Town Hall 4/5 (aka Bringing a Banana to a Knife Fight)
First attempt at a race recap. Apologies in advance as I can't remember nearly as many details as some others. Third race of the season for me (eighth race ever). Whirlybird was first race since 2015 and I had a great time racing my hardtail finishing 15/34 in 40+ 4/5. Next up was Nittany...had an awful time racing my new to me cx bike on a slick course with non mud tires (lesson learned), finished 25/29...meh.
Anyway, I ordered some PDXs at the advice of others, but they would not arrive in time for Town Hall, so I decided to race the hardtail again. I had never been to this venue before, but when I heard there was going to be some elevation, I figured I could have a decent day as climbing is the thing I am least bad at on a bike. Race predictor had me finishing at 37/72 in the Open 4/5 race as they would not be separating us older guys from the kids. That's fine, I like bigger fields anyway, and was hoping I could live up to or better my predicted finish. Rolled into the lot on a beautiful day around 7:45 for a 9:00 start (definitely appreciated that extra hour of sleep). Quickly ran into
@Santapez (my dyslexic brain always read it as Satanpez, lol) and
@MissJR. Chatted with them for a bit and my buddy Piotr rolled in shortly after. Grabbed my number from registration and headed out for a quick preride. Lots of elevation as expected, some gravel, barriers, minimal mud, etc...you get the picture. Rolled around the parking lot up until race time and ran into
@seanrunnette who informed me that my bike would feel like an anchor by the third lap...I mean it's "only" about 6 pounds heavier than my cx bike.
Time to line up, which for me was right around the middle of the group next to
@Magic. I'm not sure if this is strictly determined by order of registration, or previous results, etc, but whatever. As Magic and I would discuss after the race, the starts are a little unnerving for me. I know that it's a 40 minute race and that I won't be near the pointy end at the finish, so I would rather be conservative and try to pick off people as the race goes on. I've witnessed crashes at the start of both mtb and cx races, and it's nothing that I want any part of. As predicted, this leads to getting stuck in some traffic through the early part of the first lap as the leaders get away, but again, I know I am not running with those guys. One rider would end up going down as we made our way into the woods, but it didn't look too serious, so hopefully he was ok. As we pushed on, I was able to pass a bunch of riders on the climbs and did some yo-yoing with others on the flats. By the end of lap 1, Sean now told me I had the "right bike." I felt much more stable on the mtb than I did on the cx bike at Nittany, but I am sure a lot of that had to do with course conditions. As the race went on, I felt like I was getting passed as much as I was passing others. I was getting a lot of cheers for riding my "flat bar bike" and even got a donut handup at one point for riding it. I ate half and spit the other half out since I didn't want it to come up the wrong way as the race went on. I was even offered a partial donut later in the race which I politely declined. Going over the barriers on lap 3, I remarked to Joy that this is NOT how it's done, to which she agreed. By the end of lap 3, Sean informed me I was "in it," which I assumed meant that I would finish on the lead lap? By now, I was just having fun and figured I was running midpackish. Fast forward to the end of the race, I finished on the lead lap with 5 total in 39 minutes and change. Posted results showed me as 24/70 (including 5 DNFs) but no times, so not sure how far I was off the leaders. Either way, I was pleased with this considering that I hadn't planned on racing until August.
After cooling down a bit, I chatted with Magic, Steve, and Joy before watching Sean race at 10. As most of you know, Sean is a great guy and fierce competitor in what looks to be a brutally competitive class. I met Ethan Bull, a 19 year old Rutgers cyclist, who won the race and his brother, both of whom are super nice kids. I also ran into Nick Morrell and National Champ Stacey, both of who I have met at Wed Worlds, along with
@Delish and
@taylor185 , who in addition to riding their bikes really really fast are all incredibly nice people as well. To be honest, I would have loved to watch the rest of the races, but I also wanted to spend some QT with the family and get some chores done around the house, so I packed up and called it a day. Thanks for reading.
Thanks again to Joy for the pictures.
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