Nature was once again on our side, as temperatures were well above average and the sun was shining on the first day of competition. Unfortunately, Chris' season came to a premature end, as work took a front seat to racing for the winter, so John and Rich were left to start things off with the first race of the weekend. John's goal for the race was simple; not throw up! He made the mistake of a long day of cooking, with one too many beers, the day before and was suffering from a pretty severe hangover. He managed to hold everything down the entire race, but he wasn't able to stop the heart burn from creeping in halfway through the race. He looked strong, however, and fought hard to finish 36th out of more than 50 riders. Rich had a quick start and managed to get as low as 4th place by the second lap. Unfortunately, he couldn't hold on, as he got stuck in traffic and lost ground on the straightaways. He still had a very solid 11th place finish, part of a pack of 5th-12th place riders as he crossed the finish line.
Tracy and Crystal were next up in the women's race. There was a massive pileup on the start, however, Tracy was ahead of it and Crystal managed to narrowly avoid it by starting in the back of the field. There was a bottle neck created by the runup, which allowed most racers to get caught back up to the pack. The first lap was pretty tight, as junior men caught up to the women and it took awhile for the field to begin to break up. Two juniors crashed going over the barriers directly in front of Crystal, which shook her nerves, as she listened to one screaming out in pain (later she learned his bone was sticking out of his leg and he left in a stretcher!). Tracy had better luck, avoiding a crash with another junior who cut her off. Both women settled in after the first lap and remained pretty consistent for the rest of the race. Tracy ended up 15th in 35+ and 7th in cat 4, while Crystal was 21st.
Baystate Day 2
The second day of racing was full of surprises for everyone. The weatherman had played a trick on everyone. Instead of weather like the day before, there was a huge layer of mist over the venue that kept temperatures down, the ground slick and no sun to be found. During a pre-ride of the course, Crystal took a tumble down one of the slick slopes and landed on her head. Once she was able to get up, she noticed her handlebars were twisted and she didn't feel quite right. As it turned out, she had suffered a minor concussion and was not allowed to race day 2. She was bummed, but took it in stride.
Rich took things a little easier off the start then he had the day before. Entering into lap 3, he was sitting in about 8th place. He AGAIN dropped his chain going over the barriers and quickly lost 4 positions. This lit a fire under him, as he was determined to finish top 10. He raced his heart out, putting everything out there and caught the pack containing 3rd,4th and 5th with about 300 yards to go. The rider in 5th, quickly fell off, having popped and Rich was focused on beating the other two in the sprint to the finish to finally get his illusive podium finish. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough time (and he had pushed himself to the limit for 1.5 laps), so he wasn't able to do it. He took 5th and a new appreciation for what his body could do.
John looked (and felt) much better on day 2. He still had a tough starting position, but he moved his way through the pack. Each lap he caught riders, including those who had started 2 minutes ahead of him in the cat 4 race. He had a bit of bad luck, as he fell a couple times in some slick patches, but each time he recovered quickly and kept riding hard. His result wasn't what we expected, but John took it in stride and vowed to really make a showing next weekend in Warwick. Similarly, Tracy was excited for the course on day 2, as it was more challenging and included some sections in the woods. Unlike the day before, she was not able to avoid a crash on the start line and lost some valuable time trying to get back going again. She chased down the field, however, and improved on her day 1 performance with a 6th place in cat 4. She felt good, but was also happy to begin her season count down, as her body begins to feel the toll of racing every weekend.
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