Cross Crusade #3 – Sherwood
On what could be the last nice day of the season, the Subs took advantage of beautiful weather and a difficult course to turn in some great results.
The two most significant finishes were that of Dave Sterry and Christian Reed who earned their first call-up points of the season, joining Hannah, Jill, Krissy, and Jimmy as subs who’ve scored so far this Cross Crusade. The points mean that they’ll always be some of the first guys called up to the line in their respective races, and bode well for more great finishes this season.
Sterry’s race in the C’s got the ball rolling for the Subs. Dave had been battling from bad start positions in big fields through the first two races, where with a little advantage he could have converted. Finally gifted a course that rewarded the physically and mentally fit, he steadily picked off competitors to solidly stake his claim to some points with at 16th place finish. In the same race Nate battled hard, turning in four great laps, before finally succumbing to the pressures of an unworn course and massive hills to come in at a most respectable 69th place. [Editor’s note: 69, HA!]
Meanwhile in Master C’s, Chris rode a solid race to finish in 56th place in a ridiculous field of 177 competitors. He then spent the rest of the day getting loaded and taking pictures. Hoorah!
While Christian’s in-the-money 15th place finish was the notable result of the B race, the story was that of Ken running in 5th place late in the race before getting a flat. The results may say DNF, but not only did he finish the race by running half the course to the neutral pit, he demonstrated the kind of fitness that indicates more good things brewing.
On the course at the same time were singlespeeds, where there was absolutely no gear that anyone wanted to be in on a course that matched big climbs with equal descents. The Juleek brothers worked hard, but there’s just no accounting for some races… Well, actually, there’s drinking, which makes up for a lot. And that’s why Tug-Nuts come with a built-in bottle-opener!
In Beginner Women’s, Krissy continued her assault up the ranks with a 17th place finish, surprising herself with hill-climbing tenacity she didn’t know she possessed. And Diana once again flexed her inner competitor turning in a 36th place result.
Women’s B was a place of heartache for the Subs. Hannah got off to a great start, logging as high as 4th place before the cycling gods frowned on her with an unstickably stuck dropped chain. After herculean efforts she got back on course and managed a respectable 20th place, but oh what might have been… Meanwhile Jill’s old beau, Jake, decided to flat at an inopportune moment, and she had to run to the Team Pit to take on Ryan Mauk’s suddenly undersized ride. She hung tough, though, to not come in last amongst finishers, taking 47th out of 48.
Finally, in Men’s A, a six foot six beanstalk of a man gave us the ride we’ve all been waiting for, and we’re not talking about Ryan Trebon’s dismantling of Chris Shephard. No, The Green Sub’s very own Nat Johnson finally turned in the kind of wire-to-wire sixty minute effort we know he’s capable of, coming in 32nd out of 59 starters. To say that Nat has a future in A’s, would be to overlook the fact that he’s becoming competitive right now. Keep it up, Nat, and next week we may even save you a beer!
That was the worst I have ever felt climbing on a bike….that was like torture. I lauged at chase’s 2:1 ratio; oh how I envied him after the first lap. I was trying to find some sort of injury/disease/mechanical that I could use to stop the suffering…. The rest of the course was awesome; especially the no brake downhill, but that hill was just the absolute worst. My heart would hit 198 each lap and then it would just take forever to recover. Arghhhh…..
I’d like to add that Cat C had some crazy pileups early in the race. On the first lap in the back half of the course some guy when down hard. So hard in fact that instead of the normal “Rider Down” calls everyone close by just said “OOOOOHHHH” And Nate said he narrowly avoided another bike one on the single track on the back side.
But more importantly the team tent rocked hard!
Team tent did rock hard. Maybe we’ll get our logo up on that beast this week. Also, we should get a banner, windsock, flag, or something “flappy” with our logo on it to fly near our tent.
Everyone did a great job this past weekend. The Elite Men’s Race (as I like to call it!) was really fun, and I finally felt great. Still, Trebon and Chris Shepard made me feel like I was in the kiddy race and all the spectators were just cheering my orange-bike cuteness. Oh well, I can dream of being fast.
Nat, you’re measuring yourself against the best. That’s awesome!