Beacon Cross race report

It's that time of the week again. Race report time. Last weekend took me to south Jersey for the Beacon cross and its infamous beach run and "amphitheater of pain" run-up. The course was not technical at all - in fact I ran too little pressure in my tires and probably could have picked up some more speed with an extra 5psi or so. The winner averaged almost 16mph - flippin' fast for a 'cross race.

I got a good call-up at the grid by way of my early bikereg.com placing. However it was short lived when I was caught up in the first big crash. I got tossed off the bike through the tape while my bike lay in the middle of the course. Getting back to it proved to be like trying to get across route 95 at 5pm without getting hit. Didn't lose to many spots and so began the chase.

Two things beacon is known for is its UCI limit 80m beach run (more like a jog) and the "amphitheater of pain" run-up. The run-up is a brutally hard two story tall through the park amphitheater. Not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Being a strong runner this provided me with a great place to make up some time on my rivals.

The race flew by without much incident after my initial crash. The last time through the amphitheater (which was only a short distance from the finish) I saw a guy at the top as I was about half way up. Even though I didn't think I could catch him decided to sprint all out on the 200m uphill finish straight. Thinking he was alone, he didn't start his sprint until 100m were left. By this point I was going all out. Throwing our bikes at the line I beat him by about a 1/4 of a wheel length (I wish I could see the finish line photo) - 10m less I don't have enough road and 10m more and I'm out of gas.

Overall I finished 41st out of about 75 guys. While not the same results last year I'm staying consistently in the top half of the field and learning a ton each week. This coming Saturday takes me to Fair Hill MD for round 9 of the MAC series. Then it's a well deserved weekend off before starting the last third of the season including States, the Portland USGP, and Nationals in Bend OR.

Thanks for reading
Captain Crunch