Done. Foliage 400 Race Report

Sitting here tonight, after heading to Gloucester to watch the elite cyclocross... my accomplishments in the sport of biking feel ... very small. being first loser yesterday doesn't help those feelings. really wanted to end the season on a high-note, wanted to be challenged (as i was) and i wanted to step-up ... but why would i make another leap? training has been pretty mellow the past month (or two). few intervals, lots of "maintenance rides"... just riding it out, having some fun with the home team... it was a successful season, don't know why i'm down on it now - huge leaps were made... guess i got greedy. why not?

sat, foliage 400 race day:
530a. up and going, coffee, usual race-day breakfast of oats, grapefruit juice and eggs. jenn drives while i nab some zzz's. arrive on-site at 8, still hovering around freezing. pull-on some wool Ibex long johns as an outter layer over the chamois, felt kinda weird wearing my undies on the outside (due to the seams in 'em), but got over that on the first lap when the cold mud and water began splashing-up and i stayed cozy. my feet however, froze-up solid - which was good in that my broken toe went completely numb. sometimes things that seem like they'll be horrible turn-out pretty well...

we got into a nice pace right-off the start, nice good rhythm. a rider on a singlespeed pulled ahead, i presumed he was on a 2-person team for some reason... a couple of us grouped-up for a lap or two, then it broke-up and i rode alone for the next 5+ hours... lap after muddy, energy-draining lap. as i'd pass-through the pit area i'd ask jenn how many mins back from first i was - 2mins, 3mins, 4mins, 5mins, 6mins - each lap the ss rider would get another minute... the 3rd place rider stayed right on me - each lap jenn would tell me he's 2mins back, 3mins back, etc... kept me looking over my shoulder the whole race...

the course was in great shape considering the massive amounts of rain we've had this fall - lots of new bridges and singeltrack cut to skirt the mud, but there was no escaping it - it got into the gearing pretty bad. initially i rode in the middle ring, then as i tired, dropped to the little only to have it get so junked-up i had to ride last couple laps in the middle ring again - ouch! those really pushed me and my 'almost' cramping legs to the limit. I'd hop-off and stretch for 60-90secs to loosen-up, then get going again - always looking over my shoulder... not even concerned about 1st by lap 7 or 8. back pain. leg pain. this was the toughest race since Jay60 - maybe even tougher... it was only a 4mile loop, but was technically challenging enough that you couldn't ever rest - couldn't take your eyes off the trail, which was great in many ways, but brutal on the body on the hardtail. i spent some time in my pain cave, that's fer sure.

I had prepped for this race, to be ready, to have a good one. Dalton, jay60, vt50, foliage400 - a nicely spread-out season of endurance races with some short ones and team 24's in there to tune-up with. to be honest, i wanted to win. i felt like i could have won at Mt Snow... got out-classed at Dalton 24 by Rob L... then again this past wknd from Sean McLaughlin ... a guy Jenn said was cute during the awards. talk about adding insult to injury - the guy spanks me and my woman is eyeing him-up like a piece of meat. nice.

now i'm burned-out. i want to plan next season, but i can't even bear to think about it right now. just need to chill for a few days, get-0ver this race. technically i nabbed 1st place (in Open Class) as Sean was in SS class, but i feel like i got 2nd, not 1st due to overall standings. maybe next year i'll make the next leap fwd - and not only nip at the heels of the best in New England (foley, brown, lyster, racine, vallincourt, etc), and be competing in their shadow, but adjacent. who knows what next season will bring - the only thing i know is that i'll bring everything i got to the table, just like i did this year - always hungry to be one place better, one rider faster, one PR away from being satisfied...