Patapsco Cyclocross

Well, this weekend turned weird.  We had never thought we were going to race the Patapsco CX race in Mount Airy, MD. I had to fly to California on Thursday for hearing on Friday and then fly home, scheduled to arrive around Midnight. So we were going to skip the Saturday race so that Jake would have fresh legs for the NCVC Sander Cyclocross race at Lily Ponds, a course that Jake should be able to crush.

But then Superstorm Sandy dumped too much water on Lily Ponds, literally 2 feet of standing water, so NCVC had to postpone the race, rescheduled to December 18.  So we made the last minute decision to get our race in on Saturday at Patapsco.  I would have crap legs, but it would let me get some points in the 45+ Cat 3/4 series in the Sportif Cup series.

I got to California and my email immediately informed me that the court had postponed the hearing until 11/15 and so my trip was pointless.  But I got to fly back a little earlier, still arriving around 6pm on Friday.

It was pretty cold and the sky was gray, when me Jake and Liam got up early for the 1 hour drive.  Temps were around 40, but then the wind came up big time and the wind chill got pretty cold. It seemed like December.  I will note, as Soigneur Dad, that we have really got our car packing routine down pretty solid.

the view of the mountains from Mt. Airy

The course was hilly and challenging with a small sand pit just before the final 100 meters of pavement to the finish line.

Liam got a good start, but didn't have a great race, I thought.

Unfortunately, he had a bobble on a tricky uphill off-camber turn and his right shift lever hit a little tree, bending it.  it worked but not properly.

He rode the sand the final lap, which was really good

He ended up 7th out of 10.

Following last week's lead, I did not warm up on the trainer, instead just used the laps of the course I did.  Plus the wind was picking up and it was cold.  I was shivering at the starting line.  Based on series results I was on the front row.  I started and just down the pavement didn't think we were going hard enough so I went hard on the front.  This got me through the potential pinch points cleanly, but probably was too hard.  I stayed with the top 5 for most of the first lap but that was probably too agressive.  I started to loose pace and places.  George Schultz and Kosta caught up to me but I couldn't stay on their wheel.  This was a problem because I know George is 45+.  Then I botched the Sand 2 laps and lost a place to another 45+ guy. The wind was tough.  I felt like I was able to start going fast again for the last 1.5-2 laps, and caught one guy and was closing on George, but it was too late.  I was 3rd in the 45+ and 14th overall.  Not good.  I blame the travel and the foolish start. Kosta finished 9th. Wish I could have stayed with him.

I quickly shifted into Jake mode as his race started immediately after mine.  He also was on the front row.  Crossresult.com had predicted that Jake would be second behind Andrew Weber of Wooden Wheels who is from Pennsylvania (and who it turns out won both races up there last weekend).  He's the same guy who caught Jake on the last lap at Winchester.

Jake was about 3rd off the pavement.

But Jake immediately went to the front on the hill after the pavement and quickly had about a 20 yard gap on the field; Here's a photo by Tanner's Dad, Bill Browne, of Jake taking the front at the top of that climb, Tanner hot on his wheel (Bill had said to me at the end of the last year that Jake and Tanner would be on the podium of Cat 3 races this year, and he was right)*.

Photo by Bill Browne (thanks Bill)

By the second hill, Jake had a 30 yard gap, and then the guy in 2nd bobbled creating and even bigger gap.  I was worried that he had gone too early. Jake won the Preme they had for first to the sand pit.  By the time he came back into the mid lap it was him and....Andrew Weber off the front with Tanner Browne and one of his Bike Doctor teammates about 7 seconds back. Jake and Andrew worked together a bit and Tanner and his teammate were working hard to try and catch them.  But after 2 or so laps the gap was solidly at 15 seconds. Andrew created a little gap after the 2nd lap, and the fight was then to close that gap. Jake and Andrew both botched the sand at one point. Which let the chasers get a little closer, but they opened it back up to 15 seconds.

here are a series of videos about "the gap" (and some you can see the gap to the chasers)

He was very close with 1 lap to go. Here are some coverage:
Mid lap final lap

the downhill heading back to the final half lap

Photo from Andy Fleming

Here he is just 4 seconds behind going into the last minute

And the final time through the sand.. jake was closing

But not to be.  Jake was 2nd (and Andrew Weber 1st, just as crossresults.com predicted (damn them)

The pain of not winning (I wish I were good enough to suffer this)

After fighting off a late surge by others, Tanner's teammate took 3rd and Tanner fought well for 4th.  Larry Miller made his way up to 5th after hovering around 7th much of the race.

We need to get him a Team Kit jacket so he can get out of his skinsuit

Still, a good race.  It gives him plenty of points to upgrade to Cat 2, which he will do for the races in December (unless he wins before that and gets the "mandatory" upgrade under the rules). So, yeah, watch it guys in the 123 race, you've been warned, he's coming ;-)

Luke Klausen had a good race in the Cat 4 race, battling for the win also, but just coming up short for 2nd.  Poor Andy Fleming destroyed his rear derailleur somehow (his great comment on FaceBook "My (dad's) wallet suffered DNFing")

After the race we went up to Patapsco Bike & Sport, which had sponsored the race, and used the Preme gift certificate to buy Jake some nice mid-weight gloves that would have been good for today's race (he wore heavy gloves and his hands were very sweaty).  Thanks to the shop for the sponsorship.

*Jake & Tanner are two of the top 15 ranked 15-16 year olds in the country, but neither are going to Nationals, fyi, USA Cycling.