Wrentham CX Race Report

Over dinner on friday night w/Dr Mike and Jenn we started talking about the wknd's cx race in Thom's hometown of Wrentham, MA. I told them it didn't really matter who showed-up to contend for the B race, there was only one guy to look-out for, mr thom-e-p.

Lined-up in the 2nd row next to a bright pink singlespeed. mostly sunny skies, 40-45 degrees, brisk wind, perfect day for a cross race. the course was solid, not too technical, but a cpl tricky sections that later took down a few elite riders pushing the pace. the lack of climbing would normally bother me, but with the brisk wind and suck-at-yer wheel muddy sections, the course did me right.

was about 8-10 folks from the front off the start and quickly made my way forward. in cx racing i'm not into waiting around, it was time to go and go i did. by the end of the 1st lap had opened a 10sec gap on the 2nd place rider wearing putney colors, but was feeling it. he caught me halfway through the 3rd lap and it was all i could do to hold his wheel for a spell, then slowly lost him before he unfortunately flatted. by then, somewhere into the 4th, maybe 5th lap, thom-e-p had caught me, his bright pink singlespeed in hindsight all race, slowly grinding-up to my position. it was inevitable, him catching me on this day. the noises eminating from his chest were reminiscent of a tubercolosis ward - this guy was putting it all on the line and so was i, but simply didn't have enough to hold him off.

with one lap to go, thom led-out at full anaerobic pace, a light cramp under my rib cage reminding me to not eat so much gu before the start, but nothing that truly effected my riding. the legs were done. cooked. after every turn thom would get on top of the gear, push-through and get-up to speed amazingly quickly, it was all i could do to breath down his neck, had to keep the pressure on this guy, riding in front is a lot of responsibility with one lap to go, but thom's no amatuer, he wanted it and stayed focused throughout. i tried to make a cpl moves on him to no avail - and as we leaped the giant log (see video of bruno below) i thought i still had a chance off the final acceleration to take the pink ss, but thom got on top of that gear and outsprinted me to the line, both of us collapsing. it was effin' epic. my first ever sprint to the line for a possible win, in any cycling event - and it's against a good friend. crazy! huge congrats to thom for taking it to the line in front of the hometown crowd. memorable stuff.

see ya' next wk in warwick.



bruno took 2nd in elite! way to go BRUNO!