This was my first time racing the Anniston Night race held in Woodland Park of Anniston, AL. This is also my first AL State Championship race, and my first year of racing Bamacross. Furthermore, this is my first attempt at writing a race report or blogging in general, but the list of firsts goes on and on, except in the department of my podium positions. Thus, I will begin by admitting defeat. I have let myself and my team down by consistently finishing 3rd place. To be honest, I'm terrified of heights, so the low podium position suits me well. I am writing this while wearing the cozy socks I won, and looking forward to the prospect of winning more socks in the future. To sum everything up, the night's fastest racer (CX Cat 1-2's) was a 15-year-old straight from the heart of Georgia, raised by wolves. Not my race though...mine went a little more like this:
THE START: The lineup for the CX Cat 3's was packed. Without an official scoring posted as of now, I am guessing the field was between 20 and 30, but it's hard to tell as we were packed into what I feel was the narrowest start I've ever been a part of. I grabbed a spot right next to Sam Porter (of Bici Coop) lining up behind the 1-2's, anticipating that we would be courteous and move up to the start line in the order in which we arrived. However, as soon as the first group went off, it was a mad dash to the start where the Georgia boys and 1-day-CX-season-for-the-heck-of-the-state-champs racers took prime position at the start. The bunch was kind enough to invite Sam to the front of the lineup in respect of his dominance in Bamacross #4; I know it sounds silly, but my feelings were actually kind of hurt when nobody made room for me to squeeze in...but my previous experience has been that being about 3-4" higher on the mountain bike and having 29" wide flat bars does not mix well with drops, and getting tangled in the start is not what I wanted to do. So I settled for a position in the back 1/3rd of the pack and let the race begin like so. (Note: in my frustration with the narrow start, poor starting position, and mild gas I forgot to start my Garmin 705, and I may not have started the GoPro camera on my helmet properly either...I am still working to see what happened here).
FIRST HALF: The start was EXACTLY the same as the last race. There is fifteen seconds of fighting for the holeshot; then, once established, everyone waits until the first open ‘sprint’ section to overtake the leader, thinking they’re the only one who has thought about doing this, so it become like a second ‘start’ line. For this race, it occurred on the wide uphill just past the mobile lighting unit on the field behind the parking lot. I was pretty far behind, but witnessed the mad dash and I think someone even went down in the turn at the base of the climb. The next bit of madness was the first time through the uphill barriers. Having the mtb proved useful for these as I was able to hit them full speed using a horse-bucking like approach to my timing. However, in the first two laps everything I gained here I lost in the parking lot stretch as people used it as another unofficial sprint zone. One thing I’d like to mention here is that while I would never wish anyone to wreck on the curb hob prior to the left turn into the sand pit, I was fully aware of the fact that the camera on my head might catch someone (including myself) eating it at 25 mph. Some people cut it CLOSE. I definitely made sure I had a clear foot of bunny hop leading into that curb. Shortly after this came my favorite part of the race: the sand pit/finishing straight. Hand-ups (including the infamous pig-in-a-naked-pig-pale-ale-bacon-floater) were first class, and I saw everything from $1 to $20 being held out. Anyway, the sand pit was critical to doing well in this race, as I felt you could put major time on anyone who entered it alongside you if they rode it poorly. The key – rest up on the parking lot stretch before the grass…then hit the sand full bar, and downshifting like crazy right as you drop into it. So many people burned up before it, and then went Anaerobic in it that they had nothing left for the easy grassy section to follow. The grassy twisty-turns also made for a great way to figure out split timing and it was obvious who blew up in the sand each lap. This led back to the start line, since the first ‘lap’ was actually only about half a lap due to the off-site start. The second lap was very similar and I lost more ground on it as well, but I was just wanting to get a grasp on how I felt that night and was able to make the call to step it up a notch and see where mild’n’steady gets me.
SECOND HALF: As usual, 50% of the hard-starters popped in the 3rd and 4th laps. I’ve never seen so many skinsuits in a Cat 3 race…or any race really. This greatly improved my morale as I didn’t know my lap timing yet (because of my Garmin starting late) and there was not a lap count held out yet. I figured myself to be within the top 10 by the end of the race, but didn’t know who was up front. Turns out it’s quite difficult to tell who is who in the dark. At some point I caught sight of Hardwick (BBC) and made it a goal to catch up before the sand pit…then on the grass turns of that lap I was able to see Andrew Boyd (Momentum) who was nearing a GA rider. I probably spent about half a lap reaching Boyd and then a lap and a half trying to shake him…he does not give up a position easily!…We rode alongside a GA rider with a pretty nice kit and bike and who didn’t seem to make many mistakes…except for his dismounts & run-ups. At some point I gapped the GA rider and then spotted Justin Bynum (Tria) and made the gap to his wheel (he was sitting in 3rd place maybe 2-3 laps before the end). On the climb before the mobile lighting rig I pass him with everything I had hoping that if I could drop him hard he would somehow become a physical (or at least mental) obstacle to the GA rider and Boyd on the following climb and barriers… Success! However, with 2-3 laps to go I was worried something may go wrong and paranoia set it…the cure? Grabbed a beer-up and $10 within 30 yards of each other after conquering the sand pit= instant feeling of invincibility. I had missed a $5 sticking out of a beer can two times in a row and it had really gotten me down…if we were allow to sell bigger cans in AL it would have been much easier to reach. The last two laps were lonely with the occasion of seeing Sam Porter in the open areas. I was able to cheer him on when I made a terrible (but reasonable assumption): if Sam is in 1st place, then I must be in 2nd place!!! I was so incredibly happy with having moved half way up the podium from before…I even hugged my fiancé/mechanic/photographer/nutritionist Hanh afterwards and told her I finally got 2nd! Turns out all the sand in the sand pit wasn’t enough to equate the level of sandbagging that went down that night. Regardless, finishing with my 3rd 3rd place was a good feeling. Sam got 2nd in the race, and 1st for the AL State Championships, earning him bragging rights for the next year and a sweet champion jersey. I would post more results but I forget how the other races ended and refuse to blog base off of my poor memory. Thus the night was over…almost.
AFTERWARDS: The best part of racing with Bici Coop? Afta-partay! There is something special about Mellow Mushroom in Anniston that makes you feel like you’re in a cycling mecca. There is also something special about getting together with a bunch of bike-loving friends to relax, share a meal, and shout randomly as restaurant employees react to whatever the heck is going on elsewhere. Having spent years traveling 10+ hours to race for an hour against people who you don’t know but are intent on crushing you, this came as a relief. Also important, I had a Back Forty Naked Pig Pale Ale for the first time and it was delicious! Even better, it was discovered that if you drop a 1”x1” piece of bacon in it, it sinks to the bottom, then rises, then sinks to the bottom, then rises almost infinitely. If you time your drink just right you get a crunchy reward with your next gulp. Otherwise, wait approximately 14 seconds until it rises and try again! - pics to come soon
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