I'm starting this thread for some of the most awesome races on the cross circuit. A few of us are going to be competing this weekend in Gloucester, MA and/or next weekend in Providence, RI, so I wanted to have a thread started for the ass-kicking race reports that are sure to come.

I know travel can be rough on many of your budgets and family lives, but if you can plan an "away" trip next year, it's hard to imagine a better cross experience than either of these two races. Kissena's Ben Reid says, "It's like Christmas, I can't miss Gloucester."

Not only am I looking forward to racing, but I'm really looking forward to watching the pros rip it up. Tim Johnson, Jeremy Powers, Bazin, Myerson, Mark McCormack. Watching those guys race is going to be like going to a master-class in crossing. Where will I watch from? Perhaps I will climb to the top of the most enormous boulder (or smallest mountain) you have ever seen where you can see virtually the entire course from on high. Or maybe I'll camp out in some spots that gave me troubles and see how the pros handle their business...probably both.

Anyway, forgive me for getting a little excited about the racing coming up in these next few weeks...it's kind of like my "Battenkill."

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/31288606" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe> <p><a href="https://player.vimeo.com/video/31288606">Gran Prix of Gloucester 2011</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/marklovett">Mark Lovett</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Gloucester was my first legit cross race in 2010. It was awesome. I still think it is the best race I've ever been to.

The only downside was the ridiculous travel time (tons of traffic getting out there) and the fact that the town we stayed in was a dry town. Good thing I loaded up at the Great Brewers tent.

Gloucester is awesome...last year Sarah and I found a rockin' breakfast joint. Looking forward to so many things about this weekend. (Camping in the rain, not so much if I'm honest)

Crossresults has posted the start lists for this weekend. As near as I can tell, it's myself, Ben Reid and Keith Snyder racing this weekend.

SATURDAY
Cat 4 35+
Row 1: Marc Bertucco (yeah, boyee!)
Row 6: Ben Reid (not as bad as it sounds...there are 16 rows! Kill it Ben with your new Steven's carbon cross bike that weighs 7lbs less than my road bike)

SUNDAY
Cat 4 35+
Row 7: Ben Reid

Cat 4
Row 2: Marc Bertucco (I blame the "cat 4" junior who places in elite races and has UCI points but is magically a "cat 4" this weekend)
Row 16: Keith Snyder

Okay, so here are some good interviews with RIchard Fries, the promoter of Providence, and Adam Myerson. There's some good behind the scenes chatter about scheduling and what went into ensuring that this year's fields don't get split between diff't UCI weekends.

http://www.cyclingdirt.org/coverage/249756-2012-Midnight-Ride-Of-Cyclocross/video/656717-Richard-Fries-talks-about-the-upcoming-race-in-Providence

http://www.cyclingdirt.org/coverage/249756-2012-Midnight-Ride-Of-Cyclocross/video/656720-Adam-Myerson-to-race-at-pro-level-through-2013

Rainy, blowy, cold start to the cat 4 35+ race. Gorgeous seaside, bay views, extra off camber muddy ups and downs on the course. Despite my front row start position I fade quickly. New tires challenge clinchers felt good though. A couple of technical mistakes, but mostly I was off the breaks if for no other reason than my breaks didn't really work all that well. "dear lord, please don't let me hit that tree!" (Ragot would have been proud of me no breaking many tough sections. Unfortunately, I could only manage 28th place out of 110 starters. I'm very very disappointed...in this weeks kissena hot list, I'm going to be dropping like a big heavy stone. Ben Reid continues to rock it and took a seventh row starting position and turned it into 50th place. Found a great breakfast diner that had pancakes bigger than my ginormous head. Homemade corn beef hash was deelish. Expo area has craft brewery with 9 different suds. Naturally the beer tent right next to a run up. Playground for the kiddies right next to the course. Pro men and women warming up now. Trebon is 15 feet tall. Tim Johnson is not. All the big names are here...well I haven't seen Jonathan Page yet. Saw the Big Mat Frenchies. Chabanov rode by chatting it up with the New England elites. Big test for him. Top 20 or better would be a phenomenal result with the caliber of this field. Kissena friend Rip Van Winkle on Hudson won the Cat 3s by like 30 seconds.

Marc, 28th is nothing to be disappointed with! Sounds like a tough field. I'm a big fan of Van Winkle I'll have to congratulate him next time I see him that's a big result. 

Day 2 of Gloucester, was literally, more of the same...plus some other stuff. The course had kept all of day 1's tricky bits, including a short, steep muddy run-up, the mud-slide of doom (where dudes bounced and slid like pinballs from knarly roots to slippery rocks and back again) and added, more tricky bits.

The morning's first race, the Cat 4 (regular edition) featured myself and Keith Snyder at opposite ends of the starting grid. Keith hasn't raced much (any?) cross before and as such, no crossresults points to get him further than 2nd row from the back. I was on the front row again and had hopes that yesterday's slaughter-fest would have opened up my legs for a good performance on Sunday. No go. I was worse. 37th.

Keith on the other hand, quietly, maybe had the performance of the day finishing in 50th place. You wouldn't know it if you talked to him about the race, but you can't really argue with starting 100 guys back and finishing in 50th--on that course, on that day. He reports that he's been working with Dan Chabanov on bike handling...now if he only got actual cross gearing on his rig...

Another strong performance for Ben Reid, racing the Cat 4s Old Guy Edition. The rain continued and so did the pain. No one finished this race with anything but "beat-down" smeared all over their faces. Reid beat his crossresults.com predicted finish by 6 or 7 spots with a 40th place finish.

In the end, despite the weather, despite mud, and despite my "awesome" race performances, I'm particularly pleased that, thanks to a fully outfitted Pedros cleaning tent complete with brushes and green fizzy cleaner, bike racks, and hoses, I have a SPARKLINGLY clean cross bike. It's so clean, I think I'm going to hang up the bike and wait for next year.

Or next weekend, when the traveling circus of awesomeness comes to Providence RI for a Richard Fries organized pair of C1/C2 slug fests feature the same cast of characters, mostly, from this past weekend. And if you are coming to race, do your race and just leave without watching Trebon, Powers, Berden, Johnson and all do their thing you are CRAZY and missing out on great learning opportunities.

Johnson is getting sick of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place finishes...he's going to tear it up. Honey Badger too...I'm rooting for the guy. Kind of awesome last year, kind of barely "meh" this year. He's like the pro version of me. Go Badgers!

Okay kiddos...more Kissena's racing the finale of NEHW, so I expect to see more chatter here. Sarah and I are taking our traveling circus up to Providence tomorrow on the early side so that I can get to the course and pre-ride that bad boy.

On Saturday and Sunday we've got Derek Chiles starting the Cat 4s Young Whipper Snapper division, with crossresults predicting a 16th place finish. In the Cat 4 Old Man River division, we're loaded up with myself, Joaquin and Ben.

Also, in the Cat 3s, Perlberg and Reiners will be killing it both days.

Looking forward to cheering y'all on. Good luck you Holy Mudders!

Is this Perlberg's first race of the year?! 

@josephmueller - yep, same for dan. expect vomit...

I'm not prereged but I'll see you guys in the old guy cat 4 on Sunday.

I'm excited. Took the new bike out in the rain yesterday and it feels great.

Sarah and I just got back from dinner...found a place featured on diners, dives and drive-ins...yummy. Before that I spent some time pre riding the course. It's going to be challenging, moreso if the grass is wet. Lots of off camber. Also, lots of severe drops and climbs. Enough to give your tummy a twirl, like when you ride a roller coaster. The flyover is new this year and the were still painting it, so I didn't get to ride it. But it's a ride up, ride down situation. In short this course is going to take good power and balls of steel. Good luck gents. See you tomorrow.

Also, if you want to watch the fun from your computer, cyclingdirt.org is broadcasting it live. Also, if you family men need some ammo to convince your better halves to come out next year, this race takes place in an enormous park, that not only has playgrounds, but there is a zoo, an antique, working carousel very close to the course, a casino, and last year, I kid you not, there were actual pony rides on real live breathing ponies. Oh and in the expo area there is a bouncy house. This venue has to be king of "other things to do" ...

You had me at "Pony Rides"

No pony rides today, but the zoo had something called "Snore and Roar" and if that has anything to do with snuggling with lions, I'm so there next year. Back on the race course, we had Derek Chiles lining up for the first race of the day. Cat 4s, young snot-nose punks edition. After, what sounds like a not very restful week, Derek reports that he just didn't have the pop you need to do as well as he would have liked. Still, 30th out of 91, is not too shabby at all. (FYI I am putting in paragraph breaks, but for some reason, they are not getting translated from iPod to final posting) In the second race of the day, cat 4s, old farts edition, we had 3 kissenas out to play. Myself, Joaquin and Ben. Ben got an absolutely brilliant start and despite him being in the 4th row, and me in the first he was quickly amongst the thick of it, in front of me chasing around 7th place. He started to fade a bit, and a close encounter between his stem and suprapubic region (medical speak for the space between your junk and your stomach) where he was pondering the meaning of life (it's CX dude, keep on riding!), saw him drop to 47th place. Despite a rather sloppy start, I found myself fighting for, chasing 10th or so place most of the race. Joaquin made a strong pass roughly midway through the race and found himself to be Kissena's top finisher with a very impressive 8th place. I spent the better part of that next lap trying to claw my way back to him, but it was a no-go. I got passed by a few more folks, and finished in 13th. Lucky me.... (get it?) In the cat 3s it was a Presidential battle with Perlberg and Reiners representing. The course was dry now, mud was tacking-up, but the pain was palpable. Perlberg finished in 85th out of 110 finishers. Reiners pulled himself from the action so his name doesn't appear in the results, but rest assured he was out there giving it his all. Well there was that one lap where he took a beer hand-up... More fun tomorrow! Congrats, you Town-Hallers, the next edition of the hot list is going to be a challenge...killer cat4s!

Back at home...very big news to report. On Day 2 of Providence, there were pony rides. Woot-woot! Pretty much the same cast of characters out to play. Dan Reiners wasn't able to race, but we had Jim Nelson making 4 of us in the Cat 4s 35+ edition.

First race of the day featured Derek "double-top-secret-traveler" Chiles in the Cat 4s young dudes. He reports feeling similar to day 1 and finished with a similar result. 37th.

Second race of the day included myself, Joaquin, Jim, and Ben. With the exception of Jim who started in the back row because of race-day registration, the rest of us where all within "fist bumping" distance during call-ups. The course was modified to include what Richard Fries called "The Black Hole" but I prefer to call it "Double half-pipe of Death." How deadly was this feature? Well, having stuck around in the rain to watch the pros, I see that they moved the tape to not force riders up top on the "shelf" portion of the half-pipe, rather they were able to go horizontal and swing back down without that extra level that wreaked havoc on our field.

I confess to not pre-riding the new course, rather spending my time on a stationary trainer to get the legs and lungs hot and bothered. And I paid for it. The first two laps, I was an absolute joke. Riding into tape, left and right. Sure the off camber mud stretches didn't help but still. Early on in the first lap, after I recovered somewhat from my first trip into blue Shimano "caution" tape (watching dozens of riders fly by as I untangled myself), I got back on my steed and hit the Double Half Pipe of Death and was back on track. Except some jamoke in front of Joaquin dumped it at the top, forcing him off his bike and I had no where to go but straight into the back of Joaquin. Then I had to run the half-pipe. Eventually, like 8 years later, I got back on my bike and started riding again. In the meantime, Ben Reid worked his way up close enough to heckle me as we were just a few turns apart for the better part of 2 laps.

The best heckle of the year, however, has to go to my wife, who shouted at me, "Speed up, they're letting people cross the road in front of you!" Ooooffff, too true. I always use the auditory cues of the "crossing guards" to help me judge how close or far my chasers are.

As the riders spread out, I found myself chasing Joaquin for the better part of 2 laps, but then he disappeared and the next time I saw him, he was standing in the pits, bent over in pain. It turns out that some douche-noggle, with one lap to go, saw him coming to make a pass on the inside of a climbing pavement section, and hooked him into the barriers. Hard. His helmet is toast, and he's got a nasty welt on the forehead, some road rash, but otherwise seems okay.

After two wasted laps of the race, I finally figured out the new lines on the new bits and spent the final two laps feeling more like myself, and less like a total beginner. In the end, I could only claw my way back to 24th. Ben Reid put in one of his best races of the year, to finish in 32nd and Jim Nelson, who started at the back of a 77 rider field, finished in 46th.

I didn't get to talk to Perlberg about his race, but he rode hard and finished in 94th place in the insanely competitive Cat 3 field.

Congrats again to all the strong performances at Town Hall!

Wow.  Sounds duly epic.  Really bummed to hear about Joaquin; I'm not sure I'd be able to keep my composure if I drove 5 hours for a 40 minute race only to have some s-head crash me out in pursuit of his amateur racing glory.  Hope you heal up soon.

This weekend was a humbling experience. I won't bore you all with the details but was pretty much the last guy to not get lapped both days. And Sunday I had to work to make sure that didn't happen.

Physically I'm not there. I can't keep the gas on when I used to be able to motor through. My back is crapping out. The new bike isn't fit correctly. I had a bunch of mechanical issues. I crashed a bunch. I can't hit the turns as well as I should be able to.

All that said, it is exactly what I expected to happen for my first weekend of racing on a new bike, just not in such an awesome fashion. I'm planning of a 1st week in December season finish so I still have plenty of racing to go.

I wish I had a similar race schedule to Mark, Joaquin, Derek and Ben so I could actually hang out drink and heckle a bit.

BTW: This race is really awesome. Great course. Tons of spectators. Great support and swag. Doit doit doit.

Even though getting pinched into the fence at high speed sucked (a lot), the weekend was still great. What a fantastic event. The course on day 2 was probably the best I've ridden yet. Still can't decide if the guy who crashed me did it on purpose, but if anyone had been paying attention, he would have been relegated for sure. My helmet saved me from both the fence and the pavement, and would probably make a good research specimen for the folks at Rudy now.

damn duder

@Joaquin - glad you didn't let that ruin your weekend. Did the other guy even know what he did?

Ya - we bumped pretty hard. I might have stayed up, but my bar got snagged by the metal fence/barrier. Then it was all tumbles, bashes and slides for me. Either way, he knew what was up. Blocking a passing rider is one thing, but pinching a passing rider into metal barriers is clearly a no no.

It happens. No real damage done. Looking forward to the next race.