Winchester Apple Cross

I love the Winchester cross race.  I've done it every year.  It's a super fun course, and this year they took the steps off the "wall" so it was rideable for some (me).  It's got a great section through the woods.

Liam had Sunday school so it was just me and Jake today.  It's a beautiful drive out there through the mountains.  We got there in time for me to do a lap before the 9am race and 2 laps before the 10am race.

Based on my poor results at Tacchino, I was staged in the 3rd row (out of 4) in the "elite" 45+.  I got a decent start and was able to pass a few people during the first 1/2 lap. I heard people saying to people around me that we were around 15^th.  I was able to ride the “wall” every lap and that helped drop Pete Lindeman and George, who were running it.  I started to move forward catching up to some people.  Soon I caught up to people like Chris Huhn and then Scott Stahl and Sean Downing who were fading (Scott had apparently crashed).  I was able to move forward in that group of 4 or 5.  On the final lap I followed wheels into the wind on the start/finish road, then sling-shotted around them at the 180 turn at the end of the road; that put me into 2^nd behind Stahl.  I stayed 2^nd wheel, defending the corners while we were going all out.  Shawn Downing tried to come around at the barriers, but I re-passed him on the remount, then I cut inside stahl on a turn with about 5 turns to go from the road, I just went all out, pedaling all the turns; I had been going into the big ring heading to the road and I threw my shifter over but I don’t think it went up, but I was just dropping down through the cassette as I sprinted all out for the line.  I held off Stahl and the rest of the group for 8th which was a great result for me given my recent fitness.   

In between races  I had a nice chat with Joe Dombroski about his upcoming move to the European pro peleton.   

"I haven't ridden since Worlds" - Well sure, you hear that all the time

photos and videos with my new iphone 5.

Jake talked with Connor Bell who was at Junior Worlds for mountain biking earlier this month.

Jake had a good race, generally.  He started with a front row call up based on his Tacchino result.

Starting line up

Video of the start with my iphone

 But he fell back a few spots in the first 1/2 lap, to maybe 11th.  But by the 2nd lap he had moved forward to 6th.  But in so doing he had dragged some guy from V-Day the whole time.  The guy refused to work (of course he ended up 4th).  By the 4th lap, he ended up in a group of 5 guys who were 4th through 8th.  But Jake was on the back of that group.  He tried to come around on the road, but again Mr. V-Day blocked him.  Then coming into the pits the guy in front crashed (oh look it was the guy from V-Day) and that gapped Jake from 3 of the guys (the NCVC guy was stuck).

That seemed to throw Jake off a bit, and coming back through the pits after the back half 2 guys were catching him quick.

I was yelling at Jake to protect the corners to block the one guy, but the guy got by.  (In the parking lot later he told Jake next time to elbow him).

Technically Jake was 8th.  But Larry Miller had jumped into the start about 150 yards down the road (you can see it on the video above), so he was DQ'd from his 4th (it's a shame, it was a good ride by him, but definitely a no-no; he was a real class act about it, I will add; admitted that he had only himself to blame; he's a good guy).  So Jake was officially 7th (worth an Cat 2 upgrade point).  He got some nice prizes including a cool scarf.

contemplative after the race

 Jake wanted to do better, and I'm sure he will.  It was good experience, and the guy who won is getting a mandatory upgrade to Cat 2 because of 2 consecutive wins.

A big thanks to Ken Morris and Steve Breeden and all of Winchester Wheelmen for a great race.  And what super "swag" bags; each one included this cool knit hat.

We'll see if more photos come up.