Picking up where we left off, the week in Millmont, PA was very moist. Charlie, Jules, Sid, Scott, and I drove from Rochester, NY to Millmont for the week while Chris went home. It rained like cats and dogs the entire week, but we made due with our training sessions in the mornings and hot tubbing at night. On Wednesday we rolled over to a nearby park and set up a cross course going up a steep hill and swerving down into a woodchip rut, then to some corners and an off camber section before the finish. We did two sets of 4 laps on 4 laps off, a couple with standing starts. It was so much fun to get in a hard interval session, pushing to keep up with the boys, but also to test efforts going into corners and controlling the bike on a wet surface… Which brings us nicely into this weekend's third round of the USCX series in Baltimore.
We drove on Friday morning to Baltimore, grabbed Chris on our way and headed to the course. We got the entire shabang up and running until 4pm when they announced pre pre-ride would be canceled due to rain. So we adjusted our plans and went for a nice spin on the road. We came across this awesome bike path lining the outskirts of town. There was this beautiful section that went deep into the trees on a wood bridge the whole way which unfortunately was very slippery. I took a tumble and took out Chris who was behind me. I actually ended up breaking my wheel which was a major bummer. So we packed it in for the night and headed to the house.
Rolling into Saturday, the mechanics left the house early so Chris could do the masters race. It has been awesome to see them get more involved and its super helpful to have a race debrief of the course so we know what to expect. It was misting all morning but temps were ramping up so that means the course conditions were likely to change at a moment's notice. During the course inspection around noon on Sat we all saw the course for the first time this year. Muddy, lots of quick turns, and some long dragging pedaling sections, as well as a bit of time on our feet carrying the bike.
Sid and I raced first, the clouds had drifted away and we had ice socks on our backs. We both raced on the Flandrian Challenge Team Edition TireSid and I both had good starts off the line and the race broke up fairly quickly into small groups. At the end of lap 1 Sid made the last turn before the pavement and slid out on the moist, muddy turn. This would separate her from the front group, as she headed to the pit with a bike that wouldn't shift. She dug to make some time up but in the heat she rode it in for 5th place. My race started hot off the gun, a fast two laps made selection happen in the mud. The middle couple laps were slower and then picked it up the last couple laps to land in 9th place in the Elite Women and 2nd U23.
Jules and Scott were up next. Scott had a slow start to the race, a little further back off the line and throughout the race he just kept working his way up. He kept making passes and kept the racing aggressive to finish 2nd place in the Elite Men. Jules had a great start and a couple mistakes here and there. With 3 laps to go, Jules was on a mission. He moved up a bunch of places and finished on a good note! That means place 14.
Going into day two of racing, the course dried out a little from the day before. The course was changed in a couple spots making it a bit more technical. The weather had different plans than the day before, with lots of clouds and cooler temps.
Sid and I both had really good starts keeping ourselves at the front of the race. For the first lap I stuck with that front group for as long as possible. Sid stuck with them for much of the race before feeling the effects of heat yesterday which left her just off the podium in 4th. I finished up 11th, after a slow turning last few laps.
Jules and Scott both had fantastic starts on Sunday. Jules taking the hole shot and leading through the first plenty of turns. Racing at the front and battling for those spots. Scott rode his own race and kept digging to get to the second place wheel. The last two laps he dug deep to try and secure it but came just short in the sprint finish. That makes it a 3rd place for Funston and a 12th for Jules.
This weekend the entire team raced with First Endurance bottles on their bikes even though it was slightly colder on day two! We got some new Donkey Label kit as well, which was so awesome to have with the large variations in temperature.
We are headed to Trek Cup this coming weekend and can't wait to do the last races of the series!
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