Town Hall Cross 2011

I had been looking forward to our second race ever since our first one, a year ago. Several days of actual sun and good weather made for a mostly dry course, with only a few patches of thick, rutted mud. The day of the race had absolutely fantastic weather, cool in the morning, bordering on hot later in the day, and lots of sun all day long. A welcome change from the consistent rain that has been drenching the east coast this year.

I was fourth here last year, and hoped to improve on that result. We had a larger field this year, but I benefited from a front row start in the B race (3/4). The start wasn't particularly fast, I think everyone realized that the first time up the climb would sort some things out. I settled into 3rd or 4th, moved up when someone rolled their tubular, and battled with second place for a few laps. I got past him a few times, but then promptly got sloppy and fell, losing the position. Tom was long gone and looked to have the win in the bag, but 2nd, 3rd, and 4th were still close together. We'd lose 4th place on the climb, but then by the time the barriers came around, he would have caught back up. On the final lap he got around me when I fell on the tight off camber turns on the back field, and I couldn't pass him before the finish line, so I rolled in for 4th again.

It was great to see such a large turnout all day long, and hear the positive comments about the course, as well as the obligatory complaints about the climb, it wouldn't be the Alpe d'Huez of cylocross without it. It seemed to have the right atmosphere for a good day of cross racing, some goofing off and fun, some serious racing, and a necessary dose of heckling.

Big thanks to St. Luke's, Cutter's, CycleOps, and all the volunteers that helped all day long.

I lined up again for the A race, with a small field of 1/2/3 riders. It was an honor lining up with some of the best of the Lehigh Valley, as well as nation & world in the case of Bobby Lea. I had no specific goals except to try and ride a better technical race then I had in the Bs (don't fall down), not blow up for an hour of racing, and try not to get lapped.

I was still pretty cooked from the B race, but managed to ride much smoother, stay up right, and not even get lapped. It is interesting to note the progression of my pain face during the day:



Early in the B race, still feeling composed and smooth.



Pain face developing on the switch backs of St. Luke's staircase.



Now turning into a sad monkey face...



And a grimace while I dump my gears after attempting to sprint for the end of the B race.



The A race started off well enough,



But then quickly regressed to an angry monkey face, and didn't get better from then on:



Thanks to Anthony Skorochod for the photos.

Update: Here is a very nice write up by Selene on Bicycling.com about the race.