The Verge NECCS came to an end this weekend at the NBX Gran Prix at Goddard Park in Warwick, RI.  Team Expo is certainly a little sad that it’s over, but oddly a few are happy to be sad.  Happy to end the season with some motivation left and some excitement remaining.  The Expo team had a great Cyclocross season.  Not everyone had great races, but surely they all had great experiences and had some good times together.  Thanks to all the Expo members who came out and did a cross race in 2010.

It was cold this weekend, but not too cold (perfect racing temperature actually).  Goddard Park is right on the bay where the wind whips on to the course.  The course actually includes two sections of the softest, most energy sucking sand beach you would ever want to run on.   The rest of the course winds around the old carousel building and through the Parks pine stands.  It’s a fast course that’s not too technical (fast and not technical equal painful).  Additionally, everyone had a score to settle with this being the final racing weekend and therefore it would be twice as painful.

Saturday’s races started with Chris Franzin doing the cat 4 race at the icy 8:30 hour.  Chris finished close to the back of the field, but was happy to be racing even though he hasn’t had time for much training.

Jon T’s race, the 45+ Masters race, was next. The start was a long drag up the pavement on to a blast through the grass and into the turns.  He wasn’t in great position at the start then got caught in a bottle neck in a tight turn around a tree (why didn’t he get off and run???) and found himself quite a ways off the front.  Jon pushed hard and finished 11th.

Keith, Cliff and Dave took the line in the 35+ Elite Masters race, a seriously fast race (take a look at the front line of the start grid and you’ll see two current national champions and two former national champions).  The boys gave a good rip and produced some respectable results.  Keith rolled in 12th, Cliff took 17th and Dave was in the 30’s. Dave, Keith and Jon got a chance to help out three of the pro women by working in the pits for them during the elite women’s race.   They appreciated the help even though none of them needed a bike change.

Expo spent the night at the race host Hotel and had a good dinner out with friends then hit the sack early.  Sunday morning found even colder temps, but less wind as they headed over to the race.  Our friend Mark Shea was up first in the cat 4 race.  This was one of Mark’s first races and he finished a fantastic 2nd after a tough battle in a five man group.

Jon T was up next and, feeling uncharacteristically relaxed, managed to get a good start and avoid any trouble on the first lap.  He faded some, but held off a 5 man chase group to finish 8th.

Keith, Cliff and Dave hit the 35+ race hard again. Keith rolled through in 2nd on the first lap sitting on a former national champs wheel.  Cliff wasn’t far behind and Dave was soon to follow.  The race shook out after a couple laps and Keith had settled in around 8th, with Cliff around 20th.  Dave was spotted on the course fiddling with his bike, and when he came by he said he had crashed hard on the first lap and said he was done.  Keith finished 8th and Cliff was 20th.

There are still a few races left, but the pressure’s off.  Soon it’ll be time to go out and just enjoy the ride, which come to think of it, is really what we’ve been doing for the last four months.