Tacchino CX Race Report

It's been a while!  I've been meaning to post about all sorts of things, but today forced my hand.  I raced the Cat 3/4 Cyclocross race at Tacchino.  All summer, I've struggled with whether or not I even wanted to race this fall.  Last season I placed highly in the Cat 4 race and I've trained pretty hard since then.  This was a great opportunity to see how much that training has paid off.

I struggled with it because I've never been particularly competitive, I don't particularly enjoy racing, and I get incredibly nervous before races...not sure why.  It's comforting to know that my friends and teammates also get pretty strong jitters before races so that helped.  As race time approached over the last week I got nervous every time I thought about the upcoming race, but I felt pretty calm as I was pre-riding and warming up (not to say I wasn't jealous that Jay Lins and Jon Houghton had just finished their race).

Anyway that's enough of how I felt before the race - on to the race report!  Here is the course ride on Strava.  The start was a mess.  The first couple of rows were nice and clear but I was in the 4th or 5th row and we were not in clear start blocks.  Everyone was jammed together like sardines.  I started next to James Dull but Goat and Auggie Plitt got to start near the front because of their points from last year.  I figured that there's really no point in focusing on my start since I didn't really have anywhere to go...I'm going to have to earn my positions.  The whistle blows and we're off!  I had a good start and found a gap here or there, but overall stayed pretty much in the same place.  There were some really close calls and almost some crashes around me because of how close we all were, but things we ok.

Things started to thin out a bit over the course of the first half lap.  The official said it'd probably be 4 laps plus that half lap...I can do this!  At one point in the first lap, I heard someone tell a friend that they were somewhere in the 40's so I knew I had some work to do.  I kept hearing people calling out positions to their friends and I used this to track my progress.  Over the course of the next two laps I walked people down once I settled into my groove.  I was feeling good!  As I was going through the barriers the second time, I saw dollar bills sticking up.  I always wanted to try and grab one of these!  I made a grab, just barely missed, hit my back wheel on the barrier, and jammed my thumb....oh well it was worth a shot.  Then later on the 2nd lap, I crashed hard.

There is a section that comes out of the grass onto a gravel road with a but of a dip/hump right before turning right on the gravel.  I hit the hump somewhat gracelessly and slid out on the gravel - falling hard on my right side.  My entire right got thrashed by the gravel and I lost quite a few positions trying to pull myself together. As I rode and tried to recover, I saw blood starting to pool on my right wrist and through my gloves....not good.  As I'm reveling in my pain, I managed to crash again in one of the muddy/peanut buttery s-turn sections (James told me the name of these but I forget).  My seat was caught on a post as I awkwardly tried to get out of the way and get moving again.

I lost at least 10+ positions due to these crashes but it was also pretty disheartening.  The next lap I just kind of recovered a bit from my injuries and only passed a couple of people.....not great.  I knew I could go faster but I was just being pathetic now.  Over some time, I regrouped and kept pushing.  Time to make up some more positions.

I finally remembered to look at the lap count sometime around here....3 to go.  What the crap?  So much for only 4 laps.  The freaky thing is, I was kind of glad.  More time for me to gain ground!  I kept pushing - pushing - pushing.  Digging and passing people.  I'd catch someone, think, "This could be a good person to hold on to", but was never satisfied to stay there....on to find the next guy!  I made another attempt at a dollar bill and actually got it!  Woohoo!

Before I knew it, I was hearing position numbers in the 20's, then the teens.  There was a guy (Brooks?) that I passed, then passed me back, who I just stuck with for a good 2 laps - he made a good pace car.  On the last lap I saw we were gaining on my "white whale" - someone who'd placed ahead of me for every race last year and look up to very much.  I passed him and my pace car near the beginning of the first lap and then 2 more later (passed 4 on my last lap...what?!?!).  I pushed hard for the finish but would have needed more time to catch more positions.

I ended in 12th place!  This is fantastic since I was predicted to be 62nd based on last years results!  The experience was also totally different for me from last year.  Last year I always started near the front and held onto / slowly lost some positions throughout the race.  This race, I started in the middle and worked my way up through the ranks.  I have to say that it was a pretty awesome experience to have earned my way up through those positions....and I'm surprisingly glad that the race was so long (about 50 minutes for me).  Next week is BCA!

Tom