Mission Accomplished: Drummond Sticks to His Plan to Win Masters 35-39

Start of the 2017 Cyclocross National Championships, Masters Men 35-39 race. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

Coming into the 2016-2017 cyclocross season, Chris Drummond had one mission for the season: win a National Championship. After a close call at Asheville in 2016, Drummond laid out a plan back in May to do what it takes to ascent to the top step of the podium in Hartford. His months of preparation paid off and Drummond rode to a convincing victory in the Masters 35-39 race on Friday.

“[Last year] I wasn’t prepared,” said Drummond. “This year I put everything into it. My coach and I laid out a plan back in May to get this jersey. The only way this race would be a success is if we won. I am so happy.”

Chris Drummond (SPCX p/b R.K. BLACK) in his day-glo yellow. 2017 Cyclocross National Championships, Masters Men 35-39. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

The day-glo yellow clad Drummond put himself in a great position to accomplish his goal from the start of the race. Drummond joined Eric Fossell (SRAM Factory) and Steven Beardsley (Hosmer Chiropractic-RPM Mortgage Cycling) off the front as the riders passed the Boathouse while William Skinner (unattached) gave chase 12 seconds back.

After the riders navigated through the technical back half of the course for the first time, Drummond and Fossell had broken out to a 20 second gap back to a chase group of three.

At the start of the second lap, disaster struck for Fossell. The Colorado resident got caught in one of the icy ruts near the pit and crashed into a fence post, sending him sprawling to the ground. With the duo already off the front, the crash allowed Drummond to expand his massive lead on the rest of the chase.

Fossell talked about the crash after the race, “We were wheel-to-wheel and I got led into a rut I couldn’t see. I just go into a rut and the rut led me into a barrier and I crashed.”

The crash broke Eric Fossell’s brake lever, but he could still shift. 2017 Cyclocross National Championships, Masters Men 35-39. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

He also said that once he crashed, getting back to Drummond was tough, It was really hard to close a gap. I maybe got close a little bit, but once you started to push, mistakes started to happen. It was really hard to make up time.”

Daniel Dombroski (Amy D. Foundation) over the barriers. 2017 Cyclocross National Championships Masters Men 35-39. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

From that moment on, Drummond was gone, “After that I was just kind of heads down and started racing the course as fast as I could and stayed in control.” The Oklahoman kept a 30-second gap back to the chasers through the rest of the race to take home a satisfying Stars-and-Stripes jersey.

Nothing like a dinosaur cheering you on to keep you inspired. 2017 Cyclocross National Championships, Masters Men 35-39. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

Drummmond said his preparation plan helped him be ready for the Friday’s snowy conditions:

“I was mentally prepared because I knew it could be anything we get here. It could be 50 degrees or it could be this. I just worked a lot on bike handling all year and I rode my ‘cross bike on mountain bike trails a lot to get really comfortable on it. Mentally, no matter what we had to race on, I was going to race it the best I could.”

Chris Drummond (SPCX p/b R.K. BLACK) takes the win for the Masters Men 35-39 National Title. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

Behind Drummond a great battle for second place broke out. Fossell was able to recover from his crash and at the end of the second lap joined Skinner in a chase group of two. Heading into the penultimate lap, Fossell was able to grab a five-second advantage on Skinner. The gap stayed near five seconds for the next two laps as Fossell was able to fend off Skinner’s challenge to take the silver medal. Skinner held on to third for the bronze.

2017 CX National Championships Hartford Day 4 Results Masters Men 35-39