2014 Orchard Cross Race Report
I'm due for a bunch of race reports for this season, but this past weekend was pretty special and so its getting the treatment first. Orchard Cross at
Applecrest Farms is one of the special races of the season on the North Shore. It doesn't have the pageantry or pedigree of
Gloucester, and is not part of the "Holy Week of Cyclocross", but it is my favorite race of the season. Lets face it, I'm never going to race UCI, and so points and series standings don't matter to me. Like most people who race CX, the thing that matters is fun. Friends matter, bikes matter, smiling faces matter, cider donuts, and pumpkins, and mud, and berms, and barriers, and cowbells, definitely cowbells matter. Orchard Cross is the epitome of all these things. Orchard Cross has the luxury of locale, and timing, being so very close to Halloween, and at the start of fall, and makes the most of it. Every year, the staff that puts on Orchard Cross has stepped it up and made the event even better. Last year, I didn't even race, but I brought the family to enjoy the fun, but I digress, this is the 2014 instalment of Orchard Cross.. so lets get going...
The initial plans for OCX were for me to bring three of my kids to the race. One is now riding with the ECV junior cubs program, made up primarily of Ipswich kids, and managed by Dan Donovan. Its amazing how much more fun he has when D is riding with other kids than riding with me. I'll try not to take it personally. Unfortunately my middle kids, H and C, had a birthday party to attend at Sky High Trampolines, and for a 7 yr old, it's no competition, trampolines or CX. Hopefully they'll get their priorities in the right place. Sky high will be there next week guys. The reality is that my CX future depends heavily on whether I can bring the kids, so Saturday morning saw me up bright and early making egg sandwiches, packing the cooler, making a travel cup of coffee, and getting the car loaded while D slept. We headed up from Ipswich at 7:20 to get to Hampton Falls early enough to pre ride the course. We jumped onto the back side of the course from the parking area, an immediately hit what D decided was his favorite feature of this years course, the "bmx berms". I'm not sure what the official name was, but Cowbell Corner (which was spray painted in Ipswich Orange on the course) was a feature cut through a two story mound of dirt to create a massive left and then right berm with a little table top at the end, right in front of the announcer and start line. Previously known for its brutal off-camber and run ups on the far side of the course, this added a marquee feature right where the crowds gather for OCX. We then followed the course away from the barns as it weaved in and out of the apple trees with a light mist lifting from the leaves. The course include a lot of turns, with only a few straight-away power sections. There were sneaky apple branches, some of which had been tied with CX tape, but I later saw a few kits that had lost the battle, likely after a few laps at max HR. The backside of the course was feature rich, with a nasty forced run-up around a rope swing, followed by an off camber section and another forced run up that took a pound of flesh from the 3/4 womens field. Both of the run-ups had a steep descent section that D had to muster the courage to drop in. It reminded me of the first time I dropped into a half-pipe on my skateboard, terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. The course then had a split whoopdiedo section where you could go left or right, followed by a 120 degree turn and a steep kicker (run-up for the juniors, and some of the 4/5 fields) before heading back into the orchards. As a CX dad, the whole set of features worried me as at least half, including my boy, of the junior's fields ride mountain bikes, which are heavy beasts. By this point, they were calling a few minutes to the start of racing so D and I quickly finished up the course and headed to registration. This is where the fun began.
D and I went to register, and I realized that his license is pending (so much paperwork), and the staff very eagle-eyed had noticed that I signed up for the Masters 40+ 1/2/3 but my license says 4. I was planning on upgrading after Gloucester but my 32th place finish (a different race report), plus travel for work, but hadn't put it it in. So I tried to "accident" my way into the masters field knowing I'd be struggling to just hang on the back. But the jig was up. I got help from a race official that approved D's entry into the juniors, and that was the most important, so we resolved that and he went to race.
The ECV juniors represented 8 of the 25 racers in the field, and the parents were out in force. I must have ran a mile or two following all the kids around the course taking photos, cheering, and otherwise being "that dad". I was really proud of all the ECV kids. It was a truly difficult 2 laps for them, especially the younger ones who had real difficulty with the run-ups. There was some serious dragging of bikes, but the juniors, ECV or not, all had smiles on their faces. The guy on the bullhorn at the barriers said it best, "some of these kids are carrying bikes half their weight over barriers that are waist high for them." D finished 21/25 and said "That was so hard, but so awesome, can we go get a donut now?". Kids are awesome.
After getting D his donut and a cider, I headed back to the reg tent to figure out my situation. I waitlisted for the 4/5 40+ men, and the 3/4 men. The former was the next race, and the latter was 2.5 hours later. When the race director said she had a number for me for the earlier race, I grabbed it and raced to the car to get out of my street clothes and into my kit. The later race would have been trouble, as I had to be on a flight to NY at 7pm, plus I had DVR'd the Pats and needed to get that in before I left. In about 10 minutes, I was in my kit and staged in my field about 6 rows back. I'd been fortunate to have had first row starting positions for the other 2 races I did this year, and being 6 rows back was new ground, penance for my licensing failures. I was staged at the right most, and would be remiss if I didn't mention that the 5th row wasn't defending his spot well, so by the time the whistle blew, I was racing from 4th row. I passed as many people as I could before we got to the hole, and had about 15 guys in front of me as we thinned and hit the narrow sections of the course. After the bmx section, I came in very hot into the next sharp turn towards the orchards and ended up having to tripod and skid through the corner; I watched disheartened as the front of the field get away from me as I regained speed and struggled to find room to pass guys in front of me. I made a concerted effort to sprint in the straights and get some spots back. My lack of racing this year was apparent when I did my first dismount up the forced run up and came to a complete halt. I made it through the rest of the first lap without incident and managed to come through the finish line in sight of the 10 leaders. The second lap was an effective time trial, applying as much steady power as I could while maintaining as much speed through the turns as I could. I picked up a few more spots, an as I went through the finish line for the second time, I heard the announcer say that my number 390 was not on his list, and that I might not have been in the right race. By the third lap, I was ready to be done. This is the point in the race, where it hurts a lot, and wherever you are in the race, unless you're with a tight group, its hard to see your place changing, but as we reached the backside of the course and the technical features, I had found my dismount and remount skill, and had made up ground and had the front of the field at least in view. I managed to pick a bunch of spots and passed the 4th and 3rd placed riders in that last section with 2 guys still in front of me and riding together. That gave me hope, and a goal, to try and pull back the two leaders. The third lap was punctuated with the support I had from some friends along the course cheering me on, as well as the announcer, who seemed pretty impressed that I had started so far back and managed to have pulled myself near the front. The leader had managed a few second gap on the 2nd place rider, who I caught on the forced run up. I settled in on his wheel through the features hoping to find a place to pass. As we came out of the whoops, I think we both kind of let the leader go, as I was concerned with figuring out the pass, and he was likely concerned about not letting me pass. The turns near the end made it difficult to pass, and he blocked one of my attempts to come around. I sat on his wheel a bit trying to store up some energy for the finish. I had planned to try and pass as we approached the barriers. I watched where he was going, and when he made his decision on where to go, I accelerated and dismounted and tried to pass. I manage to end up even with him through the barriers.
I've often though of how important dismounting and remounting are in the greater scheme of things. In a 45 minute race, how much could a good vs a bad remount really be? Well I was about to find out. When we both came across the barriers, I went to remount. I have this stupid little stutter step that I do. Not sure why, never really thought it was a big deal, but the stutter step remount caused a little issue and I couldn't get clipped in immediately, and so my move to attack was thwarted and I had to ride from behind. I tried to stick his wheel, and then come around in the last 200m, but it was too little too late, and he out-sprinted me for 2nd. Later, at the podium ceremony, I found out it was his 120th race, and his first podium, so he had something to fight for. I'm glad to have pushed him hard for his well-fought 2nd place.
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| Looking for a handup or a high-five? |
I did about a half half lap of cool down and then raced to the car to get change for the costume race. I headed back to find D who was playing on the rocks near the start line with a buddy he had made. He gave me a huge hug and said congratulations for 3rd place; he said he was really proud and that 3rd was awesome. I told him I could hear him cheering during the race and that it helped. It's a pretty special feeling as a dad to share that experience with your kid. I rode in the costume race, did a lot of high-fives with bystanders. There were lots of people throughout the course watching the pageantry of the costumed riders. The famous Giraffe was back and set off early to pace the field. There were at least 40 costumed riders of all ages and shapes and sizes. I gave quite a few high fives to bystanders, smiles to the kids, and waves to the crowd.
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| Surfing BMX Corner |
The folks at Orchard Cross put on an amazing event. CX is always a great time for the family, but OCX is the perfect blend of all the things that make New England special to me.
In case anyone was wondering what a CX race looks like from your heart's perspective, here's the picture of it:
