Another weekend in the books... Nov 19th and 20th

Cheshire Cyclocross
Another beautiful fall day for racing was upon us, and team DAS racers were excited to get out on the course. Preriding, they soon found this was not your typical cyclocross course. With close to half of the 1.4 mile course in the woods, it was the perfect course for a mtn bike/cross team like DAS racing. Andre was first up for the day, and he powered through the course, but showed his strength was definitely in the open fields and straightaways. He seemed to lose time in the woods each lap, but he always more than made up for it after exiting them. In addition each time over the barriers, Andre was fast and efficient, showing he was hungry to chase riders in front down.

Next up was the women's open race, featuring Tracy and Crystal. Tracy once again was tentative off the start, but after about 100 yards she really began to crank the pedals. She remained pretty consistent throughout the entire race, duking it out with a fellow racer. In the end Tracy lost the battle, but she felt good and enjoyed the race overall. Crystal was last off the line, but easily caught 3 riders going up the long stair climb in the woods. She stuttered remounting and lost back on of those spots, but she came out of the woods ahead of 2 riders. Once out of the woods, however, she struggled as her tires were not gripping around corners and she was easily passed by a rider from behind. Entering the woods on lap 2, she was determined to close the large gap this rider had created. To her surprise, she was able to catch up to her relatively quickly. With no good places to pass in the narrow single track, she was planning to take her on a short, but steep climb half way through the woods. Unfortunately, on the downhill leading into this section, Crystal took a hard fall where there was a sharp right turn on a steep descent. It her awhile to recover and get her bike back in working condition, and buy this time, not only had she lost the rider in front, but the rider behind her at caught up to her. She managed to jump quickly back on the bike and fight off the rider from behind. In the open section the rider tried to make a move, passing Crystal as she bobbled in the sand pit. Crystal remained determined, passed her back and remained ahead of her the rest of the race (increasing her gap once again throughout the wooded section). The women finished in 6th and 9th respectively, with Tracy even getting some sweet swag!

Rich and John finished up the day. Rich had a pretty good jump of the line, crossing the finish line roughly in 5th place. He felt great in the woods and game out moving from 3rd to 2nd. Now he had the task of chasing down the leader. Unfortunately there were some strong winds that favored grabbing a wheel, so after pulling a group of 3 riders, Rich let them past after the barriers, so he could take a turn sucking wheel. Overall, it was a bit of a frustrating race for him, as the single speeders were let off in front, so he was stuck trying to pass them, as well as lapped riders as he struggled to hold his position after dropping his chain going over the barriers. He excelled in the woods, but this was the hardest place to find room to pass, so in the end he finished in 7th overall. John was not feeling in top shape physically, after a long week of work, 3am trainer workouts and time with his son. Lucky for him, once out on the course, he felt strong and only the good kind of suffering from racing hard. He once again started in the back of the field, but looked strong right off the start and quickly moved into the woods. Just like Rich, John also dropped his chain on the course but was able to recovered quickly and keep going. As he moved through the course, John picked out a rider and pulled them in, until he was able to find a good place to pass. This tactic really seemed to work, as he had his best showing yet, placing 24th overall.

Hop Brook CX: CT State Championships
Today brought abnormally warm fall weather, but only two team members decided to race the state championships. The others all decided to take a day off from racing to help Donnie with some trail work that needed to be done before the big Thanksgiving mountain bike ride.

Liz and Crystal were disappointed upon arriving to learn that they would not be allowed to pre-ride the course. They set out on their bikes and tried to get visuals of as much of the course as possible to help prepare for their race. Their first impression was it was a long but fast course. Lucky for them, Liz ended up getting about 3 mins out on the course before the start, and Crystal asked fellow racer Anson Ross for a play by play on the course and which lines to take. Without a significant warmup (and only her 2nd cross race all year), Liz felt flat out of the starting gate. By lap two, however, she really got in the cyclocross racing mindset and began to put the hammer down. She dominated in the tiny section of woods, riding up the steep run-up and going down the rocky slope, like the pro mountain biker she is. Unfortunately, there was a lot of open pavement, where competitors were able to put time into her. She narrowly missed catching the rider in front of her, finishing 6th in the open field, but taking home the honors of CT state champ for her age group. Crystal felt a little in over her head in this race, with women competing at the national level in the starting field. In fact, she only made it 1.5 laps before being passed by the lead rider. This was also about that time she really began to get her legs and was able to push harder the rest of the race. Even though she would finish last, Crystal showed her power as she caught up to riders who had lapped her on the pavement by beating them up a climb on the back side of the course. She completed the course without acquiring anymore injuries (after crashing the day before), so she took it as a win.