Northfield, Massachusetts

We woke up to a nice and chilly morning...sunny but chilly. Mike received a phone call from an old "racing" friend from Minnesota (he was driving to a Wisport race in Wisconsin), and it got Mike thinking. So he hopped online and walked out of our home office. "Hey---How far was it to Fitchburg?" I said, by car it was about an hour away. "Well, there is a season opener near Fitchburg at 2:30---wanna go?"

He should just say, "we're going!" --he's not really asking....but I did want to go. So in 15 minutes flat, we had sandwiches made, water bottles filled, the cross bike loaded onto the roof of the car, and the Scrapper's bags packed and we headed towards Fitchburg. The thing is, it was an hour West and North of Fitchburg (i.e 2 hours away...not 1). "Well it looked close on the map he said, when I asked". Yeah right.

Anyway--Northfield Cross season opener. The Men's Pro race had plenty of local talent, including Matt White and Jos (Fiordi Fruitti) and Adam Hodges-Meyerson (Nerac) plus a couple of Alan guys...as well as a larger than anticipated local field of guys. The course? A power rider's course---it was either up or down with a big steep run-up. The park was a ski park during the winter and registration was in the ski-lodge. NorEast racing is pretty well organized.

The Scrapper and I went exploring through the wildflowers and woods, while Mike warmed up. We situated ourselves near the pit and the run-up as there were several places to view the race from this vantage point. The first time through and my beloved was second to last coming up the run-up! And looked to be suffering. This could be a long day.

I can see all the faces of you all. Taylor? Second to last? I mean there were some good guys there...but really. No worries. By the third lap he had passed all the "yahoo's" who were in front of him and was top 10 for the next 45 minutes while Hodges-Meyerson, White, Jos and an Alan rider drilled it on the front. Jos then flatted and lost his position. And then Mike passed some more guys and had worked his way to 7th place.

Mike suffered up the run up for the last time and I counted only 5 guys in front of him! "T! You are 6th!" He said "What?" I said "you are 6th!!!" He smiled and hammered his way to the finish...

Now that's what I'm talking about!!