Georgia Cyclocross Race #5: Marietta

Today was a race on sort of "home turf" since a bunch of us practice there each week. Daryl always changes the course and today was no different keeping it real with mostly grass, the nice hill climb, famous hill of pain dirt run-up, and the long stretch of pavement. He did not make the weather and it was a chilly 42 degrees or so with the wind whipping and gusting all over the course.

This race is always really fast and the dirt run-up eventually takes its toll. Our start out power was low at around 976W but it was into a wind and as we made it onto the grass the wind picked up. On the first lap we had around 6-7 guys and I was at the front until Chris Wiley, Gerard, and Brad all took small fliers in order to get to the run-up first. I was third in line at that point and after the run-up there were just 3 of us.

On the second lap others had crept back up and leading up the dirt climb on the way to the dirt run-up I was leading and decided to make a small attack at the top. On the first lap I could see why Chris used to be a good runner before cycling, he flew up the climb. So, I tried to get up first and had the gear pre-set and made my small attack.

I soon found myself alone with a small gap of around 10-15 seconds and I rode hard for about 5 minutes almost "a bloc"to see if I could hold it. My surprise grew each lap as I held the lead but Chris and Gerard got closer and with 3 to go they were only behind by about 10 seconds.

At this point I was pretty tired. I really was not sure I could hold the lead because the paved section with the head wind was killing me each lap. I tried to use the power meter to keep the power constant there on each lap and that seemed to help. I felt like I was losing time with 2 to go so I decided to go all out and see what happened. Gerard said that Chris attacked him and he was able to get back on Chris's wheel so Chris pulled up. Chris also said that is what happened. Even still, by the end I only won by about 10-15 seconds.



I really like the Marietta course (as long as it is dry) and was happy to win with Jill and Charlotte there. The team did well too in all categories.

Only 2 weeks left until the state championships and hopefully I can make a good showing of it in Macon.

Today I got a Sierra Nevada IPA for my troubles. Gerard got a NICE bottle of Belgian beer and a cool GA CX pint glass as prizes.