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Headed out 2 weeks ago for another early season tuner ‘cross race, trying to work the kinks out of my bike, and out of my body (both proving difficult!) before the big races kick in. Quad Cross in Bedford, MA was a good sized race with surprisingly stacked fields. This race I assumed I'd be trashed from the day before (Travis City in Brockton - 5th place) but felt pretty good at warm up. Swung by my buddy Jamie’s pad on the way to pick up the only other cross racing New Mexican transplant in all of New England. He convinced me to race this crazy ‘Elite Masters Category’ in the first place, so he'd better be there to share suffering duties. It is an odd assortment of weekend warriors and semi-retired super elite. I'm obviously in the former category, and was impressed with the depth in the field. On the pre-ride lap JUST prior to lining up and starting, my bike was making an unsettling noise at the cranks... turns out a chainring bolt had sheared off and my chain keeper was bent to crap! Stress management 101 ensued, and I calmly pulled into the neutral pit / service area and asked the mechanic if he had a bolt - and after searching all 17 tool and parts boxes, some twice -he found a bolt.

Once the bolt was snugged up and the bike off the stand, I could hear the Masters 35+ Race being prepped for launch and sprinted back to the start. Literally. I sprinted in the opposite direction, on the same stretch of road that the whole race was about to catapult down. Whew - just in time to cue up in the very back...

...Off we went and things felt fine, thankfully. Now to just try and pass the 50 other racers ahead of me! Eh. I figured the days task / goal would be to ride clean lines, keep working the re-mount technique, and ride efficiently. While I never quite caught all those guys ahead of me, I did pass a few folks each and every lap, including a few in the last half of the last lap. The best part was the cheering sections - both my little guy and his grandpa, and Jamies cute ladies were all out on course - not to mention upstart Velo de Mer CX’er Jason M. - who was playing the role of videographer to boot.

The course was tough in that it had little pavement, and little “flow”. It always made you work - including the off-camber turn to a grassy climb to the finish. Pecked my way through half the field and ended up solidly in 20th place. Not a bad days, and weekends’ set of races / workouts. Next up: Sucker Brook CX on Sunday, Sept. 26th.
 


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