My anticipation for Providence was high, as it would be for any cyclist traveling across the country for a weekend of bicycles and racing. Though the Outdoor Demo was primarily for work I took the leisure of shipping out the Ridley for the double cross weekend. I arrived on a wicked windy Wednesday. The kind of day where your throat is in your stomach because the plane is getting thrashed around so severely it feels like you're on a roller coaster.
The following morning I met the Downeast crew (along with some folks from Michelin and Pam from Kinetic) for breakfast and headed to Roger Williams Park. The first two days of the demo were industy/shop only. Traffic was light and rain on Friday night seemed to drag it out even more. Regardless, the course opened up around 5 p.m. and Mike D. from Downeast, Kurt Johnson from Cycleloft and myself were able to get out and preride the freshly saturated course.
To say the least I was impressed with the layout of the course and was informed that it was a mild interpretation of the 2006 Cyclocross Nationals.
Day One I had an OK start. There were quite a few riders in the field. Coming up the first stair runup and onto the road I was forced to ride the pothole infested gutter. I hit one of the sink holes pretty hard and just hoped I didn't flat. Into the first turn off of the road my rear tire was just that...flat. I was about the farthest away from the pit that you could be so I ran the majority of the natural half pipe finding myself in last place before entering the pit. I had no support and since I flew to Rhode Island it was hard enough to get one bike out there. I immediately hit Mavic neutral support and within seconds had a fresh clincher on the back. I was pretty demoralized and considered dropping out but figured it would be a good workout so started climbing back into position. I gained considerable time and before I knew it the UCI official was ringing the bell for the final lap. I gave it one last push and out sprinted another rider for 32nd place. It was a phenomenal placing but considering the circumstances I was pretty happy.
Day Two was no different regarding mechanicals. My rear wheel was toast but Ridley lent me a clincher to use for the day. I had a decent start and was sitting within the top-20 when on the final lap I realized my crank bolt was hanging on to the last thread. I quickly ducked in to the pit and again hit Mavic only to be told that a 10mm wrench was nowhere to be found. I finger tightened the bolt, put the extracting nut into my mouth and carried on. Knowing I had a mechanical I was cracking mentally and within two minutes from finishing my crank arm wiggled and I pulled to the side. I was done, finished.
I wasn't terribly impressed with the racing but mechanicals happen and are soon forgotten about after the season goes on.
I had never raced in New England before but the scene was good. The competition was stiff and the course layout was excellent.
