Mansfield Hollow Double-Up

The Mansfield Hollow cyclocross race in Mansfield, CT kicks off my favorite part of the season. Maybe it is the low presence of racers that show up, maybe it is the mixture of straight open racing sections, or the two dirt pop-ups, one rideable, one not or the great off-camber section, but whatever it is, this is just a great race. On the line I notice that Oscar is there with me on the front row and about 25 guys behind us. In the blink of an eye, Roy rides up and asks if anyone has a spare tube, as he has a flat. Oscar jumps off the line and the two of them ride to his truck. At this point the race official is scratching her head wondering where they are going. Perhaps I am distracted by my teammates, but when she blows the whistle I fall into 15th place as we snake along the field, over the barriers and across the off-camber roadside. Over the first lap everything stretches out and it is difficult to identify what position anyone is in. I just keep my head down and push along. With three laps to go, I am riding with Mike from Bike Barn. It is very obious that Mike has superior handling skills. As we break through the woods and onto the grass stretches I turn up the speed trying to drop Mike. During the bell lap my lead over Mike stretches more and more on the flats and shrinks during the twisty technical sections. Dropping out of the off-camber section, I hold my six second lead over Mike and cross the line where I find out that I finished 7th. Mansfield is the very rare race that has prizes ten deep!!! My winnings include a LG hat, half a dozen gels packs, some drinks mixes and one very happy racer. This is a great race. For a measly $5 more, I jump into the Elite race 75 minutes later.

The elite race had some strong riders in the field, so positioning was going to be key for whatever I could muster. On the whistle I put my head down and hammer as hard as I can, taking Danny Estevez's wheel. Danny is a super strong young rider for Hot Tubes that has been a force for several years as he rises through the ranks. Danny leads me and the rest of the pack through the first barrier where I am starting to feel really good. Over the barrier, half of the field has a lot more pop then me and fly past me like I have a flat. The first six laps felt really good, but the final two were just like pushing a car without gas which is what I felt like. The downer of the day was passing passing John Mosher who was walking his bike. I asked John if everything was OK, which he responded that if it wasn't broke, it was close. Ten seconds later I wonder if he was talking about himself or his bike. After the race, I find out that John was talking about his legs. It seems that he wipe out in a twisty wooded section and took the full blow of a tree straight across his thighs. The only good part of this accident is purely selfish. Because John can't lift either of his legs six inches, I valiently volunteer to drive John and his nifty BMW back to his home. Again, good conversation makes the time fly, but the purring of the engine keeps me focused...