(can't believe this iconic race doesn't have it's own thread yet)

Repeated yesterday by flaying out of the top 3. Goodbye clinchers. Thanks to Jim, Marc, Harry and David for their help.

This discussion was created from comments split from: Cyclocross!.

Results, bros & sis'

I got 9th today in the 3/4 race in Hartford. Was sitting in 6th for most of the race but faded a bit midway. Overtook a guy last lap for 9th.

There was a very steep hill in there I ride everytime. Also, front row starts are very important. Everyone from 1-10 was within 30 seconds if each other. Gaps at the start more or less held all race. I could still see the winner on the final lap when it opened up. Anyway, fine race. A flat grass crit mostly. Happy with my result. I figure I would've top 10 or top 15'd yesterday's B race too if my bike didn't blow up.

Sorry this goes in the cx thread not granouge.

It's my fault Craig, I probably split the thread after you began your post

Nice result jules!! Joe, bummer to hear.

Thanks Mike.  There is no room at Holy Week for me if I upgrade so I guess I have to stop racing now for fear of getting forced?

Joe knew something was amiss when he arrived...

Granogue lived up to its reputation. 

David Stokes was actually 4th in his category. Long after most everyone when home and the Elites were racing to only a few cheering fans, I spent some time going over the results sheet. So that's one I remember specifically.

If memory serves in the B race, Konrad was the top KCC rider in 10th, Joaquin a few behind him, then Patrick in 31st or so. Then came Dale (can't remember the placing) and finally Nelson.

Random question...Jules were you interviewed after your race by the announcer? Because I heard someone refer to me as "Hotlist" but I'm not sure it was you.

Yeah that was me. Announcer thought I was third for a while; he asked if I had a teammate working with me and I couldn't resist

Hey Hotlist & Jules,

I could accept if one of you guys forgot about me being at Granogue, but both?  Was my placing that shameful that you all have attempted to forget about my presence?

Sorry Dan! I blame the mud. #alwaysblamethemud

@Dan. Tell us your story. Everybody has a story when it comes to 'cross.
If nothing else, I certainly remember to double Vienna style lager you were sharing with us.

Actually, Dan might get the hardman award for the day...I could feel my own ribs cracking for him as he charged up the steep run-up lap after lap after lap!

I blame trying to type up stuff while dead tired and watching the Bears suck but still somehow win their season opener!

Marc Bertucco said:

Actually, Dan might get the hardman award for the day...I could feel my own ribs cracking for him as he charged up the steep run-up lap after lap after lap!

I blame trying to type up stuff while dead tired and watching the Bears suck but still somehow win their season opener!

Also, Hotlist takes exception...he never engages in such sloppy report. Bertucco on the other hand is a hack.

Jules said:

Yeah that was me. Announcer thought I was third for a while; he asked if I had a teammate working with me and I couldn't resist

So this is an interesting thing...and since Jules and I have a few more races together, perhaps worth an open discussion about team tactics. In our race, I was second wheel going into the hole shot and was pretty comfortable with that position. The dude who won it looked like some little wind-up toy on speed and I was pretty sure he was going to blow/suck somewhere, so I wasn't concerned about him.

At the top of the hill, around the tower, and down the off-camber backside, Jules comes around both of us and gets a nice fast line opening up a real gap. We joked about the corn field during warm-up laps and I could hear Jules bellow out "CORN!" in the distance. Made me chuckle.

Then we were one and two for the next 1/3 of the lap. He's definitely got a gap on me, and I've got, as always, dudes breathing down my neck. I keep on the gas until we round the big bend and go from blinding light (even with my KCC cap in place, it was no match for the angle of the sun...oh geometry how you battle me to this day) to the pitch black of the forest mud dive section (one of the many joys of racing at 8am). Approaching this section I was thinking about how Jules made life rougher for some of my chasers at Nittany and this seemed like an ideal place to return the favor. Really hard/crazy to pass in this stretch.

And so I backed off the throttle and got shouted at a bunch. This also made me chuckle. However, as soon as we re-emerged into daylight guys were charging past me and I was never to see Jules and the podium again.

Part of that is just, if there is a kind of cross course for me, Granogue is pretty much the opposite of that, but part of it, in retrospect, is that I wonder if, by attempting to be cool and pro-like, I kind of stalled out my motor a bit and struggled to get back in the game?

One mistake I made in Saturday's race, was not being aggressive enough in the hole shot, leaving me to work through too many riders to get to the thick of the real race. On Sunday, I nailed the hole shot and the opening lap was going well...until I tried to be clever and teammatey.

And so part of me wonders if I/we would have been better off, staying full on the gas, attempting to get up Jules' wheel, no matter who was on mine, then once there, try to work with Jules taking turns attacking the front. Instead, I feel like I slowed myself up, and a few dudes for like 1/2 a second, they got around me pronto, and I stayed slow. Helping neither myself nor Jules in the end.

Coming into Gloucester Jules is on the front row and I'm on the third, and so unless I get a brilliant and lucky start, all this may be moot, but worth pondering anyway.

P.S. Ragot, if you are listening, and the Cat 1 Mountain biker who wanted to race cat 3s and instead was forced to ride cat 4s and went on to win Beacon by 45 seconds in his first ever cross race followed up by starting like 6th row at Nittany and finishing 2nd on a challenging technical course writes to get his upgrade? Give it to him. Please.

Marc, I appreciate the tactics but unless it's a truly single file event (or one of the crazy downhill hairpin into a set of stairs like we see at Holy Week) where you can jam the whole field it's probably worth it to get up to the front and take turns attacking/pressuring first place. Joacquin and I did that last year to good effect - riding 2nd, 3rd or fourth place made the guy(s) on he front have to deal with relentless attacks. When you fall back it costs you too much to move up again, but if you're right in the wheels... Worth a thought. As I reflect on the race I really did blow my motor a little too early, but it's so damn hard to find that balance between letting the pointy end ride away and going bananas and being a part of it... There is so much to improve on.

@Marc and @Jules

Cat 4/5 is a highway populated by perennial "last half" racers and Cat 2+'s blasting on through.

@eragot--What category should I be in cross? I almost didn't get to race cause my license says I'm a CX 5 and the race had already passed, but the Chief Official let me do the 2/3/4 without officially declaring a category.  My understanding is that I could declare myself a 1 due to my road license, but then I would get my ass kicked several times over.  Do I have to work my way up from 5 or 4 through the categories or do I have reciprocity to Cat 4 or 3?  Thanks.  

I agree with Mike here. Cross is so damn competitive here in the Mid-Atlantic/New England regions that it makes a lot of sense to get your feet wet in the lower categories. If you start as a 4, then, as Mike says you'll be able to race the MAC series 2/3/4 races, taking advantage of later start times, or if you are feeling fit and double pumped to race closer to the front of your field then you can set your alarm early and race the cat 4/5s.

You've got a ton of experience, but I do find it really worthwhile to experience racing at the front of your field, and if you go straight to cat 3, it will be longer before that happens.

Also if you get upgraded to cat 3 and decide to race in an Verge New England races (like Northampton), then you are stuck getting your head kicked in in one of the toughest categories around (albeit at a really pleasant part of the day). The New England fields are generally a notch above the MAC series races. Granogue is kind of an outlyer because of it's history and course, but the New Jersey Cup races and other smaller "tri-state" area events are generally the least competitive.

Also, just noticed, how come I don't see you in the results at Granogue? I know I watched you race and finish.

I love how we all just went from complaining about "too strong" guys in the 4's to encouraging Dale to start as a 4...

Maybe some of @Marc cyclocross posts pepper ways to excuse his own sandbagging.