Expo Rider visits New Jersey for the CXMeur!
Race Report
By Rich Allen
CXMeur Recap, Newfoundland, NJ
While most of the Expo CX crew headed to Northampton, MA I was forced to head south to New Jersey. Really???, NJ?….After having just purchased a USAC license for the first time since 1987, I missed the preregistration for Northampton. Don’t worry - Newfoundland, NJ is far from Secaucus. It was actually a beautiful area with some really nice topography, cool undulating countryside in a very rural setting, great for road riding or mtnbiking by the looks of what I saw.
The morning of the race was classic CX weather, 41° and light rain. Sandol and I pulled in with just enough time to get a good warm up on the rollers and a brief look at the course. CXMeur is the 7th race of the NJBA CX series. The racers were lined up by the NJBA series overall standings which meant I was relegated to the back of the pack of twenty-four racers. I had a pretty good start and was able to move up quickly and by the end of the first lap things were sorted out from my location in the shattered and strung-out pack. At that point the 3 leaders were gone. I had 2 guys in front of me, 8th & 9th place. I actually passed the guy in 9th for a bit but he took it back on the second half of the course. On the last lap I caught him but made a mistake in the greasy mud on one of the slick corners and had to put a foot down. I didn’t completely stop but a gap formed that I couldn’t close. It’s always interesting to see how different riders handle sections of the course. I felt like the 1st half of the course suited me a little better and he was better at the second half of the course. So my mistake was untimely and he capitalized on it. I came in 10th out of the 24 racers – or 2nd in the age 55 and over class. All in all, it was a good day for a CX race.
