Don't recognize the name of the race? Be sure to read on then.A good friend of mine was getting married in Michigan last Friday.The thought of partying Friday night, then driving all the way home Saturday, plus two hours more to get to New Gloucester, Maine was too much. A quick search of the Internet showed that within 45 minutes of my friends was a cross race in Michigan. Perfect, I would just toss the bike into the trunk, race, then head home.As we pulled into the parking lot of the venue, I had mixed emotions of excitement and nervousness. I've head plenty of times before that nothing matches the intensity of New England cross (mainly from the mouths of New England racers), but this was the same promoter that hosted Jonathan Page in a UCI race a couple of weeks back. Thoughts of what the course will look like, what the competition will look like, what the conditions will be like and more flowed through my head. I changed up and took a warm-up lap. This course was a very traditional New England course. Plenty of sections of grass, sweeping turns, barriers, places where the course just folded back and forth on itself, three sand sections (one was had a 180 turn which caused riders to dismount, run and remount, one across a volleyball court that was rideable by a few and runnable by most, then a 75 yard running section along the beach, total leg sapper) and even some pavement,ideal for my style. This course reminded me a lot of Gloucester.With two laps of practice into my legs, I headed over to registration,then warm-up, then to the line. Registration is where I noticed my first real difference in races. First, the promoters site had had a link to Bikereg.com, but Bikereg.com had no reference to the race, so I was forced to do day of. Second, there was no fee for day off. I also noticed that there were a lot of prereg'd folks, so they obviously knew something I didn't. Finally, at registration, they gave me a number to pin on and a timing chip to wear on my ankle.This provided timely, accurate results, and lap splits. Very cool.Unsure of a lot, I stayed within sight of the starting line for the 30minutes before the start. With about 10 minutes to go, people started to line up and I rolled over to take a front row spot. So far,everything just like at home. The official came over and gave the typical prerace instructions, then the promoter gave his countdown. I glanced left and right and noticed no one else holding their brakes and weighting their pedal. When the whistle blew, I released the brakes and started to sprint the 400 yards of pavement for the holeshot. The course was about as wide as a car through the entire course, so the hole shot wasn't as important as other races.Regardless, I wanted it and stormed to take it. First race reality,the hole shot isn't contested. By the time I made the grass, I had opened up a 20-25 bike length lead on the pack. Afterwards, other racers were commenting on the pack just looking at each other with"What the hell is that about" looks on their faces. A quarter of the way through the first lap, my lead had shrunk down and I decided to wait for the front group to catch me. No sense blowing up by myself,only to get passed by everyone. By the end of the first lap, a front group of six had established itself. Two laps later the group had dwindled to four and I was wondering how much longer I could hold the pace. This was definitely hurting. With no resting sections, it was game on the whole time. Being around others in a cross race is a new experience for me. Usually I am dangling between groups in no mans land. This was much better.Three out of four of the guys in the front group were working together well, and I was staying out of that last yo-yo position. At one point the guy on the back bolted by everyone and drove the pace, then whenhe was done he went out the back. Three riders left and one lap togo. As we heard the bell, one rider (Bryan) attacked the group and I jumped on his wheel. By the time we hit the grass we had a small gap on the third rider and Bryan called for me to work with him. I pulled through and wondered if this was a smart decision. It took everything that I had not to increase the intensity and blow up, there was still a lap to go. I pulled along the grass, down to the pit, around the sweeping turns and into the barriers. Each previous lap Bryan had passed me on the barriers so I had to push a little more here. As the lap wore on, I knew being in front was more and more important. We went through the 180 sand turn around still together, then when we traversed the volleyball court, I rode through it cleanly, while Bryan stumbled a tiny bit. That's all I needed as I sprinted through the beach section and remounted for the final 500 yards of grass and pavement.Final result had me in first by two seconds.This was my first race outside of New England, either road or cross.I am now a firm believer that racing in this area is about as hard a sit gets, but a good racer in Michigan is a good racer. The courses are as good, the competition as good and the experience as good (if not better). This was also my first race where I have ridden smart,ridden within myself and not had any bike issues. These things, plus a course that suited my strengths turned into a memorable experience.
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