Wow what a night! I have not done a night cross race since I first started racing many years ago. It was a blast!!
I had herd good things about this course, I had not yet made this race and kind of kicking myself in the butt now. So with the Singlespeed race later than the Cat 3, I am in for two races on the night!!
The course was laid out at
Heartland Park in Topeka KS. I could not do a better job in explaining it so here is the course description from the horses mouth. "Come check out the areas’ only “avondcross”, Flemish for evening ‘cross, at the Heartland Park Topeka dirt track (think earthen velodrome!). Racing starts at dusk and will finish under the lights with the Men Cat 4, and Singlespeed. This race will feature mainly hardpack dirt, a grass infield and some gravel. As always there will be some cyclocross type obstacles to challenge a racers quiver of skills."
Lined up in the Cat 3 race behind the Cat 1/2's and it seemed to have a roll reversal as far as numbers. We only had 10 (I think) in the Cat 3's but 20 or so in the Cat 1/2 race.
I recognized pretty much everyone there so was able to pretty easily pick out who I needed to keep an eye on. I ended up accidentally leading out everyone onto the dirt track where drafting played a key role in the race. I tried to create a gap to not let everyone take my wheel but I could see the shadows behind me and knew that was not in the cards this early in the race.
Soon after there was a split and for the rest of the race it was me, Tim Herre and Nathan Shay. Each lap I was able to stay really comfortable on any of the grass sections but once we hit the dirt Tim and Nathan both had some decent high end and was tough at times holding their wheel. So basically from this point it was who can make the fewest mistakes and who had the best timing for an attack.
I think it was two laps to go Tim hit the deck and I know that takes a bit of energy out of you, he was also leading out the majority of the dirt track. Last lap Nathan put in a good attack just before the same dirt track and I decided to follow Tim as he was putting in a decent chase. My game plan was to conserve as much energy I could till after the dirt section. Once we got back to the infield grass section, I see Nathan wipe out on the loose gravel (bummer man) which allowed us to hook right back up to him. I knew this was the time to get after it. I took off a little sooner than I originally wanted but pulled a Jens and never looked back.
Ended up taking my first Cat 3 win of the season.
Switch bikes, drink some water, take a gel, almost puke, off to the Singlespeed race.
I got a front row start here and the feild was a bit larger. The entire goal here was to get a good start and just hang on for as long as I can.
Joe Fox put in a great move to take the hole shot, then I proceeded to follow him and Britton the best I could. Half a lap later they were gone.
Go over and check out the start on Instigram,
Britton's wife has some good videos.
After about a lap or so, I see Britton is having issues with his 5 lb bike and DNF'd. So now its Joe, then me, and then a couple guys back.
The entire race I kept waiting for a bum rush from behind from some guys but it never came. To my surprise I was still holding second with two laps to go. Further to my surprise I see Joe fading a bit. Last lap he hit a wall and I caught up with him on the infield grass and gave it my all. I wanted the race a lot more than he did and don't think he even put in a effort to chase. But I will take it. Took the win.
Two wins in one night is pretty crazy for me. Probably the last time also...
RESULTS
No pics that I have found...
Did find an awesome one of my boy
Travis. He and
Eric had quite the battle in masters and ended up 1 and 2 by a wheels length. Great job!!
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| How awesome is this pic!?!?!?! Courtesy of Joe H. |
