FLCC> Greene 'Cross

[Nick Robertson]

Victory is sweet.  Well, sort of.  While I did finally beat my long  
time nemesis DeLisa, he did have a red-eye flight Fri evening from CA  
still in his legs.  So I am sure that did play into it.  Nonetheless,  
I no longer feel the urge to somehow sabotage his ride prior to the  
race. . .

The start was pretty damn intimidating.  I am not a fan of being in  
big packs as many of you know.  The start was clearly going to be a  
drag race for position.  Another downer for me - I like to start out  
slower and build.  DeLisa has repeatedly ridiculed me for starting  
off like a grandma, that I needed to give it at the start to get up  
front.  So, shortly before the gun I thought I'd give the sprint  
tactic a go.  I got an outside spot in the third line, and sure  
enough, after sprinting through the field I found myself in pretty  
good position in a single file line.  DeLisa was only a few spots up  
in front of me - sweet!  But I could feel the initial sprint in my  
legs and hoped that the people around me would settle in for a more  
comfortable pace.  Around to the wall and no such luck.  It was  
hurting a lot already.  Up the wall the line slowed somewhat and I  
was able to walk and let myself recover a bit.  We came out of the  
woods, and to my surprise I was feeling somewhat decent.  After the  
first spiral DeLisa was within spitting distance.  I kicked around  
the idea of sitting on him for a bit before trying to come past, but  
just decided to go right past.  I picked up the pace a bit to try to  
distance myself and I could feel my legs hurting a lot again - and  
this was only the first lap!  So I was thinking it may have been a  
mistake, but I decided to ride it out always keeping an eye on him  
fearing he'd come right back past me.  Halfway thought the next lap,  
Glenn comes past me and I thought I'd pace off of him for a while to  
put some time into DeLisa.  That lasted approx. 10.4 seconds before  
it was clear there was no way.  Eventually I settled in with Karl,  
Scotty and someone I didn't recognize.  After a bit I found myself at  
the back of the group struggling to hold pace.  Lap after lap,  
someone would attack a bit here and there, put everyone in the red  
and it would come back together.  Meanwhile, Ernie was in no man's  
land between DeLisa and our group.  He was never that far behind,  
maybe 10 seconds if that.  I kept waiting for him to catch us and  
contribute more to the pain my legs were feeling.  Fortunately he was  
never able to bridge.  He came WAY too close for comfort though.

Back to our group.  First to crack was the guy I didn't recognize.   
Towards the end Scotty bit it on the wall.  This was a HUGE relief  
because I knew there was no chance in hell I could take him in a  
sprint.  He blew pretty badly too because he was well back after we  
came out of the woods.  Then it was just Karl and I.  I wasn't sure  
how to play it out.  He had done a TON of work earlier in the race to  
break everyone.  So I felt bad attacking after he did all that.  I  
would have worked more earlier, but his efforts were successful in  
nearly breaking me repeatedly.  I knew if I went to the front too  
soon, he'd spit me out.  Like clockwork, after the spirals he started  
picking up the pace again in a clear effort to drop me.  I was able  
to hold again - barely.  Now in the last lap.  Through the flat  
section just after the lower parking lot I decided I'd attack.  I  
went for all I was worth.  WHen I looked back, he was still  
dangerously close.  By the time we got out of the woods, I had a  
pretty safe lead over him and was able to relax a bit.  I made sure  
to keep the pace high, but not so high that I'd cramp.  Last thing I  
wanted cramp and have everyone come flying back at me.  Sure enough,  
it worked out.

DeLisa came in a bit later and was clearly dead.  He wasn't riding at  
his normal level.  So granted, I did finally get a point up on the  
scoreboard, I'd still like to take him when he's feeling normal.   
This won't be next weekend because he "claims" with the schedule  
change, he won't be able to back it back in time for his flight.  I  
ask you this: Coincidence?  Severe beating and then the schedule of  
events changes.  Do I sense a bribe somewhere in there?

Anyway, great race everyone.  It was a blast and I can't wait for  
next weekend!

Stay tuned for the NYS championship.  This is where it will be  
decided between DeLoser and I. . .

On Nov 6, 2006, at 10:56 AM, Glenn Swan wrote:

> 	As anticipated, Ithaca riders made up a significant percentage of the
> field at Karl Faruzel's cyclocross race in Greene. (maybe 30%?)   
> One of the
> fun things about racing at these sorts of events is that there are  
> many
> little races going on within the big race, especially after a little
> pre-race trash-talk ! Karl used every square foot of school  
> property to eke
> out the longest course ever, including roller coaster rides where  
> you could
> ride high-banked corners, death spirals which had riders going in  
> opposite
> directions only a few feet apart, and dastardly little off-camber  
> hairpins
> at the bottom of descents. I'm not even sure which hill was  
> referred to as
> the Wall of Death since the rooted, rocky descent had me wondering  
> how much
> it would hurt if my wheels folded up at the insane speed I  
> sometimes went
> down it, or the ego-crushing ride/run/walk-up that followed  
> immediately
> thereafter - are we talking exciting fiery death by crashing, or  
> just slow
> death in misery from deciding it's not worth any more effort to  
> climb the
> damned thing ? The saving grace is that it only lasts a finite  
> period of
> time, and if you just keep moving it will sooner or later, be over.
> 	I was excited to try a real 'cross bike for a change, and after  
> doing a
> couple of practice laps, felt pretty confident that I could ride  
> reasonably
> well on the terrain and surfaces of the event. (Thank goodness for  
> no soupy
> mud...) The lighter bike rolled pretty well and accelerated much much
> faster than the bike I have used for years (with MTB wheels), so my
> trash-talk about pushing Andy M a little harder seemed possible. As  
> for the
> promised thrashing of Matt Delisa, I was wondering if I hadn't  
> stirred up a
> nest of hornets that would make me pay later. And I had completely  
> ignored
> the likely presence of Nick Robertson. Who cares about the big guns  
> who are
> going to run away with the overall race - we locals have bigger  
> issues on
> our plates !
> 	When the gun went off a giant mob sprinted across the soccer field  
> heading
> for the pavement section near the school. I was reluctant to get  
> into heavy
> traffic fighting for position, but I was distressed to count  
> roughly 16
> people ahead of me as we settled into the relatively single-file  
> part of
> the course. Matt D was way up near the front. Andy M was only a few  
> spots
> behind him. Scott Hannan and Nick were  ahead of me too, and Ernie was
> breathing down my neck. As I recall, I think I may have squeezed  
> Shan M as
> we entered the first grass section too. It was too hectic to notice  
> for
> sure.  Ithacans were certainly starting fast. I watched as a small  
> group of
> 4 or 5 just motored away from everybody, but that was no surprise,  
> since
> the elite guys do that every week. I was concentrating on just  
> riding right
> side up and not making a fool of myself laying it down in front of  
> a whole
> field of riders who might just choose to ride over rather than  
> around....I
> slipped past a few riders here and there and pretty soon I had some  
> open
> space in front of me. The good guys were long gone, and I was near the
> front of the "ordinary people". Andy M was in sight ahead, so I set  
> about
> slowly trying to reel him in, just like at Syracuse. It took pretty  
> much a
> whole lap, but I caught him and rolled right by him at the top of the
> run-up, unwittingly showing him how to go faster with less effort  
> on that
> section. We dropped a rider from Binghamton and looked to be in a  
> race by
> ourselves for a couple of laps. Then out of the blue, the Bingo  
> rider blew
> by us and rode away ! Andy was content to ride with me until my back
> started hurting too much to even run up the top of the hill. At  
> that point
> Andy took off and mowed him down, leaving me alone and counting  
> down laps
> to the finish. Each lap I would measure where I was in the death  
> spiral
> section before seeing Karl Faruzel, Nick, Ernie and others appear  
> out of a
> woods section. I was holding my own, and they seemed content to be  
> racing
> against each other. I sensed that the race leader was closing in fast
> enough that I might get lapped, thereby shortening my misery by one  
> lap.
> This was good. Even better was seeing that the Bingo rider was bonking
> ahead of me, and even though a part of me felt that he deserved the  
> higher
> place for his efforts in the middle of the race, I decided that I  
> would
> make a stronger effort in the last 1/2 mile and try to mow him down  
> in his
> helpless state. (How many times has this happened to me ?) He  
> didn't mind
> my passing him, since all he could think about at the time was oreo
> cookies...I have no idea what my final place was and I don't care.  
> It was a
> great ride and it ended before I was  too wasted to be able to  
> savor it. I
> got to watch Matt D duke it out in a sprint with Karl Faruzel,  
> Steve Edgar
> take Shan Mohiudden at the line, and Ernie and Scott Hannan and  
> Michael
> Ullberg and Mark Shenstone roll solidly in. With this many close  
> finishes I
> am sure there are some good stories to tell. I know that Mark  
> Shenstone and
> Bill Erickson had a see-saw battle where the MTB of Erickson was  
> faster in
> some sections and the 'cross bike of Shenstone was faster in  
> others, so
> they passed each other on virtually every lap. There were several  
> Cornell
> women and a couple of Cornell guys. It looked as though there were  
> enough
> women there to make it a real race for them. I wonder if we'll hear  
> any
> tales of their event. As Steve Edgar and I drove back to Ithaca I  
> could see
> Nick's car in my rearview mirror, and only imagine the enjoyment he  
> was
> getting out of having Matt Delisa as a (captive) passenger  after
> administering a beating to him on the race course ! So the next big
> question is, "Will Matt share a ride to Binghamton with someone  
> other than
> Nick ? Or will he keep up the trash-talk and hope to turn the  
> tables for
> the ride home next weekend ?" Isn't this much more fun than  
> worrying about
> winning the actual race ? Why worry about prize money and UCI  
> points when
> you can savor the ride home ?...........
> 	Let's hear some other tales of the day !
>
> Glenn
>
>
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