Blue Hills Classic

Woke up at 6AM for the Blue Hills Circuit Race and felt like I needed another 5 hours of sleep. Could have been the 32 mile “recovery” ride I did the night before at too fast a pace. Could have been the late night on Friday and lack of sleep that night. Looking out my window it looked cold and damp, my legs were sore, and I was seriously considering going back to bed. Nonetheless I threw my stuff in the car, hit up Bruegger’s, and went down to Milton.

The relatively small parking lot at the ice skating rink was just about full when I got there around 6:45. At registration, there was a line 20 men deep for the cat4’s, and not one person in line for the cat 5’s. Warmed up on the trainer for about 10 or 15 minutes and felt surprisingly good. It was still cold out though. I regretted not getting a long-sleeve jersey at cycle loft the day before, although I’m still pumped to have scored a pair of blue bib shorts (didn’t know these existed).

We had a pretty short pre-race meeting, and TPM and I got a good spot at the front. There was one other NEBC racer, Josh, riding a hot looking green Indy-Fab bike. It seemed like there may have been a few more inexperienced riders than typical (even for a cat 5 race) at the start. One racer was asking “Is this a crit race or a road race?” and “What’s the average speed at one of these things?” about 60 seconds before the start.

The neutral start was about a mile or so, maybe less, and led from the ice rink to the 3.2 mile loop. The loop itself was different than most courses. You were either climbing or descending, hardly and flats. The climbing part was about 200 vertical over a mile, which is about 4% average grade.

This was the first race that I really put time up front. It’s amazing how much of the mid-pack craziness you miss out on. I took two pulls, including one on the bumpy 40 mph descent on the first lap. Right before beginning the climb there is a somewhat nasty hairpin turn. I was on the front inside position and the guy on the front outside lost a little control and nearly went into the woods. It’s funny to think of the poor people in the back that may be so affected by how I set the pace at the front.

As soon as we got to the hill a bunch of people came around to push the pace. Figures. I was a little more winded than I’d probably like to be for the start of the climb. I did make it to the top but not with a whole lot of gas left. The interval training in the previous two weeks may have been helping. This lap I planned to sit in on the downhill and take a rest.

At the beginning of the descent we went over a couple of bumps, and the next thing I know my seat is angled right up my butt. I tried to adjust it while moving but the thing wouldn’t budge. I pulled to the side and slammed the brakes and tried to fix it, but the screw had backed way out and the seat was sliding all around. I couldn't fix it without tools. I guess the vibrations must've backed out the screw slightly and the bumpy road knocked it loose. Who knows.

I rode back to my car and took off feeling pretty annoyed. At least I was back in bed by 9AM.