. The festivities started on Saturday after my sister's graduation from high school ceremony, where i made Corey wait for me to wash my bike. Two hours later we hit the road.
The spaghetti dinner was great as usual and i sat with some friends from Canada, Tom F. Jeff L. Justin H, and cyclocross superstar, Nathan C. A good time was had by all, and some of the table members were off to see Huey Lewis at the nearby casino.
After dinner down at Allegheny i did a decent warm-up in a torrential downpour (at least my bike didn't get muddy) and then got dressed to poke around.
After a decent night's sleep i was prepared for the race. I was unusually calm, because i didn't have high expectations and i felt pretty confident given the super muddy conditions. The race started as expected, really fast from the gun, leaving four of us before the 1 mile mark: Ross C., Nathan C., Dennis B., owner of Ellicottville Bike Shop and racer extraordinaire, and myself. On a muddy incline the 3 got away from me a bit and soon thereafter i was caught by another rider. We worked to catch Nathan and succeeded on Bova ski hill, where he was in difficulty with a cross bike.
The second climb is up an xc ski trail named patterson, and i knew it is where this cross racer would make his move. He blasted past me, but i clung onto his wheel for dear life and went fast for all of 5 minutes before my day there was over.
On the downhill, i was caught by Shane G. and local hero Pat W., fresh out of retirement from racing bikes. We picked up the pace at his encouragement and it came down to Shane and i on the dirt road (Pat had a single speed.) This is where i found out my 'fast' gears were filled with mud. Shane beat me out for 5th place and i landed in 6th. Knowing that i had blown up i was pretty pleased with myself and happy not to have a mechanical.
Next race up is an NMBS at Windham, NY, then Championships at Mt. Snow the following week!
1 comment:
I'll be at Windham to race, trying to qualify for Snow. If I don't I'm still going and just gonna get some really good training in
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