Kevin Carter (Crosshairs Cycling p/b Bike Doctor of Waldorf) on the top step. Nice work, bones.
Two Sportifs and a Super8 walk into a bar….that’s the start of a bad joke that I won’t tell.
After the epic weekend that was DCCX, cross racing in the DC/Baltimore area has a bit of a lull before the sprint to the finish of the season. Two newer races in the Sportif series and a MABRA classic took place the last two weekend, with many Crosshairs Cycling p/b Bike Doctor of Waldorf racers pinning numbers on.
A rare Sunday Sportif race, AACX in Selby-on-the-Bay, MD took place in scenic South River Farm Park. There were smaller fields at this race as most took the Sunday off but mild temperatures with plenty of sun and wind off the nearby Chesapeake Bay made for an interesting day of racing. The course? Two fields with a short, technical section in between; relatively flat but challenging due to the wind and teeth-chattering ruts and holes in the field (which hadn’t seen rain in a while as far as I could tell).
Mark Cavey got a top 10 in the largest field of the day, the Mens 35+ 3/4 race, finishing 7th out of nearly 50 racers. Charlie Kearns finished 36th, still working his way back to full fitness after early season injuries. Jay Dove got a top 10 in the Mens 3/4 race, finishing 9th, a good result to the soon to be Dad x2.
The two Mikes in the Mens 55+ category both made the trip to Anne Arundel County, with Zoeller finishing on the podium in 3rd and Wynnyk finishing 12th.
Lisa Jancy continues to plug away and race hard in her first season in the Womens 1/2/3. She finished 11th despite mechanical problems all race.
The Mens 1/2/3 saw the largest number of Crosshairs racers – Kevin Carter led the way with a 2nd place finish, with Elliott Caldwell 5th and Taylor Jones 7th.
An honorable mention goes to Kimani Neilsen, who went down to Harrisonburg VA for the Rocktown Cross race and got a top 10 in a very deep Mens 1/2/3 field.
Overcast skies and cooler temperatures met racers as they descended on West Friendship, MD on Saturday, November 1st for Biketoberfest CX held at the Howard County Living Farm Heritage Museum. A challenging, punchy, hilly course with no pavement/road sections to speak of favored those with mountain bikes or mountain biking backgrounds.
Crosshairs racers were short in number, but raced hard regardless. Steve Spencer finished 13th in the Mens 3/4, while Charlie Kearns finished 19th in the Mens 35+ 3/4. Elliott Caldwell and Kevin Carter both raced in the Mens 1/2/3, with Kevin finishing 6th and Elliott 8th in a fast but small field.
Sunday November 2nd was one of the first truly cold and windy days in the DC area this fall, and many Crosshairs racers braved the elements to race at the Ed Sander Memorial Cyclocross race held in Adamstown, MD at the famed Lilypons Water Gardens. I always circle this race on the calendar, as it is one of my favorite venues and it honors one of our fellow cyclists who passed away. Ed was a member of NCVC and an employee at Lilypons – a cross race is a fitting way to honor him and his memory.
The “new” course is only new to me since I’ve been gone for a few years, but many of the components of the older course are still around. A tent covering barriers was a first for me in any race, though I did not take any of the hand ups*(*still not a crime*) offered to me through out my race.
Josh Gorman finished 28th in a deep (80+) Mens 4/5 field. In the Mens 35+ 3/4, Alex Castro finished just off the podium in 6th with Carlo Alfano 31st and David Tambeaux 37th; all Crosshairs racers were in the top half of this large 75+ racer field.
Alex Alfano made his 5th appearance of the season in Crosshairs colors, finishing 12th in the Mens Junior 15-18 race.
In the hotly contested 35+ 1/2/3 race, Kevin Carter won, Kimani Nielsen got 6th and Papa Jay Dove (sleep deprived for sure) got 22nd. It was an impressive win. Mike Esmonde, sometimes Crosshairs team member, took off like he was shot out of a cannon and Kevin and Kimani clawed him back. Tight finish, with the top 5 all within 10 seconds of each other.
Matt Parse lead the way by winning the Mens 45+ race, besting the 2nd place finisher by nearly 40 seconds. Mike Vanderbilt continued his run of podium results with a 5th place finish, and Sol Schott rounded out the field in 24th.
In the Mens 55+ race, Mike Zoeller finished just off the podium in 6th, while Crosshairs had two top ten finishes in the Singlespeed race – Taylor Jones at 6th and Alex Castro at 10th for his second top 10 of the day. Crosshairs alumni Stu Louder won the SS race, keeping the leaders jersey for another week.
Kevin Hays and Steve Spencer were Crosshairs’ racers in the Mens 3/4, with Kevin finishing one place below his usual 7th, in 8th. And Steve finished 24th, rounding out his double weekend with a strong effort.
Three Crosshairs racers jumped in the Mens 1/2/3 race, with Kevin Carter fighting it out in the top 5 before a mechanical just past the pit send him running through the lilypons section of the course. Elliott Caldwell passed him on the last lap as he was running for a hard fought 9th place; Kevin finished 12th and Chris McGill finished 14th.
Bill also pulled a double weekend, announcing both Ed Sander and the Biketoberfest race with skill and class. Thanks to him for keeping us well informed and podiumed.
The next couple weekends will be spent in the wild wonderland that is Howard County – see everyone at Schooley Mill and/or Rockburn.