Hartford Riverfront CX 50+ Cat 1-4
The Hartford Riverfront CX race was held on Saturday September 9th. It was another beautiful Southern New England day at the former Nation CX Championship venue. Although the course was on the same venue as the Nats it was a very different setup. The Hoffman heartbreak hill was still there but in a different location. The hill was steep, long run-up and provide the best place to max out your heart rate. I had a max heart rate of 180bpm and I am sure that’s where it happened. Once you reached the top of the you rode across the top of the dike into 2 off camber sections, back down the dike into an off camber chicane with a hard 90° left hand turn at the bottom of the dike with a little mud in the turn from the rain that fell over night. Next up was a wooded section with a double set of barriers. One was in the middle of a very fast section which opened onto a field. The south end of course was flat with a sand pit and an off camber section. All in all, I really like the venue but must admit I like the previous 2 courses more. Not being a fan of running, the previous courses had rideable sections going up the dike which I prefer.
The 50+ race had 3 Expo boys lining up, Gary Aspnes (9th place finish) myself (10th place) and Joe Candeias (21st place) out 30 guys. Our race went off without any crashes that I saw. The only real miscue was there were no lap cards and no one knew when the last lap was. That’s cross…..
