NBX GP Verge Wknd

[PJ McQuade]

Saturday Cat 4 run-down.
Great MRC representation in the field (6 of us). I loved all the different elements of the course except for the long beach section - not my forte. I lined up, I dunno row 5? The leaders opened a gap early on the first lap. Only the guys in the front 2 rows had a chance at cleaning the hole shot climb because it was a mob of guys stopping, running, and yelling their way up the hill after that. So a group of about 10 took off, me in a tiny group behind them. When I say "behind" it was already 30 seconds. I battled it out with a few of guys from my "group" for the remaining laps, but never caught the leaders. Ended up 14th. It made a difference staying with a few guys and not riding the CX ITT that I've been doing the past couple of weeks. Awesome course. The open woods sections and long paved portions made it super fast, though I saw plenty of mud later in the day. The grassy back section was deceptively slick and I went down on one of the corners. Then there was the beach. D-day. Killed me every lap. I'm wondering how far guys were riding it in the afternoon. By the last lap in our race only about the first 10 meters were rideable. Brutal stuff. I'm never going to the beach again.

A lot of MRC out and about. Any other stories? I want to hear about Sunday's winter wonderland.

[JimmE]

Hi Ron

Just wanted to send my best to you and your family. Your boys have represented the club in a very fine fashion and are a force to be reckoned with! I wish you and the boys all the best on the new team venture!! I'm sure it will be a sucessful one! I hope Peter? gets a chance to go to Nats!

[artbaril]

First of all. Let me say It's been great having the Goguen's on the team, and Ron, you've bee a huge help in the cross race and the training series. I've relied heavily on you for the last two years. Of course I'll root for the boys whoever they race for.

As far as NBX, I raced Saturday. Had a really lousy starting position but made up a bunch of spots by the time we hit the run-up. Had a ton of power for the first two laps and was picking up a lot of spots before the wheels came off. My problem was that damn beach. It sounds like everybody hated it, but I had people run by me on the beach every lap until the last. Whatever group I was with ran\rode away from me there. The beach was my daddy. My Waterloo, if you will.

As slow as I was running that section, I still needed a long time to recover after every time through it. Push as hard as I want on the pedals - no speed would come from it.

Anyhow, during lap 3 I caught up to Stefan and could see that he was having trouble trying to close some guy from Geekhouse. I rode beside him and told him to grab my wheel and I'd close the guy, "then we'll work on him" or some similar bike racer-sounding remark. I don't remember if I had caught and passed him or was sitting on his wheel when I had a painful sliding crash on one of the turns just before the hay bales. Apparently that's how I "work on" somebody.

I climbed back on, fought gamely, and crashed over the handlebars a minute later going onto the beach.

Tough day, a lot of fun, one more race and '09s in the books.

[taudep]

I started pretty far back, 8th or 9th row. I settled into a good rhythm with a group of 5 guys. At first I was fighting them for positions, but then we settled on a good pace where no one was catching us and we were probably catching a couple riders. I was really comfortable in the group, but I didn't see the sense in risking a big effort trying to bridge to the next group. Previous attempts in the season followed this pattern: huge effort, lots of pain, catching the wheel of people in front, then a hill, then being dropped back to my former group, and then off the back to watch them ride away. So, I was content and just flowed pretty easily for 3 laps and then made my move right after the beach on the last lap and ended up taking 3 of them by the time we got to the line. One guy, though, had the same plan as me and I couldn't get him. I really enjoyed this type of course. It's right up there with Providence and Noho for me.

I think Art was talking about the Geekhouse guy who's my nemesis. I got him at Noho (and was quite excited that I beat a younger hipster), but he's owned my ever since. In hindsight, the kid was probably hungover in Noho. I remember on the last lap being on the pavement wondering why Art was only a short distance in front of me. The crash explains that. I thought better than to try and close the gap. I guess I wasn't really racing cross if I was in a comfortable position as I didn't do any fighting to improve where I was after the first lap ended.

Saturday was my last race of the season. I raced in 13 CX races, which seemed like a lot. I bailed racing on Sunday because I was running behind schedule. However, I got some good photos of the Cat 4 and Juniors and Women (I'll post them later this week.)

I'm going to change my training strategy for next year. Racing in the VT 50 the week before Gloucester is really no way to start a cross season as I had to spend most of September doing long rides and not training cross. Next year, I'll probably do some earlier endurance MTN races like the Hampshire 100 and then once September rolls around, I'm going to be training for cross.

Last season I was at the back of the pack. This season, I was middle of the pack. Next season, I hope to be sitting up near the front with Scott and co.

[taudep]

BTW, there's some photos of Saturday's race up at Double hop:
Rob took photos of the Elites: http://doublehop.blogspot.com/2009/12/n ... ck-ri.html
I got some photos of the 45+, 55+, Master's A: http://doublehop.blogspot.com/2009/12/n ... day-1.html

[Rob]

I started at the back, stayed at the back.
i had a horrible time driving, I couldn't turn. usually i can drive, but have no engine.
last saturday, I felt I had plenty of leg, but I couldn't drive.
there were turns were I saw riders (back of the pack riders) turn with no issues, as a matter of fact
they didn't even notice there was a curvature on the trail.... me I was all over the place. as if I had rode tires on ice.
BTW, unlike previous years, I trained this year yet I was further off the back than ever before...

alright enough downers, I have one more race at ice weasels, this race should fun, fun, fun.

Goguens, as everyone has already said, your family is awesome! we'll continue to cheers for you guys (just ask Manny).
best of luck! I would say that we'll miss you, but I have a feeling we'll continue to see you at all the races!

[gcdavid]

First the women and now the Gougen's? Maybe the rest of us should bathe or something.

Good luck to the Gougen's. We can chat tonight about how to not lose the junior development angle. We have the most complete cross club top to bottom in New England. We definitely have to keep that momentum going into next year.

[swawersik]

Regardless of Art's methods of "working on" the Geekhouse guy, that little pull helped me out a lot. I was actually kind of ready for mayhem on that corner, as his was the third crash I'd avoided there in the (to that point) four times around it.

After a somewhat tentative start (I think my crash at Plymouth is still in the back of my brain) I settled in pretty well, but was starting to slide backwards a bit when Art came around me. That short pull gave me a bit of a rest and the adrenaline shot from quickly dodging his flailing body helped too. But the biggest thing it pointed out to me is that I haven't been doing a good job of "wheel surfing" in 'cross - add that to the list of things to improve for next year.

Thanks to all who offered advice, critiques, and heckling this year. I had a blast learning 'cross and plan to make it a focus of next year. And I definitely made the right decision in switching to MRC.

[Doran Abel]

It seems like the posts are getting a bit end of the year nostalgic here, so I will add mine. Even though I don't know them, hopefully the Goguen boys can still give my son some tips next year - he will be age 10 and will need some advice assuming I can convince him to do some Jr races. Still looking for a bike for him - he is just shy of fitting on a small 44” to 48” frame with 700mm wheels, but a frame with 26” wheels would probably be better.

My Sunday NBX Cat 4 race did not go well - I started in the back row and really just tried to stay upright over the wet roots and thru the mud ponds. I seem to be slipping back the past two races (Baystate and NBX) after my header and thumb plant at Baystate. Of course it didn't help that I was a bit distracted for NBX - my cross bike went airborne (like the space shuttle) off of my roof rack at 65mph on the way down on Sunday on Rt. I-95 about Attleboro (I had my wife's car due to the weather and didn't have the back wheel secured). It is a complete miracle that it wasn't run over, slid off mostly into breakdown lane, and had hardly a scratch on it save a wheel that needs some truing and a slightly out of place left brake/shifter. After the recovery (I think the roads had a bit of a glaze that helped the slide), I kept driving and rode it anyway barely getting my reg. no. in time and then scrambling to the start line while trying to make sure it would still roll.

Thanks to Art and Todd P for cheering me on (and Todd P for some photos) - my first real year of cross at age 45+ - and Rob and Mike Lowry for the Lilja session tips. I still like our Wrentham course with the special Art setup the best with Shedd Park and Canton next. I wasn't that hot on NBX - loops and twisties in the trees and roots are fine to a point. The beach was interesting allright as others have noted. What happened to Bruce? I was hoping to hold on to his wheel again - for awhile - like Canton. I will probably give the Weasels a shot next Saturday and try to meet my year goal for finishing in the top half of a cross race (at least I did it on the road a couple of times and came close at Wrentham).

[taudep]

Cat 4, Women, and Jr 10-14 photos are now up: http://doublehop.blogspot.com/2009/12/n ... day-2.html