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Written by Danny Zotter
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Thursday, 08 October 2009 20:14 |
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Holy hell ! We had a number of racers going to Gloucester Mass, Ryan and Owen raced early in the cat 4 event Saturday, and Owen competed in the master’s event on Sunday.
They experienced the best weather Saturday, which even for them was hell, and the worst on Sunday, the course hadn't dried out yet. Jen raced in the women’s 4 on Saturday around 10, and experienced mega mud for the first time, she soldiered on though. Gregg raced both days in the cat 3 race at 1 pm, and I am not sure about how he did, but from what i saw he look strong, and was most likely hampered by his poor start position.Now begins the meat of the story. In the UCI Elite Pro 1/2 event Corey and I (Danny) had to race against Jon Page, Tim Johnson, J-Pow, Chris Jones, and a number of other pros, I am positive the top ten were all pros on the road. Now I have experienced mud before, talking about my 13 years of competitive XC background, but I have never experienced "full course mud." I define "full course mud" as doing the pro event after roughly 10,000 wheels murdered your three kilometer circuit. I was starting 40th and Corey was back row about 80th. Corey had the single most hysterical ride of his life when he managed to run another racer over, and have a crank arm fall off, all within the first half lap. He pulled out on that lap, and I like most of the field was lapped twenty minutes into the hour long race. Jon Page was literally untouchable, his power is undeniable, he is literally the most accomplished racer anyone form the area has raced against in a long time, ( by the way he was about 6 seconds off winning the worlds in 2007, 2nd isn’t bad though). Sunday was amazing; by the time Corey and I raced the course had the perfect mix of mud and dry sections. And we did a lot better. I was pulled from the race with two laps to go, and Corey was with one to go, half the field was pulled by the time there was one to go. Corey and I both had to use pit wheels because of ridiculous stuff.Although we, and half the field, were beat with a chain ring by the pros, it has not and will not discourage us from moving up in this sport. Looking back, I can see that this beating is something we had to go through in order to mature as competitors.
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