The weekend before Thanksgiving, the UCI came down south to Hendersonville, NC.  Since I was heading to the carolinas to spend Thanksgiving with family, we loaded up the truck and made a pit stop to hit the race.  I was only able to do the Sunday race though, which was a total bummer.  I hear that Saturday was dry and that is much better for me.  It actually was a good course for me, but the rain came in and made things slippery for Sunday.

Our hotel was only about 3 miles away so I let me wife and little boy sleep in a bit.  I threw my bag over my shoulder and rode to the park.  Good warm up.  Got there and did 2 warm-up laps and got checked in. My wife got caught up going through town and got there just before I started.  So, I didn’t get a chance to put out my pit bike.  The course was getting slippery, but I still felt like I could pull out a decent finish. I decided to do Masters 35+ and CX4 back to back.   I pre-registered so I was hoping to get a decent starting spot.  BUT that didn’t happen.  They called up the points leaders from NC first and then it got crazy.  In the Masters race, I started on the 5th row.   We took off down the road on the whistle and I was fighting for a few spots.  We came off the road at speed into the grass and then started weaving our way down a slight hill.  It was tight and guys were going down all over the place.  I managed to make it through the first several turns.  We then hit a short pavement section and then a right hand off-camber turn in some wet grass…did I mention it was slippery.  I was trying to move up a couple spots and overcooked the turn.  I went down and slid down the grassy knoll about 20 feet.  I ended up with dirt and grass in the brakes and the derailleur and the seat pointing about 90 degrees left.  Lost a lot of ground there trying to get it working and got caught up by the 45+ guys. 

The adrenaline was pumping at this point and I told myself I was not going to be a DNF or DFL.  So I grabbed on to a train of 45+ guys and held on as long as I could.  I’m not a climber, but the climb in the woods up a steady hill with leaves seemed to fit in to my gearing that I had working, so I kept going.  As I said the course was awesome and the best part was the “Wall” right before you hit the start/finish.  The course went across a small parking lot and then straight up the hill that weaved down before.  The only difference was that the uphill covered the elevation change in about 20 yards; whereas the downhill weave covered the same change in about 200 yards back and forth.  Of course the ”WALL” was were most of the fans were.  Even though I was fighting to avoid DFL I hit that WALL hard everytime.  If you didn’t, the fans were heckling you pretty hard.  6 laps, I made it all the way up 3, dabbed on 2 right at the top, and ran halfway on 1.   Not the result I wanted, but not a DNF and not DFL.  I was 32nd out of 33 finishers.  We had close to 50 starters since I was in the 5th row.  Not sure what happened to the rest.

As soon as I finshed I went to the truck to try to get my seat straight and my derailleur working.  When I got there, I learned that my son had taken a flying spill through the wet playground right beside the course.  I told him I did too, so it was ok.  Washed the mud and grass off and went to work.  Seat was ok (I thought).  Der…well, the hanger was bent.  Did my best to adjust the shifting so I could get to the line for the CX4.  Got there just in time.  Ended up in the 7th row for the start though.  Hit the road hard, but once again it was tight an even more slippery now as the rain had strated to fall again.  Lot of guys went down, but I managed to stay upright.  But by now the leaders were gone.  I settled in and tried to  pick my way through the crowd.  I got hit by a guy as he picked up his bike to go over a barrier.  Not sure how his bike ended up so far to the side, bit it got caught on my seat.  Seat ended up pointing straight up.  When I fixed the seatpost earlier, I forgot to check the seat clamp.  It must have been knocked loose as well.  I knocked it back down and took off again.  I just tried to be gentle on the seat.  Not easy with my extra weight. 

Only 3 laps for the CX4, so only 3 times up the WALL.  The fans were pretty thick at this point and the beer must have been flowing.  They were going nuts.  First time up got tangled up with someone sliding back down.  The second time I made it clean.  The third time I dabbed at the top and a fan helped push me up. I finshed 37th out of 47 finishers.  Lost a lot of guys to DNF’s in that race as well.  Didn’t get the results I wanted.  I hated it because my legs felt pretty good.  I just couldn’t go any harder because of the slippery corners and the traffic.  I felt like it should have been a lot better.  But it sure was fun.  Maybe tubies would help.  Wish I could try them.  Even though I didn’t finish as high as I wanted, this race still showed me why I love CX.

The NCCX people did a great job. The course was great.  Everything ran pretty smooth. (except the call ups).  Everything was setup real “Pro”.   Jared may remember the “WALL” because I think they used that course when he was in Carolina.  BTW, our he is on the home page of NCCX.  Looks like he is third or fourth in the picture behind a couple of NCCX racers.  Still it was a great race and the town is pretty cool.  Had dinner at a neat place and walked with my wife and little boy down main street.  Must go back here next year.  My wife took some great pictures, but she has not uploaded them from the camera yet.  I will add some as soon as I can.  Got a couple of me going up the “WALL”.  Can’t completely get the feel for it, but it does show the fence from the tennis courts in the background to give you some idea.  By the later races, even the elite guys were sliding back down the “WALL”.  I will get the pictures up as soon as I can, so check back.  Talk to ya’ll later.

DS