hot cross.
I don’t think the fall sport of cyclocross was intended tobe run under the beating sun at 25C. however, for our season opener FortLangley Cyclocross Classic (run by Mighty/Team H&R Block), it’s exactlywhat we got. apparently it doesn’t affect Aaron Schooler, but more on thatlater.
the Mighty team was out in full force on race day, with aspects of the Mighty Road Team, Rando Team, Drinking Team, Support Team and
B Team out to help with setup/marshaling/donut eating/takedown. Ryan Golbeck has been kind enough to lend photo evidence.
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| Matt Kennedy and Shane Savage, galavanting about |
the Aldor Acres farm had been laid out for optimum pain,with dry flat gravel, run ups, single track, hard corners and a magicaldirt-like substance with properties closer to sand on every fast or challengingcorner.
with this years scheduling, Cat ¾ Men were first to hit theroad (with Citizen shortly behind). Mighty 3’s were Paul McCloskey and Matt Hornland,with Ashley Scotts in 4. with a field of 10 riders, Paul picked up the holeshot off the line, with Ross Green and meat close behind. Paul set a turbo paceover the gravel into the barriers, handling into the grass switchbacks and tothe runup where meat has a fuzzy memory of when or how, but managed to overtakeand was into the woods and out to the fast descent and crooked tree-maze (Bassemay be a nice guy, but is not a kind course designer).
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| teen wolf panting |
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| crush crush crush |
Paul battled with LucasGallagher on the runups, overtaking in the technical and speed sections, alsomaking sure not to pull riders up to meat (thanks) who had gone off the front.6 laps later, the race finished with a Mighty podium, meat 1st and Paul 2nd, 15seconds apart. Ashley completed his first race in 7th place.
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| Ashley coming through. |
as the midday sun really started to beat, the Women’s Openand Masters took to the line. another stacked Mighty start: Stacey Hutton,Haley Mousseau and Chessa Adsit-Morris (in her first race).
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| Stacey offering beers to competitors |
thecompetition was steep, and challenges also came in the form of Masters Men ¾who started 1 minute behind. this field of 31 riders kicked up tons of dust andcaused a few challenging situations for the women’s field, but I bet money Jay“Showtime” Loder was the most polite in the bunch (he certainly looked the mostprofessional).
Chessa had a tough mechanical with her wheel falling out overthe barriers, but was OK, while Stacey powered through a rough fall and slideinto barbed wire to come out in 6th. Haley hammered through thefluctuating men’s field to capture 8th. so much dust.
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| Nick Berry lurking about. don't worry, it's his truck. |
at 1:00 the late race, Men’s Elite, with Mighty Nick Berry in thefold, and Masters Men ½, Mighty Basse Clement, course designer, stepped outunder the hotness. in the first feed zone I’ve ever been at for a CX race, Ididn’t see much of the elite handling, though many were riding the challengingrun-up. water was completely necessary though. 60 minutes under the swelteringsun being pelted with dust, our boys rode strong. Nick pushed through islingering leg injury and captured 8
th elite spot, with Basse puttingin the sweat for 12
th in his field of 21.
Aaron Schooler not onlygave us rides in the H&R team van, but captured 1
st place forhis first race of the season. he also gave Shane a juice box.
a great event and excellent turnout for the first race ofthe season. congrats to Mighty Riders and Team H&R for throwing a greatrace. thanks to all who volunteered their time and you can see more photos
here and
here and
here.
I'll let someone else describe the Double Crown "recovery" ride on Sunday...
