Rocktown Cyclocross Festival 2014

Saturday Jake and I went to Harrisonburg VA for the Rocktown Cyclocross Festival.  It's a great little race that we've done several times (see 2011 and 2012).  It's put on by Ken and Connor Bell and Curtis Winsor.  This year they put up $1000 purse for the elite men's race, with the winner getting $500 and 2nd getting $250.  Well, that attracted all the top guys and a bunch who wanted a shot at the $.

We had a little fun from the week before.  Ken passed me last week at DCCX when I slid out, and his son, Connor (who is 19 and who went to Worlds on the MTB), dropped Jake when Jake crashed a couple times.  So, I said the Thompsons would have their revenge.

Well, I tried my best, and I was with Ken for the first couple laps, but then he dropped me.  So he was 6th and I was 7th.  As usual, saving the family honor on a bike was up to Jake.

The Men's elite field was 14 strong, with big names like Wes Schempf, Greg Wittwer, Nick Waite and Ben Frederick among several strong guys from the Harrisonburg-based Pro Tested Gear team.  Jake got the worst start in the history of cyclocross (a dramatic exaggeration, but it was bad; he says Ben Frederick missed his pedal in front of him).  Whatever the reason, he was at the very end of a fast line going up the starting hill. But he did a good job moving forward as the lap progressed.  Here is some video by Danny Gibney mid-lap as he comes over the barriers in the second group (in the neon yellow jersey). 
[[try this link for the video]]

Post by Danny Gibney.

He was moving well and on the first lap dropped Connor and former Coppi Kimani Nielsen (3rd in 35+ at DCCX, so fast) and then moved forward when Curtis crashed. 

Chasing

 

By the second lap, he had moved up to 8th, about 15 seconds behind the group in 5, 6, 7th.  and pulling away from Curtis and Kimani

A few laps later, the guy from Pro Tested Gear in 7th cracked and Jake caught him (and he ultimately pulled out). Jake was solidly in 7th, a minute up on Curtis and Kimani and 30 seconds behind the elite mtb racer who was in 6th.  He closed that slightly on the last lap

riding in the fall colors

solidly in 7th

So, it was a good ride.  Definite positive development, and the speed he showed on laps 2 and 3 in particular were a key positive sign for upcoming 17-18 UCI races.  Indeed, next weekend we're back to Cincinnati.

Two 7ths for Thompsons.  Thanks to Ken, Connor and Curtis for a great race.  Connor was making some excellent Belgian waffles.

Providence Cyclocross Festival Day 1

Here's a quick re-cap of Day 1 at the Providence Cyclocross Festival:

The drive up Friday was uneventful. Car full.

We checked out the course.  Dry, fast, some crazy fly-overs

stairs into a fly-over - there were 4 fly-overs depending on how you count

 Weather: cloudy and cool, the rain wasn't supposed to start until 3pm, just in time for Jake's race.

We made our way to the venue and filled out under a tent set up by Bill Browne.  It was unofficial Miller School of Albemarle race HQ for the day

I raced the 35+ Elite.  Staged like 135th based on rankings points.  The lots of traffic.  I felt so-so to "ok"; I moved up and finished 84th.  Crossresults.com predictor said I'd be 107th so, that's positive.  Most important, I didn't get lapped!

Then I got into Soigneur Dad mode.  Would the rain arrive for Jake's race?

warm up

Jake got a first row call up based on random draw.  He had injured his achilles about 4 weeks ago, so couldn't train for 2 weeks, then he immediately got an upper respiratory virus and was sick for a week.  So he hasn't been training but a week, so expectations were "realistic."  This was for fun.

Jake & Tanner

 

Several laps into the race, Jake yelled that he needed his asthma inhaler.  I ran around looking for it until I realized it was in the pocket of his jacket that I was wearing.  But he decided not to take it during the race.  The rain started during his race, but luckily he had started on his mud tires, so he was doing better as other boys started crashing.  He caught one boy and stayed with it. so a solid effort.  I got him his inhaler immediately after the race and he said "that's so much better."

On the gas late in the race; putting time in the kid behind him

A little messy; not too bad

 We hung around to watch the pros (in the pouring rain).  Sam O'Keefe did well, looked good. Just outside the top 25 in the Pro race.
 
We chatted with Ted King.  And I saw Mo Bruno Roy getting a soft serve ice cream with sprinkles after her race!  Got to see lots of people I kinda know.  I had a very nice talk with Ellen Noble

Now the hotel room has wet stuff hanging on everything!

Tomorrow should be fun.  Sunshine but wet ground.  Slippy Slidey