Georgia ‘Cross #1: Macon, Thompson Factory Race

by Bob Kuhn

Note from Trish: This is Bob's first report for Southeastern Cycling.com. Bob races for the Gwinnett Touring Club (GTC) and is a cyclocross veteran. 

It was a hot day in Macon with temperatures reaching 88 degrees on the course. Very uncross-like and more reminiscent of a MTB race. In fact, that is where this tale begins…

The Protest
The Thompson folks are the fine makers of seatposts and stems and have a MTB course on their campus to try out these products. Much of this course was included on the cross circuit (different from last year) and included the dreaded “hurl hill” and down hill dismount, dip and long run-up. The last was the source of the protest by the masters racers. We decided to protest because the course was not perceived as being in line with USAC cross course guidelines. There were also a number of small kids racing yesterday and safety was an issue. Thompson decided to make the adjustment for the Masters cat., which was the original course from last year with the addition of “hurl hill”.

Hurl Hill and the Course

After making a sharp left into the woods and down a small single-track section, you immediately turned right onto an steeply off-camber dirt track and going downhill, had to dismount at the base of a very steep sand hill. There was no way to ride this so carrying the bike up the sand hill was needed. I did this hill 17 times and although I did not hurl, it took a toll each lap. 

The amended course produced about a 4 minute lap time and had a large field section with a double-pit access area and one triple barrier. It was bushhogged and was very bumpy going through there. There was also another wooded section with smooth track where you could really fly or recover. Lastly, there was a curb that led directly to a grassy stream crossing that cost many folks their back tire and for those who tried to jump the stream, they ended up with mud in their teeth. The course ended on a long paved section. 

The Races

The masters field had about 20 guys and all of the usual suspects were there (Tony Scott, Lamar Mauney, Mike Huckaby, etc) and the 30+ and 40+ were staggered by about 1 minute. The start was fast and Tony and another rider from Augusta went off the front. I was in about 5th wheel for the first 3 laps and had Mike in my sights. There was a big gap back to 6th so we were in the points. Bad luck seems to find me at Macon and I flatted (rear) and rode ½ the course around on the flat to the pit where I got my spare bike. I did 3 more laps and almost came around Mike when I got another flat, ending my masters race! Tony sat on the Augusta guy’s wheel and then destroyed him (as usual) for the win. The DNF for me hurt because points were 10 deep in the standings and this race counts 1.5 times the regular points.

I had one more shot at the Cat 3/4 race and when I registered, I was the 45th rider! The start would be crucial. We lined up and when the starting judge let us go, Blaine Foley (Genesis) crashed before clipping in. I was in front of him and got a great start, 3rd in line. We maintained this for another lap when Blaine came around the group at the first turn into the woods, hit a stump and crashed spectacularly over the handlebars. We increased the speed to get rid of more folks and coming around the next lap on the paved section the first 4 guys sat up. Knowing the woods were right around the tough corner, I rode past all of them into the lead. I held my lead for about 3 laps with Cleve Blackwell and a guy from GATech on my wheel. We had a big gap and Cleve eventually passed me after hurl hill and I never saw him again. The GATech guy followed him to close the gap and I thought that they would come back to me at some point (22 minutes into the race). Cleve never did and he won by over a minute. The GATech guy was getting bigger in my sights and he was running out of gas and kept looking over his shoulder at me. I got to within 20 yards of him but could not close the gap. Third place was fine after all of the bad luck earlier. Blaine meanwhile had battled back from his crash to come within 15 seconds of me at the finish (being 18, he can do stuff like that).

Riders of the day: Blaine Foley who, despite crashing twice, came all the way back within 15 seconds of third place! Rose Mauney, her bike is way bigger than she is (she’s 10, 11?) and she motored with the guys in the cat 5 race finishing strong.