Monday, September 24, 2007

Charm City Cross...

Charm City rocked. Great Job to Kris Auer, Chris Nystrom and everyone associated with the race. Fun and challenging course was laid out at Druid Hill Park in Baltimore. It was almost the same as last year except for the addition of a 'prologue' section.

I had a 2nd row start and was in the top 4-5 for the first lap. After the prologue section I felt someone rubbing against my rear tire. This ended at the first technical off-camber turn when that person rubbed a little too much and I heard "rider down" behind me. I saw a few racers take turns a bit too fast and slide out.

I stayed in the top 15 thru 30 minutes then I started fading. My dismounts and remounts felt smooth. It was a fast course, hard grass with a lot of sharp turns that were silt and dusty. In the tree section the turns had plenty of acorns on the ground to keep you focused on staying smooth. The course had 4 tech sections, 2 man-made barriers, one natural barrier, and one sand pit. Fun stuff. I finished in 19th out of 67 starters in B (Men 3/4). I'm happy with that placing as I was hoping for a top 20. Felt a lot faster than last year so that's an improvement. My finish is better than last year as well.

First race and I feel like I have room for improvement as the season progresses. Jeff has the training plan scheduled to have me peaking later in the season.

It's good to get the first one out of the way. Charm City is a big race, everyone seems to come out for it, and then the attendance drops.

Andrew McK went to the race and did the B race with me, he placed 17th in his first cyclocross event. We may have a roadie to cyclocross convert. Watch out VA B racers, Andy will be tough competition, as will his younger brother Patrick who will vie for the Junior category.

Again great job to everyone at C3-Sollay.com for hosting the event. And Nice Job to FatMarc for winning the Masters 35+ B race. Thanks for cheering for me.

Thank you to Independent Fabrication and Allez Training Systems for all the help you provide so I can do as much as I can with what little talent I have.

And a big Thank You to Holly, Jamie, Kal and Parker for cheering and ringing the cowbells for me.

More cowbell....

5 Comments:

Blogger Chris said...

Mark,

Nice job in the race and excellent report.

Thank you for the kind words.

Thank you for making the trip and supporting our race. It'll be even better next year.

Chris

10:13 AM  
Blogger Jeffro Herriachi said...

Nice job Mark, cross rocks.

11:07 AM  
Blogger Your Friendly Neighborhood HR Dude said...

thanks for the kind words.
you looked really good out there.

you coming to granogue?

have a great season.

respect
faticus

5:40 AM  
Blogger MRussell said...

Yo fatmarc, Thanks man.

I'm going to pass on Granogue this year. I'll be in Catharpin VA at Jared's race. See ya sunday.

7:48 AM  
Blogger mstyer said...

you riding the dynamo this year? I'm counting on you to pull me again,

http://rocktowndynamo.blogspot.com/

10:49 AM  

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