Been a long time since we have had a team east coast trip for a UCI race. We had three racers going - Max Judelson, Andrew Wulfkhule and myself-we were also joined by Clemetine Nixon who is no longer racing but was working in the pit and really adding to the upbeat mood of the short trip ro Washington , DC. The Saturday race , the Pan Am games is not a well publicized event on the national calendar but it carries a lot of prestige as the racers can come from all the americas-Canadians, Mexicans, Costa Ricans -these were some of the nationalities at the event in addition to the USA riders.
Fields were not as large as one would expect at an event like this but it is cyclocross and the sport has been having a tough time with participation numbers in most parts of the country. That said, some of the fields were pretty large and the quality of riders did not disappoint. In the master's 45-49 race Adrew Wulfkhule looked to be starting well until a crash in a corner delayed him . He had to ride quite a distance with a damaged bike as the crash happened just yards past the pit entrance. In the masters 40-44 race Max Judelson had an unclip at the start and things looked a little grim but he quickly got back to the front and took control of the race and won the jersey -a very big day for Max and the team.
In the masters 70-74 field there were only 7 riders but three of them were past national champions so just finishing on the same lap was my goal and I took 5th . After the morning races we went out to a great lunch spot and celebrated Max's win.
Sunday the race became more of a locals event even though it was still a UCI Cat 2 race and carried valuable points. My race was the first and my field was only 2 riders as the other 70+ riders had probably had enough with the Saturday race. I knew I could not keep up with the winner Paul Curley as he had wone many nationals over the last 40+ years but I did my best to stay as close as I could and got 2nd- a silver medal and a lb. of coffee for my wife !
Max and Andy were racing the last race of the day this time, not age group but the elite race with over 40 of the best riders in the country . Both of them had to start from the very back of the field and it was very difficult to move up with all the traffic. Max managed to pass half the field and wound up 19th. Andy passed a good number of riders and finished 30th. Both of them rode strongly and showed good form ahead of the upcoming nationals.
Taylor ( who was the race organizer ) and Julie were our hosts in Hyattesville ,Md. Not far from the course. We were comfortable and well taken care of. Taylor has quite a bike collection including four of mine. One bike is the old race bike of former team rider Andrew Juiliano- if that bike could talk about the places it has been...
I had heard about DCCX for many years but had never been. This trip definitely made me happy that I finally made the effort to come and the unique group of our team and hosts made for a memorable time for sure.
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