November 16, 2004 - Hamblen Wins Again

Hamblen Wins Crossing the Creek, Burlington NC Cyclocross Series, November 14th

The coldest race of the NC Series so far, with temperatures in the low 50's! Riders were bundled up for the cold at the start of the Burlington race, organized by NC's favorite USCF Official, Chips Chapman. From the gun Charlie Storm (Fuji) and Jon Hamblen jumped hard to form their lead group. Through the second of a set of three bobbins on a hillside Charlie bobbled and nearly went over the bars, this gave Hamblen the lead by 5 seconds for the first two laps.

Meanwhile just behind them a big crash took out several riders, including Andy Applegate (Kona-Cane Creek), who would have figured into the competition more had there been a clean first lap. Storm rode hard to bridge up and immediately pass Hamblen in the woods on lap three, taking the lead and slowing the pace to apparently catch his breath. Over the barriers, however, Charlie lost his chain. Hamblen waited for him to get the chain back on and remount his bike but Charlie rode easy and told him to go on ahead. Charlie soon got himself in order and chased while Jon rode steadily and smoothly to a 30 second lead. Hamblen went on to win the race and soon was in his truck with the heat on full blast.

Huseby 4th at West Hill Shop Cyclocross, November 7th

After Jon Hamblen's convincing win last year in Putney, Vermont - one of the oldest cyclo-cross races in New England, I headed up to my home town to try to defend this title for Fiordifrutta. I had won this race several times myself and had been introduced to the sport of cyclo-cross on these grounds. It was set to be a beautiful day, in the sixties, and sunny and the first local race for me in several weeks. Upon arriving and getting kitted up, I got to get quite a few warm-up laps in.

I had decided to race with my Powertap - Power measuring device - so I could look back at the race and pick out areas I might be able to improve. This was the first time I had done this. I also had on board a new set of carbon Cannondale Integrated cranks that Curt set me up with a few weeks ago. Finally, I chose to run the Michelin Jet tire for the rear today - which turned out to be a good decision. The course was incredibly dry and fast except for one section that was added this year where there was a bit of clay. I knew this would present challenging as it would sap a lot of everyone's energy. Putney also has one of the steepest and longest run-ups in New England - a sure place to crack a competitor or two.

The field was a tough one - not much different than the caliber of riders that had shown up the weekend before in Gloucester. Jesse Anthony got the hole shot and I followed close behind. Adam Craig, and Matt White were right behind. We quickly separated from the rest of the field on this giant BMX like course, with all sorts of great banked corners. We kept the pace high and I punched it up the run thinking I might shed a couple of the guys with us - it worked, but I was at my limit. Jesse was not shed and stayed right with me. He attacked just over the top of the run and I was smoked. I did what I could to try and stay on his wheel, but was unable to.

The other two guys caught up to me and quickly rode away from me. This was a little less than half way through the race and there was a solid group of 5 chasing hard behind me. I did what I could to maintain my gap, but could not close the one down in front of me. I held onto 4th and Jesse rode at the front by himself to take the win. The group behind me got close at the end - I could feel them breathing down my neck.


Hamblen 2nd at Boone NC Cyclocross Series, November 7th

The largest field to show up for a NC series race this year, as most probably didn't realize the difficulty of the hilly course. The race started with Charlie Storm (Fuji) taking the lead and putting pressure on Jon from the beginning. Charlie rode extremely well on the hills and through the technical creek crossing, putting the hurt on Hamblen. After about two laps Jon had been dropped by Charlie and found himself riding alone for the remainder of the event. Left to fend for himself in the freezing cold and surprisingly deep creek crossing, he lost time on Charlie each lap and ended up 1-2 minutes behind at the finish.