AVC Breast Cancer Awareness 'Cross

On Saturday I did the AVC Breast Cancer Awareness 'Cross in Hagerstown, MD.
Big thanks to Gina Harshman for taking the great photos!

The start was tight, but safe. We sprinted for 50 meters before slowing way down for a 180 degree turn onto the grass. Steve Fife took the hole-shot before Eric Linder accelerated into the lead.


Turn #2 was an off-camber 180 degree drop to the right. fastMarc went came in too hot and went down slip-and-slide style, but as you can see in this photo he got back up & on his bike very quickly. Despite the short laps and technical turns a large group of about 15 guys stayed pretty much together for a while. A couple of guys took early flyers before Todd Hesel just rode away...way away...from everyone.


E-town obviously knows which wheel to follow. It's not that I was riding very fast...but I did manage to get around 3 guys (fastMarc, O'Hara, & Scesney) that crashed right in front of me...skills yo! 8-)


The big front group hit the barriers pretty fast with everyone jockeying around and battling for position before the splits started.


We had a nice group chasing the front-runners just ahead. E-town set a fast pace and got us some good separation from the guys chasing us. Brian Fouche rode the technical stuff really well and used his power to find the front of the race. Rob Campbell is charging. He caught us and went right on through. Brewer looks like he's going to latch on, but he never made it.


Later in the race I attacked Fife and Nieters, but fastMarc was charging hard.
This hill was short, but very steep...just ridable. After 11 laps it really hurt.


Does this skinsuit make my ass look big???


After dropping my chain & spazzing to put it back on I was caught by Chris Mayhew. We rode together for the last two laps. We kept the pace up and had a decent gap on Marc & Jared, but with half a lap to go things got tactical and we both ate it in the sand pit. I got up pretty quickly and was on my bike before I realized that my chain was half off. Luckily it slid back on after a turn of the pedals.

Unfortunately my shifter was full of sand and not really working. I couldn't get past the 25 tooth cog. Jared caught me at the top of the steep hill and led it out. I stayed on him until we turned onto the road, but I wasn't doing much sprinting in the 25. Luckily fastMarc wasn't close enough to catch me. I ended up in 6th.


This race was a lot of fun. There was some excellent group racing and the course was relentless. If you let off the gas for a second or made a mistake you were losing places instantly. It was intense.

No racing for me this weekend. It's our 7th Anniversary and we're getting away for the weekend. Plus, it's time to recover from the first 3 races and get ready for the opening weekend of the MAC season. With two 7th's and a 6th in some deep MABRA fields I'm happy with how the season has begun. However, it's going to get a whole lot tougher beginning with Granogue. I'll need to find another gear and some mojo if I want to get anywhere close to the front of the MAC races.