by Nicholas Mashburn
Few races are close enough that you can ride to them. Quad Cross in Bedford, MA is one such race, so I took advantage and got my warmup on the way there. I got my number at Registration and hit the course for a couple of hot laps.
I missed the call to staging, but maneuvered my bike into the front row between two NEBC riders who I’ve been racing with for a while. They didn’t protest too much.
Like Natalia, I had the nervous stomach, but that was helped a little when I was publicly called out by Ian Sutton. Ian was announcing the race and said something to the effect of “watch out for Matt Miller and Nick Mashburn, because they’re sandbagging.” I laughed it off, but knew I had a shot at a pretty good result. And I also already knew who my competition was.
Matt Miller (GoVegan) took this opportunity to talk some trash and then the whistle blew. I remember a young CLNoonan taking the holeshot with me on his wheel. He imploded as we crossed the finish line. I had started to open a gap on the field as we passed the team’s tent and felt great.
This is when I started to think I could open a large gap early and stay away. I heard intense screams of excitement as I was actually winning the race! Only to hit the muddy, slippery-wet deck in the turn before the barriers. I think I only knew I was on the ground because the excited crowd went silent.
(photo by Geoff Martin [beastgp])
Apparently this was a sign of things to come for the rest of the Cat 4 field in this same corner.
After a quick recovery, I realized my chain had come off. Crap! I frantically put it back on in time to see one rider pass me. It was Matt Miller. Of course. He was riding strong and smart, but karma was about to get him back for overtaking me when I was fooling with my chain.
Moments later his pedal was giving him trouble so I attacked. The attack put me slightly into the red. A half lap later he had managed to catch back up to me and counter. I was actually passed by another rider as well for a brief second until I realized that I was sliding.
I maneuvered back into second place and tried to pursue Matt to take back the win, but his gap was growing. On switch backs I pleaded with him to slowdown. He responded by heckling me. Honestly, if you’re winning a race by 15 seconds and heckling your competition, you’re sandbagging. There, I said it.
In the end I held onto second, which earned me a delicious Ommegang for post race recovery. Quad Cross is such an awesome race. I wish there were more local races like it.
