Jean rode away from the competition at the VA State 'Cross Champs this weekend, winning a Gold medal in the Womens Cat 3/4 field. After a tight battle with the second place rider, Sally Tempest of Tripower, Jean pulled away to win by a convincing margin. She was smooth over the barriers and relentless up the long runup which ascended the smaller of the two namesake hills at Mt. Trashmore Park in Virginia Beach, VA. Here's a link to our photos from the day, complete with captions.
The course was short but challenging with a good mix of pavement, grass, and gravel (including some very sharp stones!). It had lots of climbing and a LONG runup. Laps were about 4 minutes long, which meant we did the runup about 10 times in the B race and 6 to 7 times in the C race. I probably did it 17 times at race pace that day. Ouch.
I managed to nab second place in the Men's 4 before lining up, 15 minutes later, to do the Men's 3/4. I was doing well in that race until an untimely flat - of a brand new rear tubular - cost me several places. I did a quick wheel change after riding 3/4 of a lap on the flat and finished the race, but my hope of a top-ten finish was done. At least I got a solid workout in - over 80 minutes of racing!
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2 comments:
Congrats to Jean and my bike. And you as well. How on earth did you flat your tubular? What tubies did you end up going with?
They were Challenge Grifo's. I love the tires, but if you hit a large rock dead on hard enough, you can flat a tubey. It takes extra special 180lb Woodrow skill. I was even running 40lbs in them! I also discovered that, even when flat, tubulars ride pretty well. I did 3/4 of a lap on the flat rear without a bobble, albeit at less than race pace. When properly inflated, they hook up like crazy. No fear in off-cambers, bombing through grass turns, etc. I haven't tried them in mud yet but I'll bet they're good there too. I have a new one on the way and will be running them for the final MAC weekend. I also glued up a set of Tufo Prestige tubies for Jean on an old pair of eBay Franken-wheels (Mavic GEL rims, XTR hubs from the 90's, 36 spoke - still lighter than clinchers). She loves the tubey ride. She was rockin' it old school on that steel Fort with tubulars.
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