Cyclocross and Fun at Coonamessett Farm Falmouth

Veteran's Day, this year, found me working, and missing out on a fun Cyclocross event which brought my sister-in-law, Trish, and son, *Nate(15) to Cape Cod for the day. LM was able to feel well enough to take Kristi to enjoy the morning at beautiful, interesting and delicious Coonamessett Farm in E. Falmouth. It is a working organic farm producing top quality organic produce for many of the Cape's finest restaurants. They raise interesting animals, as well, and have a great farm stand and lunch room. My only request to LM was "PLEASE, bring me home a baby donkey." I adore donkeys and we have a running joke about having our own. Shortly after they arrived at the farm, my phone rang at work with a shrieking LM on the other end, telling me "they have DONKEYS, and they are walking toward me." Here is the one he told me he chose. Meet, Jazz.
The lighter colored donkeys began to come out of the pen as well until they heard the click of the camera opening and they quickly retreated. Jazz, though, was very friendly.
Jazz said, well, I'm ready to go home to meet Ms G, why are you not putting me in the car??? Alas, I guess you are right, this farm would miss me too much, and the Harwich neighbors may not like the way I "talk." Someday!!
There were turkeys, many, many turkeys.....and lots of other animals not pictured: chickens, llamas, goats and sheep.
Kristi and Trish bundled up for the cold morning, awaiting the start of the race.
Here they come from the start down by the greenhouses. The cyclists make their way around a course which is very rugged with many obstacles. At the finish Nate was #2. He did win an extra $50. for being the only rider to complete all the jumps. Trish says he practices jumping endlessly.
The podium! Nate, on the left.
A fun time, albeit cold, was had by all, and they enjoyed a delicious lunch to wind up the morning. In place of a donkey, sob, sob, LM brought me back some delicious organic squash from the farm stand.
Meanwhile, back at the would-be donkey ranch, Ms G waited at the door, but her hopes were dashed, too when only a bag of squash came home with her beloved LM. We girls do have a struggle to get what we want.

*Nate is a top competitor in National Junior Cyclocross. Here is a piece he wrote about winning the Providence RI championship in October (published in the Corner Cycle Newsletter.) So proud of you, Nate!

As reported by Nate Morse.

"Providence cross is one of my favorite races all year. It has the best venue and one of the best race atmospheres in New England. Saturday began early with pre riding the course before my dad's race. I loved how much the course was divided between technical sections and the power sections. At the start I had a quick acceleration off the line but took a bad line into the first turn and was about a quarter way towards the back of the pack. In the turn before the barriers, I was crashed by someone who got cut off and jumped off their bike for some reason. The bike went flying sideways and knocked me off my bike. Now I was at the back... I knew I needed to work my way back up to get to the leaders. On the second lap I had almost worked my way back up to the chase group right behind my biggest competitor, Curtis White. In the tight turns after the barriers I rolled my rear tire. Two races in a row!!! I was outraged. I was so far away from the pit I needed to pop the tire back on and ride carefully to switch bikes. After the pit change I decided I would just ride steady hard and save a little for the next day. I worked my way up to 6th in the juniors but I was still 50th overall. I was really disappointed with the mishaps so I wanted to do as well as I could on Sunday. At the start of the Sunday race, I had another super fast acceleration off the line and I was going to get the holeshot. Unfortunately I pulled out my pedal and had to regain speed. I was pretty far back in the pack, but not as far as the day before. In my head I was thinking that it would be another bad day. In the first four turns I made my way to top 10. I immediately got a smile on my face as I powered passed Curtis on the off camber parallel to the finish straight. I felt amazingly strong and powerful! I got in a group of five on the first lap with Curtis, Synjen, Adam St. Germaine, and another one of my prime cat 3 competitors Doug Kennedy. Doug dropped off with five to go so it was down to a group of four. With four laps to go, St. Germaine flatted right before the pit. He must have had to find a neutral wheel because he spent a while in the pit. I was at the front of the group and decided to pick up the pace a bit. Curtis got gapped a little and fell off the group. Synjen and I were together off the front with three to go! I kept the pace high to be sure Curtis or Adam wouldn't catch back up. Synjen got separated on a technical section and and road to a solo second place. As soon as I had a gap I went a little harder. I wanted to get as big of a gap as I could but I also wanted to stay upright and stay in the lead. With two to go I decided I would bunnyhop the barriers. I had been doing it consistently in practice so I felt confident about it. Around the turn before the barriers I got an image in my head of me crashing and flying over the bars. I quickly changed my mind and ran over the barriers. I kept it steady for the last two laps and tried to keep opening up the gap. Up the finishing straight I gave one final look back to make sure nobody had crept up on me. I gave a victory salute and put up my hands. It was my biggest win so far! I waited for Synjen and Curtis and talked for a bit about the race. This definitely made up for the mishaps I had the day before. I am looking forward to the Verge race in Vermont this weekend."