Mount Snow Vermont Race

First off this was an overall great race. The group had very good racers and it was a full brawl out there. The course was very technical, rocky, and muddy. I ended up using my mud tires for this race. I was passed right at the end and got 4th. Vermont though for Seth, Eric, and Joseph, were all their home course. By the way, the Joseph guy who got me right at the end is an 18 year old cyclocross racer who lives in New England. He went to World's last year and was one of their top guys. Also we did 4 laps of around 4.1 miles. At the start of the race immediately Seth and Emsky took off the front of the group. Oh, also they started the 15-16 year olds with us. So Joseph and I took off with Seth and Emsky. Also Chase Dickens joined along for a second but immediately fell off the back. I tried to stay with Seth on the first lap but I could tell he was just pushing way faster than I could go. Also on the first lap Seth dropped Eric Emsky. So I let him go and just kept pushing it hard with the cyclocross guy, Joseph, behind me. I was about 1.5 minutes behind Seth on the first lap. The second lap we kept pushing it hard and lost around 1.5 minutes again to Seth. Joseph and I were turning very consistent lap times and actually on the last lap I think we gained a little time or stayed even with Seth. For a while I thought Emsky was hurting and we were going to catch him but he was just a little too far away. So for the rest of the laps we had the hammer down staying consistent. Every time we would come to a big climb I would get a little time on the cyclocross guy, but on the very technical descents surprisingly he would catch back up. He was probably catching up well because of how muddy the downhills were, and we know that cyclocrossers are good at mud. :) On the last lap on the climbs I really put the hammer down and dropped Joseph by about 15 seconds on the last climb. Unfortunately though we were catching other cat 1 group's and on the single track super technical downhill it was so hard to pass. So Joseph ended up catching back up to me, after I had just blown my leg dropping him on a climb. At the bottom of the downhill he eventually got around me and got me on the final flat to the finish line. My legs just weren't able to react from my interval I did on the previous climb. So it ended up that I was 4 minutes behind Seth and we think around 2.5 minutes behind Emsky. I'm not totally sure on Emsky's time though because he didn't have his timing chip. And then I was 4th right behind Joseph the cyclocross guy. Sorry I don't remember his last name lol. From me to 5th there was a 6 minute gap. There were some other decently fast guys in the group but they were a ways back. Also Chase Dickens who started with us won 15-16. He was 10 minutes back on my time though and 14 minutes back on Seth. On that course 4 minutes is nothing though, and I think if I have a great warmup and everything totally comes together, I could pull a rabbit out of a hat and beat him. But Kudo's to Seth. He's fast. I felt a little stiff on my first lap, but not to bad. I started feeling much better for the next 3 laps though. I'm excited for Windham!