Once again Martin Jones goes Cross racing at the weekend – he won’t be beaten! Here are his thoughts and report from the race:

Cyclocross at Central Park of Morris County.

Presented by: Marty’s Reliable Cycle, Morris Plains, NJ.

Saturday, November 13, 2010.

Two races in close proximately – on the same date – is sure to have an effect on the entry numbers. With one event having established a core following over the last few years a brand new race is going to have a hard time drawing competitors. The new event is only a 30 minute drive away – and I can juggle coaching my daughters football team and racing my bike – it’s obvious which race I’m going to!


Fortunately the event was running about 20 minutes late – so instead of arriving 10 minutes before the start and not having time to warm up my preparation was slightly less rushed/stressful. The Elite field was small, very small, with a very wide range of abilities. For the first half of the first lap everything was looking great, I’m in 4th tagged onto the back of the leaders. It wasn’t long before I was riding on my own though trying hard to keep the distance between me and the next guy manageable – a concept that was lost on my legs and I slowly drifted backwards. The 5th rider was already way behind me and after another lap of fruitlessly trying to catch anyone I came to the conclusion that perhaps the remainder of my season will be spent riding races because I love to ride my cross bike – and ignore the upgrade point/podium thing!

With 3 laps to go – the leader is closing in on me – I’ve never been lapped before – and I wasn’t about to let it happen in this race! My efforts to keep from being lapped nearly had me lapping the 5th place rider – so if I thought I was having a crappy ride – someone else was having a worse day!

Finally crossed the line in 4th, collected my winnings and went home to drown my sorrows – yep even though I came 2nd to last, or 4th I still got a little envelope with some green in it so I really shouldn’t complain should I – now there’s a novelty! Plus my daughters won their footy game 4/1 against a team that had pounded them into the ground a few weekends ago. So there was reason to celebrate after all!

So there is light at the end of the tunnel, a lesson if any that persistence sometimes pays!



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