My favorite course is Staten Island CX.
(Photo by Marco Quezada)
It was the first elite race I won two years ago. It has everything I like in a cross race:
long beach run
(Photo by Marco Quezada)
technical backside
(Photo by Clay Thurmond)
and lots of pavement and power sections.
(Photo by Marco Quezada)
The promoter advertised on twitter that there was a $100 prime for the winner of the first lap. I did win the first lap, but was told later that the prime was only for the cat 4 women! Jenn Maxwell (Van Dessel Factory Team) were trading places from the beginning. She got the holeshot, I passed her in the beach run, I botched a turn and she passed me, etc. In the 3rd lap on the dismount into the sand, my chain got stuck on the outside of the crank and the front derailleur. OH NO. I had to stop to fix it:
(Photo by Marco Quezada)
When I got back on my bike, I lost about 15 seconds to Jenn, but was determined to close the gap. Unfortunately, right after the chain incident, I got a flat. I was conveniently located as far as possible from the pit and had to run almost half the course. By the time I had started back on my pit bike, I had lost about 3-4 minutes. It was discouraging because I really like the course. I passed as many people I could in that time, but could not catch the first 3 riders. Next weekend is SuperCrossCup in NY, and I am hoping for some good luck this season. Here are some more photos from Marco Quezada, Clay Thurmond, and Anthony Skorochod, respectively.
