The Race to the Race

photo by Jacob Kravitz

I pretty much retire every cross season. I have been retiring and "un-retiring" for about 10 years. The first year we moved back home from Norcal I raced. That was a pretty good season for me. But the last ten? Yeah its been a beautiful hot mess. I might have had one good year in there probably about five years ago. But there are a few races that I just refuse to miss. I am in full dad mode right now. Having two teenage daughters keeps you busy. I will never be one of those parents who goes full whacko and thinks their beer league softball is more important than the kids formative years. So sacrifices are made. But I won't lie. I like hanging out with my family. We do a lot of cool stuff. It is never boring I will say that. So barring some legit family activity like Comic-Con or a hockey game I will get to those ten or so CX races a season. And the Zank SSCX races take top billing in that department. 

photo by Jacob Kravitz

I am what you would call a SSCX specialist. It fits very well into my CXenduro lifestyle. Honestly I don't think I have raced cyclocross with more than one gear in about two years. Maybe three. It isn't like I am anti-gears or anything. I just like racing SSCX. Certainly Heckle Hill at Cheshire made me question this lifestyle choice but running up Heckle Hill gives you more chances to get hugged by a drunk snowman or grab some dollar bills. Speaking of Heckle Hill and Cheshire it is one of those races I just try my best to never miss. It is that rad. Heckle Hill is one of the best run up/ride ups in New England. The Hill People bring it. Full costumes, hand ups, noise, full party mode. But what is even more awesome than all the chaos is they do it right. As Pete said after the race it is very civilized. It is all positive. And in the perfect spirit of the #NECX.

photo by Jacob Kravitz

So when I saw the schedule it got a huge red star on the calendar. Our sports schedule this time of year is relentless. Hockey is like a full time job of shuttling kids around, watching games at rinks and then digging out after the game. Takes up the entire weekend most weekends. But the schedule seemed doable. Syd's game was in Brighton at a reasonably early time. Cheshire is really only 2 hours away. So I got Syd to the rink and was ready to do the drop and go. Then the coach wanted me to fill water bottles. Then run the line up to the other coach. Then she asked me to be on the bench. FULL STOP.....I love hockey. I love that Syd plays. I am so proud of her. It is in my opinion the toughest sport to be good at on the planet. Especially when you only started skating two years ago. So I support her anyway I can. And I won't lie being on the bench during the game was so rad. I got the defensive responsibilities. Its really only opening and closing a door and making sure the D sub out and are fresh. Maybe a bit of advice here or there and reminding them to drink water. But anyone can do it obviously. It was the highlight of my day to say the least. But put me about 2 hours behind schedule. 

photo by Jacob Kravitz

Walking out on the ice in tennis sneakers was a bit sketchier than anticipated I actually was worried I might slip and kill myself. But thankfully the hockey gods were watching out for me. So I hop in the car and then get home and throw all the things in the van. Then haul ass to CT. It was tight. I knew it would be but man I do not usually feel ok with this little window. I basically just let myself accept that if I missed the start I would just run around and cheer everyone and still have a blast. I got there at 3. Race started at 3:45. I got my number, kitted up and headed to staging. No warm up. No pre-ride. No fiddling with the bike. Oddly it made the whole thing more relaxed. I mean at this point I had so many excuses for sucking in my back pocket it really didn't matter how the race went. My only real goal was to shred the roller coaster section and have fun on Heckle Hill.

photo by Jacob Kravitz

There are a lot of reasons I love Cheshire. Number one is the course. I think it is my favorite course in New England. It really has a bit of everything. Starts and finishes on a grass field. Has some nice off camber grass bits. It has a legit sand pit. Frankly all races need sand pits. It has the roller coasters and it has Heckle Hill. Basically the idea is get rad for the 3/4 of the course then survive HH. Then recover then get rad. Rinse and repeat. The second reason I love it is I get to see all my CT friends. I have so many rad friends from CT. CT has some of the best CX races out there. Reason three is Hunter and his crew. They just make the race so much fun. You feel welcomed. The race is really well done. Ok the drunk announcer is rad. I don't know if he was actually drunk. He may just have been really naturally funny. But he was on fire. 

photo by Jacob Kravitz

My favorite in race heckle from an announcer in a long time was when I was coming through the sand pit and Colin yells to me "CHIP, I GOT THE STUFF!!" You can imagine the heckles. Its like Colin and I just did a CX parking lot drug deal. We didn't. Or did we? For all the above excuses I oddly had one of my better races on the SSCX at Cheshire. Not sure why but I felt good. All of the photos in the post are from Jacob Kravitz. He really captured the essence of the race and Heckle Hill. It was so good seeing everyone and like every SSCX race in the series we all hung out after and drank beer and talked story. The series is so awesome. We are in the final sprint to the finish to the Danger Zone at Ice Weasels. Rumors of some cool new features. The Quest for the Vest is heating up. I don't think we have had such a close race before. But Bob Stine and Pete Smith are in a battle for the overall. The two of them have been so great for the series. Competition only makes racing better. And those two race with pure heart and class. Proud to call them both friends. On the women's side Mellisa has utterly smashed it. Love how much radness and fun she brings to the races. It has been so awesome having her lead the charge and making the women's races so rad. 

We have four more races. A double VT weekend this weekend, then Secret Squirrel and then Ice Weasels. Come out and join us. Don't miss out on all the fun. HUGE thanks to Jacob for letting me use his photos!