November 2009

Summer in the Hamptons

Well it was more like winter in the Hamptons, but it was still pretty nice. In mid-November, Kevin Noiles and I traveled from Toronto with a few others to race the USGP in New Jersey and the NACT finals in Southampton, New York. These are the two highest level cyclocross series in North America bringing in the best riders and huge fields.

The first weekend was the Mercer Cup just outside of Trenton, New Jersey. On Friday we pre-rode the course and thought it was going to be a straightforward, rather boring race. However, that night the tail end of Hurricane Ida brought in strong winds and heavy rains. The course changed into the most painful mud pit I have ever ridden. The mud made it crucial to have spare bikes and a pit crew to do the cleaning. Those racers that had spare bikes were changing twice a lap. The mud was not an issue for me on the first day, as I crashed early on damaging both my wheel and my pride which led me to dnf. The second day was not much better, though I managed to stay upright, with both Kevin and I finishing well back of the leaders.

A nice week relaxing and riding in the Hamptons helped to recharge us for the next weekend. The Southampton course was one of the better courses we have ridden this year. The racing also went much better for us. On Saturday I had a decent ride finishing in 12th, then improved to 9th on the Sunday race. Noiles had a strong finish in 16th on the Sunday.

Overall it was a great trip, but it is getting to that time of year where all I want to do is hang up the bike and stay at home. One more race in Portland then a few good weeks away from the bike before getting back into training for next year's road season.