Last shots from Orchard Cross

Just want to say again, this was a fun race and I hope it runs again next year.
barriers.


you could go fast enough here to forget how much the rest of it hurt.

Nice corner

corner with stoked master.

Captain Arty becomes one with the mud

Another section you could rail through and pretend to recover in. Corn zone.

End it with that black and white. real classy.

Fail

At least I didn't get worked when it rolled. Gotta run out for some acetone and more acid brushes........

Mud,Apples, Sun

Woke up to the sound of rain, and was not stoked to get out of bed. Legs were feeling yesterday's racing(all right, suffering). Picked up Nick who wasn't that much more motivated and off we went. On and off rain on the drive up but it seemed to be clearing. Got to the Applecrest Orchard with plenty of time to preride. No matter what, whenever I preride a course the lap feels long. Orchard might not have been as long as Canton, but with no pavement it took just as long.
The course snaked through the apple trees and up and down some dirt roads. One set of barriers, I run up with a barrier, and one nasty rutted detour through a pumpkin patch.
Got a shitty start and slide back over the first lap. I was hating it, but there were sections where you could motor and then the other parts were super fun and twisty. Cross is always fun-even when you suck. Dry and sunny, but lots of mud. There were 2 sections of really soul-sucking boggy grass and mud that were killer.
All race you would be running over apples.
Finished in 31st. Nick got 5th. The results had me listed as lapped, but I didn't see any of the top 5 come around me. Whatever. Who Cares. Well, I did. After throwing some apples, and almost having a temper tantrum looking for cider donuts, I decided to talk to the officials. Protesting a result like that, probably makes as much sense as hoping your vote gets counted in Afghanistan, but I did it anyway.
With that off my chest it was time for some photos of the course. Masters were racing when I was taking these photos.
The combination of grass, mud, and a sun made for some dirty bikes. Nick should have fun cleaning this....

The apple floating in the mud on this corner really got my rapha artiste out... Black and White.


This was also soul sucking mud section one.

Rutted pumpkin patch of hell. For something short, this sucked so hard.

Somehow the Jack O'Lantern seemed to be laughing at you....

Children of the corn zone.

My interweb is super slow. I have a few more photos, including soul-sucking mud section 2 for tomorrow.
A sunny fall day does a lot to put people in good spirits. Cross and a fistful of cider donuts doesn't hurt either.

Canton. Double Down

Saturday was Canton. 4 race early with plenty of time til the 3/4. We sign up for the 2nd race right aware before brains, fear, or common sense can get involved.
4 race has a huge turnout. Lots of MTBs. Start and 1st corner are not too sketchy. With a 30 minute duration. 3 laps seemed likely. I managed to slide back pretty quick and was feeling all right on the 2nd lap. I overcooked a turn on the bikepath and did the a full 14 year old on his first bmx bike worthy powerslide. Stayed upright so I felt OK. In one of the twisting sections later, I rolled my rear tire. Fuck. Pride cometh before the fall, and I had been a little too proud of my glue job holding up. So much for finishing this race. Walk back to the pits to discover that Nick has had his own malfunction a la Fabian Cancellara.


No big deal, there is a 2nd race to seek revenge, but wait.... a second race full of dudes way faster than you. Suddenly, the 3 hours til that race started weren't the relaxing chill time I had envisioned, but a countdown to destruction and trying desperately not to get lapped.
My mismatched tubulur/clincher combo for race number 2 did not bolster confidence.

I was off the back and solo pretty fast and it was sad how hard I had to work not to get lapped, but I didn't so small victory for me.
The course was long and had a little too much pavement, but was fun. The run up was pretty rad. My lack of speed and lone arrival at the run up garnered me some sweat accolades. Thom was always ready with a High Life hand up, but the fear of getting lapped put a stop those antics.
Here is a master on the run up. It was steep.


Good day out. Ate some hot dogs, did some racing, and most importantly.....It was sunny and almost 70! Nice change of pace compared to some of the other races this year.
Up to is Orchard Cross....