After many months of hard planning, behind the scenes work by Chris, Greg, and others, the day of the race finally arrived. Thankfully, all of the hard work paid off and everything went very smoothly. The fantastic weather was definitely a huge bonus. Four weeks later, and we still hear people talking about that "brutal Town Hall" course. Keep up the chatter, we'll bring it back next year.
Besides being our first sponsored race, I was excited about the course because of the significant elevation change. This was pretty unique for a cross race, and should suit skinny people like myself.
The course was definitely tough, the steep climb broke up the race quickly, and we were all strung out. I sat in 4th place for most of the race, and was slowly closing in on 3rd. By the end I finished only 20 seconds behind him, and I think with one more lap I could have got it. I'm feeling more comfortable in the B races, and soon I'll be able to upgrade to Cat 3.
Genuinely one of the most fun courses I've ever ridden, next year should bring some even better competition. Watching the 'A' main race go was very impressive, Bill Elliston flatted just after the pit entrance, and had to ride the entire climb and descent on basically his rims. When he finally got a new bike, he was minutes behind the next rider. Watching him take off after the field was an amazing show of power and smooth handling. He worked his way all the way up to 3rd place.
After the race, I had a serious conversation with Dave about his future career as a heckler. I tried to convince him that if was going to take this seriously, he should quit bike racing to focus on heckling full time. One more beer and I could have convinced him.
Marten
Thanks for all your help Marten, we couldn't have pulled it off without you and the team! Great race at Town Hall....knocking on the door of the top 3 in the B's is awesome!
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