Sep 27, 2013 at 12:51 PM
Eric, Sorry to hear about your situation. You go rock Beacon. It probably won't be as cold and miserable as two years ago...of course, you know, this time of year...you could get "lucky."
Westwood Velo Paolo Zenoni CX
Eric, Sorry to hear about your situation. You go rock Beacon. It probably won't be as cold and miserable as two years ago...of course, you know, this time of year...you could get "lucky."
Sep 27, 2013 at 01:18 PM
Beacon might be a good place to get your Elite podium look on...
Sep 27, 2013 at 03:47 PM
Elite? Nah, beat up on Masters?
Sep 29, 2013 at 01:35 PM
Patrick wins Cat 4 40+ Masters
Sep 29, 2013 at 01:53 PM
wahoo nice Pat!
Sep 29, 2013 at 04:58 PM
Patrick!!!! Sweet.
Sep 29, 2013 at 06:03 PM
Patrick looked great out there. Established a little gap with a few laps to go and drove it home hard to ensure nobody passed him. I wish I had a camera on me to get his victory fist in the air. Congrats.
I raced the cat 3 race with Joe and Todd. Todd got 6th, I got 7th. Joe had a mechanical that he couldn't fix. Real bummer since he had a really strong start. Being a great teammate, he worked the pit for me as soon as he realized he couldn't race. And he bought me a donut at Donut Plant - I'm driving this guy to every race from now on.
My report goes like this:
Awesome start, establish a gap with a group of 3 off the front. I'm in a little over my head but hanging tough. 1st place rides away. A guy bridges up to me and 2nd place, 2nd place attacks supper hard and we dispatch our new friend.
I'm feeling ok but wipe out hard on what should be an easy downhill. Totally had the wind knocked out of me. The next 3-4 laps I'm slowly fading until Todd catches me. We try hard to track down 5th place, and Todd misses nipping him on the line by 3-4 inches. I finish right on Todd's wheel but can't even attempt to get around him.
Fun hard day. I'm going to wake up sore in the morning.
Sep 30, 2013 at 12:41 AM
I've hated the Westwood CX race. My very first taste of cross was at Westwood's Anthony Wayne recreation center two years ago. It was a mud fest. Roger Aspholm had designed it to be super technical - even more so than today. I had no idea what I was getting into. For my first race I started in the last row and finish DFL. At least I didn't get lapped, but afterwards I visited my chiropractor so often that she was able to buy a new car. At the time, I considered selling the CX bike I had just bought on eBay a few weeks earlier, but fortunately gave it a second try at HPCX and was hooked. Fast forward to today's race. The weather was chilly but it had been beautiful for the past week which meant ZERO mud. The course was ruttier than I had remembered and there were several sections of longish wet grass that either slowed me down or got stuck on all the moving parts of my bike. I would have preferred mud.
I had a first row starting position for the 8:30 AM Cat 4 40+ field. I converted my nervous energy into a fast start and got the hole shot and established a clear lead on the deceptively hard "climb" following the start. I have a tendency to go too hard at the beginning of a race and wanted to avoid getting too excited and running out of steam to early. I focus on being smooth and fast. It was pretty cool to hear the announcer mention my name as I completed the first lap as well as getting shouts of encouragement from Mike, Joe and Todd. On the second or third lap (its all a blur) a Liberty Cycle guy was closing in on me and and I screwed up the dismount right before the stairs due to momentary inattention. Now he was right behind me. For the remainder of the lap he was right on my wheel. On the straightaway before the finishing straight he attacked and motored. I was happy to draft off him, but I felt gassed just holding his wheel.
The Liberty Cycles guy was definitely strong but I was unable to manage the technical stuff much more smoothly than he did (thanks Eric and Myles!). We took turns leading until the start of the last lap. This time when we got to the long straight away I took the lead keeping a high pace but holding a little back. When we got to that first climb he attacked hard and got a really good gap on me. I had less in my legs than I had hoped and thought for sure that I would be racing for second place. I wasn't going to give up and clawed my way back to his wheel. As we went over the barriers the last time he had a little trouble clipping back in. That second of hesitation was all I needed and I attacked and quickly got several bike lengths on him. I keep the pressure on and motored through the last technical section as fast as I could. Another rider had bridged up to the Liberty Cycles rider so now I had two guys chasing me. I gave the last straightway section everything I had and just prayed the chasers weren't right on my wheel. It's a well known fact that sprinters have more Type II fibers in their little pinkies than I do in my legs, so I did not want this to come to a sprint. I apparently held them off because I crossed the line with a clear lead. That was freaking awesome.
Watching Mike, Joe and Todd killing it during the B race was really cool to watch. Mike was looking like a shoe in for a podium spot until he took a spill on the downhill section and Joe had been top 5 before he had his mechanical. I left to meet my mother for lunch in Piermont and was planning to race the Cat 4 race during the afternoon. Two races on the same day may sound crazy, but I had raced FOUR races during the Supercross weekend last season, so why not? I'll tell you why not. I had been up late at a good friend's daughter's Bat Mitvah last night and by lunch time I was exhausted. So I decided to savor the win, relax and enjoy the Breaking Bad finale tonight. Overall it was a pretty damn good day.
I had a first row starting position for the 8:30 AM Cat 4 40+ field. I converted my nervous energy into a fast start and got the hole shot and established a clear lead on the deceptively hard "climb" following the start. I have a tendency to go too hard at the beginning of a race and wanted to avoid getting too excited and running out of steam to early. I focus on being smooth and fast. It was pretty cool to hear the announcer mention my name as I completed the first lap as well as getting shouts of encouragement from Mike, Joe and Todd. On the second or third lap (its all a blur) a Liberty Cycle guy was closing in on me and and I screwed up the dismount right before the stairs due to momentary inattention. Now he was right behind me. For the remainder of the lap he was right on my wheel. On the straightaway before the finishing straight he attacked and motored. I was happy to draft off him, but I felt gassed just holding his wheel.
The Liberty Cycles guy was definitely strong but I was unable to manage the technical stuff much more smoothly than he did (thanks Eric and Myles!). We took turns leading until the start of the last lap. This time when we got to the long straight away I took the lead keeping a high pace but holding a little back. When we got to that first climb he attacked hard and got a really good gap on me. I had less in my legs than I had hoped and thought for sure that I would be racing for second place. I wasn't going to give up and clawed my way back to his wheel. As we went over the barriers the last time he had a little trouble clipping back in. That second of hesitation was all I needed and I attacked and quickly got several bike lengths on him. I keep the pressure on and motored through the last technical section as fast as I could. Another rider had bridged up to the Liberty Cycles rider so now I had two guys chasing me. I gave the last straightway section everything I had and just prayed the chasers weren't right on my wheel. It's a well known fact that sprinters have more Type II fibers in their little pinkies than I do in my legs, so I did not want this to come to a sprint. I apparently held them off because I crossed the line with a clear lead. That was freaking awesome.
Watching Mike, Joe and Todd killing it during the B race was really cool to watch. Mike was looking like a shoe in for a podium spot until he took a spill on the downhill section and Joe had been top 5 before he had his mechanical. I left to meet my mother for lunch in Piermont and was planning to race the Cat 4 race during the afternoon. Two races on the same day may sound crazy, but I had raced FOUR races during the Supercross weekend last season, so why not? I'll tell you why not. I had been up late at a good friend's daughter's Bat Mitvah last night and by lunch time I was exhausted. So I decided to savor the win, relax and enjoy the Breaking Bad finale tonight. Overall it was a pretty damn good day.
Sep 30, 2013 at 12:55 AM
So awesome to read! A well deserved victory Patrick, you've been circling that top step like a shark for so e time now.
Tell us about the victory salute; was it the "Dracula" Horner style or the one fingered JPow special or perhaps something never before seen...?
Tell us about the victory salute; was it the "Dracula" Horner style or the one fingered JPow special or perhaps something never before seen...?
Sep 30, 2013 at 12:56 PM
I called it before the race started. Well done my friend. I agree with Jules, you have been working and waiting patiently for this. Well deserved!!
Sep 30, 2013 at 03:11 PM
HUGE congratulations Patrick! Is that your first CX win?
Sep 30, 2013 at 03:25 PM
Professional pics from Westwood are up.
Here are a few links. I also took pics of the B race and will post and or send them to Mike, Todd and Joe when I get a chance to look through them.
David and Rick -
The win -
Todd on the barriers-
Joe impersonating Tony Martin -
Mike cornering -
Sep 30, 2013 at 03:26 PM
Sep 30, 2013 at 03:48 PM
NICE!! I sure hope you're basking in that this week. Seems like you've been knocking on the door for the last couple seasons. Hard-earned and well deserved.
Oct 04, 2013 at 02:19 AM
I posted some shots of Mike and Todd in the B race. Got some pics of Mike's crash... sorry, no good pics of Joe :-(
Shots are here: https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A35oqs3qn2oup
Sep 08, 2014 at 05:35 PM
Who's in for this one? Just registered since there's only 11 in the 5 field so far, and starting 12th sounds far better than my 96th place start at Nittany.