South Plymouth Cross, cat 4

Made a last-minute decision to race at Plymouth South on Sunday. The weather was forecasted to be awesome and I’d heard that it was a fun course.

I never really have any set goals for any of these cross races. After taking a bunch of time off after road season I’m way behind the fitness curve and there’s not much hope of catching up now. It seems best to go into these races with no expectations and just enjoy the course.

Luckily it’s pretty easy to find ways to have fun on the cross courses and Plymouth South was no exception. The course had two parts to it: woods and fields. The woods were technical and the fields were just powereaters. It was pretty wet out during my warmup lap which made for some really tough turns, but it dried out fast and was much easier for the race.

We staged up in the parking lot without any sort of order and I was determined to get on the front row. I got there 10 mintues early but apparently that’s not nearly early enough and I ended up somewhere in the middle of the second row. Still, it wasn’t TOO bad because there was a third and fourth row by the time we started.

As I sat there waiting for the race to start it dawned on me just how chaotic this start would probably be. There were about 70 of us lined up in 3.5 rows, so that’s about 20 people per row. Not 100 meters onto the course was a 90-degree left hander. Another 30 seconds later comes a series of back-to-back 180° turns that are severely off-camber on the side of a hill. I was doing approximately 1 mph around these turns during warmup. The course opens up quite a bit after that, but I couldn’t imagine how the 70 of us would squeeze through.

The race starts and of course I can’t clip in. Went on a long road ride the day before and I was feeling around for my road pedals. I didn’t really lose any positions in fumbling around but I could have gained a lot. I went around the 90-degree turn ~20 people wide without any problems. Amazing.

The off-camber 180’s did not go so smoothly. In fact, people were already clipped out on the little dip. Other people were being pro trying to either do a track stand or balance at 1 mph. Luckily I’m now an experienced cross dude and know how to handle this type of situation. Just like the CL Noonan juniors did to me at Wrentham this year, I just hopped off my bike and ran around everyone. It was awesome. Unfortunately for me this was the highlight of my race and it was all downhill from there.

After my super elite running moving I go to remount and get pushed by some other guy that was flying by me. This forced me to clip out and I end up nearly falling over. As I stumbled around trying to get back on pretty much everyone that I had just passed got me back.

By the time I finally got out of the woods the race was super stretched out. I could see the leaders way ahead on the fields and I’m sure I was already a minute down. Seems to be a common theme at these things. As we powered over the fields I could see Tony Maietta something like 20 seconds up on me and shortly after Brian Anderson (IBC) went rocketing by me.

The fields had some fast dry spots, but also had some soaking wet spots that ate up your tires. I was absolutely crawling through these wet spots. It felt like I was riding through a shallow sand pit.

Back in the woods was a descent with stairs made out of 4x4’s in the middle of the path. During warmup I had gone over the middle of these things but in the race the obvious line was to stay to the side and avoid them. I was in a line of people staying to the side of the trail and some big dude that I had passed on the fields came crushing down over the middle of the stairs. He powered up the following hill and then proceeded to go 1 mph over the mud at the top. I went by and didn’t see him again.

After the mud we re-enter the woods for a very brief section that includes a sharp and loose left-hander before a very short but steep incline. During warmup I totally messed this up and wasn’t able to ride it. On the first lap I crashed here. I went on to run up it on the second and third laps before crashing again on the final lap. Pitiful but luckily there were no hecklers here.

The course had one final feature before the end of the lap. The course exits the fields for the last time on a very tight off-camber turn leading into a steep single track downhill which is also slightly off-camber. At the bottom of the short descent the course turns straight up the hill you just came down, makes two back-to-back 90 degree turns with steep off-camber stuff in between (kinda like a quarter pipe), and finally descends for the final time. After that it’s just a brief powerclimb back up to the finish.

During warmup this feature was soaking wet and I definitely was not able to ride it. At staging there was an announcement that there had already been multiple crashes here during warmup and to be careful. Luckily, it dried out a bunch before we started and it was a lot easier on the first lap.

By the end of the first lap I was starving for oxygen and overall felt pretty much horrible. I could still see Tony and Brian not too far up, but couldn’t seem to get to them. I kept pushing myself into the red whether powering over hills or through wet fields. It seemed like every time I started to get into a groove I’d end up back in the red again. I watched Tony and Brian disappear ahead of me over the next laps.

On the last lap a Bicycle Barn guy passed me as we turned onto the fields. This was a great place to get passed and I had someone to draft across this long windy section. We came to the short incline after the muddy section and I went crashing into the tires on the outside of the turn. I was able to run up the hill and sprint back up to him before the barriers, and even made a pass while remounting.

Not long after making the pass I got slowed down in the wet field by the pit and he went cruising by me again. I tried to hold his wheel as we went through the final technical feature of the course, but got totally owned. He was going much faster than I had been going in the previous laps, and trying to maintain his speed nearly sent me into the trees and forced me to clip out. I barely rode up and over the “quarter-pipe.” I figured he was long gone by the time by the time I made it back up to the pavement, but I saw him a good 50 meters ahead looking back at me just sitting there soft pedaling. Obviously I couldn’t just let him soft pedal without a contest, so I tried to beat him with a sprint. It was close but I think I came up just short in the end. Oh well. Results were listed by number, and I wasn’t sure what number I was, so I’m not sure yet what place I ended up in. Unless the race paid 50 deep to the cat4’s, I don’t think it mattered!

Great photos by Geoff here.

Cycle-Smart International (Northampton) Cross Race, cat 4

After last week’s disaster of having my headset come loose mid-race, I made sure to get my bike working properly for once. Having a loose headset is a stupid problem to be having. Got out a little early from work on Monday to thrash on my cross bike doing some very tame mt bike trails. Couldn’t knock the headset loose or get the saddle to shift around and everything seemed good. Even the cantilever brakes were quiet. Amazing.

That was about it for anything resembling training though. I didn’t make it to the training race down by Harvard because it was cold. I did make it to the gym twice but just lifting makes it even easier to blow myself up when I finally do ride. Not good.

Day 1

We headed out to Northampton on Friday night to stay with my brother just 5 minutes from Look Park. That was huge given the 8:30 AM start time. Despite being so close to the race, I still didn’t get out on the course to warm up until 8:15. I can’t take this early morning stuff, it’s just like being a cat 5 all over again.

After riding 75% of the course I went over to the start for staging. I was about #74 and not really anywhere near the front. Somehow all the people from the row behind me managed to squeeze their way in right next to me. Cross staging is always competitive I guess.

The gun goes off and it’s a mad sprint at the front for the first turn. Luckily that’s no where near were I am so it’s more like soft pedaling until all the brakes start screeching for the first corner. As always someone ran into someone on that first turn causing a mass pileup and a ton of confusion. Unlike last week I was totally ready for this so I squeezed through and put the hammer down. Game on!

We come down to the lower section of the course where there are lots of switchbacks on the grass field. I figured this was my best place to pass so I pretty much sprinted out of every single corner making up as many positions as possible. The plan worked great and over the first half of the lap I think I passed at least 20, maybe even 30 people. All I have to do is keep this up for another 35 minutes and maybe I will end up in the top 20!

Somewhere in the middle of the first lap reality sunk in and I started to hurt, a lot. Not training much (or at all) really seems to make my breathing a total disaster. On the upper rooty section of the course I was wheezing for air and getting tossed all over the place not even trying to pick a good line.

The rest of the race was pure pain and I was never really able to recover. Somewhere around the middle of the race I washed out going around one of the slick hairpin turns (the grass was wet) and I dropped my chain. This just made me go even slower. By the time I started the last lap the leaders were right behind me. I continued to lose places right up until the finish when Arthur Moran (Wentworth) came sprinting around me to take away 73^rd place (ouch!). I finished 74/93 starters, 7:26 back.

Despite being pitifully far back, the course was still fun. The first runup was brutal due to the ground being torn up. The second runup was very rideable if no one was in your way, but that was rare with most people dismounting in the cat 4 race. Riding up 90% of the way seemed to be faster than just running the entire way up. I had a clear shot on a few laps and was able to ride it twice. I didn’t even bother trying to ride the sand pit.

Day 2

lap 1 pileup

After day 1 race I swore I wasn’t going to race day 2, thinking I wasn’t in good enough shape to be racing. However, after sitting around watching other fields race I felt like I learned a thing or two and decided to give day 2 a go. I would change up my strategy to maintain a more consistent pace and try to make more passes over the last 35 minutes of the race instead of the first 5 minutes of the race. In addition, I would make more of an effort to recover wherever possible. This meant no sprinting only to brake for technical sections and to maintain my speed better without pedaling after downhills.

I got two full laps of warmup for day 2, much better. The course also seemed to have a rhythm to it that I liked much more. There was only one runup on this course (going up the downhill from day 1), and it was very very rideable. We actually went down the runup from day 1, which launched us right over the train tracks and into a sweeping left-hander. You were pretty much guaranteed to get air going over the tracks. To make things even more exciting, this section was placed less than a minute into the course. That meant we’d be going over the tracks elbow to elbow.

Once again I was staged around 70^th, so without the help of some serious superman legs I was pretty much guaranteed not to win. Just like on day 1, there was a crash just after the first turn. As I tried to squeeze my way through the wreck, some knucklehead tries to pass me on the inside of the next turn. You could say I put him into the fence, and you’d probably be right, but I really didn’t have much of a choice. I don’t know what happened to him, but I know that he didn’t end up in front of me.

I came to the descent of the day 1 runup in a very thick group of crash 4’s. I was terrified and so was everyone around me. Someone next to me yelled out not to touch your brakes and we’ll make it safely. Approaching the top of the descent felt like being at the top of a roller coaster. I rolled down about 5 feet behind the guy in front of me side by side another guy to my left. We caught air over the tracks and cruised around the turn. No problems. In fact I don’t think anyone at all in our field crashed. Amazing!

On the first lap runup there was a massive pileup. I could see it starting well before I got there. It looked like some crashed on the way up, then people kept trying to ride up anyways without realizing that the course was blocked. By the time I got there the pile was at least 10 people large, maybe even 15. Bikes were all tangled up and nobody was moving. I dismounted right before the crash and ran right through the middle of the disaster, passing at least 10 people. It was awesome. I wasn’t even going hard and I was passing almost as many people as the day before.

The first lap was awesome. Maybe even the entire first 2 laps. I wasn’t even trying to go hard, just maintaining a nice steady pace. I was also barely pedaling through the technical sections, and just taking a good line. Suddenly cross was fun again.

By the third lap I found myself on the wheel of Arthur Moran, the same guy that sprinted by me at the finish on day 1. He was setting a good pace, especially on the straightaways, so I stuck behind him. Slow and steady, we passed people on laps 3, 4, and 5. Again, so much better than day 1. I could even see some rivals from the cat 4 road season not far ahead.

On lap 5 I started to sense that Moran was tiring. He had been towing me around for two full laps now, but he was slowing down a fair amount in the technical corners taking the majority of them very wide. On the 180°+ turn around a pine tree he went especially wide, so I decided to go by. I hated to lose the drafting benefit and his good pacing.

After that I was pretty much in no-man’s land. There was no one very close in front of me to chase, so I just sort of set my own pace. This did give me two good shots at riding the runup. Every previous lap there was someone in front of me and I didn’t really have a chance. Oscar was at the top and in good heckling form, and I wanted to appease him. I got close my first time up but ripped my foot out of my cleat just before getting to the top. On the second attempt I got to the top, which got me some cheers, but then I hit a root sideways and ended up clipping out anyways. Doh.

On the final turns before the finish I had no one to chase, but the gap behind me was closing down. Weaving over the bumpy roots section I was only 5 seconds up or so. Turns out it was Moran trying to chase me down for the second time this weekend, but he came up just one second short this time. I finished in 44^th out of 97 starters, and 4:02 back. Still not good but at least it’s not totally embarrassing.

MRC (Wrentham) Cyclocross Race, cat 4

Staging was based on crossresults.com points. This is my second cross race so I pretty much have no points and was actually surprised to be staged 56 out of 83 racers. I guess day-of registrations all got thrown in at the back, so at least there were some people behind me. We were lined up in rows that were 5 cyclists wide, and the course wasn't wider than 15-feet. The race starter yells "15-seconds to start!" and the racer lined up next to me 12 rows back says "Looks like this race is over for us boys, better luck next time!" And that was about it. Not 30 seconds into the race, those of us in the back we were bunched up with a foot on the ground as shown in the photo above. By the end of the first lap I was already almost 3 minutes behind the leader.

Despite having no chance whatsoever at being competitive, this race was still a ton of fun and I would go back in a second if it were being held again tomorrow. I think that's my favorite part about cross, it's fun to race people next to you even if it's for 50th place and completely meaningless. With that in mind, on to a more detailed report.

A little too much "liquid-carb" loading the night before resulted in me getting up bit late in the morning and having to make a quick stop at McDonalds for breakfast. As if I weren't feeling dehydrated enough at this point, I chugged down my only bottle of water on the drive down before even finishing my McSkillet. I got there just in time to register, use the one port-a-john (this took 15 minutes), and take half a practice lap. I might have been upset about this disaster if I felt I actually had a glimmer of hope. Instead, I was totally relaxed and having fun. Sweet!

So the race starts off and like previously mentioned we come to a screeching halt not 100 meters in. I was too far back to see first-hand, but I heard 6 or 7 guys somewhere in the middle crashed into each other on the first turn. I clip out of my pedals and stand there waiting patiently when out of nowhere 2 of those tiny CL Noonan kids go running by me pushing their bikes alongside them. They were weaving through us like needles. Shortly after a bunch of other dudes start doing the same. I remember thinking to myself "oh yeah, we're racing" so I dismount and go to do the same. Just as I start to run, things in front of me start clearing up and suddenly I'm holding up the people in back of me and I still have to remount. I lose a few more places and things are finally starting to begin to feel like a bike race.

The first section of the course weaves back and fourth pretty aimlessly through a field. The turns aren't super-tight pylon turns or anything, but they're tight enough to make you brake and go pretty slow. What made things really interesting here were these ruts that seemed like they were part of every turn. In ski racing ruts typically form around a turn in a semi-logical location. These ruts weren't at all like that. I'd feel as if I were really knifing a turn when there'd be some rut exiting the turn that would force me to the outside. Other ruts were almost perpendicular to the line so you'd want to avoid them if possible. It felt like we were crawling through this section probably because being elbow-to-elbow really slowed down the pace. Exiting this section we go over the first set of barriers and head into the woods.

The first part of the woods is smooth single track and almost feels like pavement after the fields. There was no room to pass and we were still very bunched up, so we continued to crawl along at the pace of some slower guy up ahead. Finally we get to a sharp hairpin turn which leads off of the singletrack onto a rocky carrige road with a good amount of roots. Most people stuck to the smooth track on the right side but those of us that wanted to pass charged up the bumpy left side. After crawling along through the twisty field section and single track, I was pretty anxious to get going and practically sprinted across here passing a good amount of people.

After coming out of the woods we enter the main field where most of the spectators watch from. The field is on a hill and the course felt like a maze winding all over the place including up and down the hill and off-camber along the side of the hill. Although the track was a good 10 or 15 feet wide, there was only a narrow smooth track wide enough for a single biker. Outside of the smooth track was relatively long grass that was not so fast. I tried to continue making passes here but that was pretty darn tiring.

The second set of barriers came after a tight turn and before a somewhat steep hill. There were a lot of different strategies for this section. I ran my bike up the hill and didn't dismount until the top. A lot of people were remounting after the barriers but I thought they were biking super slowly up the hill. The CL Noonan kid was actually hopping the barriers but didn't seem strong enough to power up the hill after so that really wasn't too fast either. At the very end of the lap was a good-sized log maybe 20-24 inches in diameter that acted as another barrier.

By the end of the first lap I was pretty tired from trying to overtake as many people as possible and was content to just fall into a groove with the people around me. Bernie (NEBC) and Eric Peterson (CB) were within site just in front of me, and I wanted to get up to them. Trouble was it seemed like there were always a handful of people in between us that kept slowing me up every time I thought I was making ground. It didn't help that they were still moving up a lot too.

On the third lap I somehow caught up with Eric. I don't really remember making a push or anything, and I suspect he may have had a minor mishap. I didn't stay ahead of him for half a lap before he came charging by me on the long straightaway before the log barrier.

My bike had been making a weird vibrating sound since some time during the first lap, but it got worse and worse and the race went on. By the third lap it was getting really bad, especially on the bumpy downhill sections in the main field. Turns out the starnut in my steerer tube had backed out somewhere around 1/4"-1/2" so my entire headset was loose (i'm a bad mechanic). This allowed my handlebars to shake all over the place when going over bumps (which there were lots of). I did consider pulling out of the race for a moment to avoid doing any damage to my new bike. However, all I could think about is how those crossresults.com points are super important and that a DNF would hurt my points for the next few races. It was obviously a good decision to risk doing damage to my brand new bike to help my points.

Not long after Eric passed me I was heading back into the woods for the fourth time. I saw Eric sneak past a slower looking rider going over the barriers but I ended up behind him going into the single track. It turns out that this was a lapped rider that was going ridiculously slow. There was no room to pass and I got a nice break until after the hairpin turn. By the time I got out of the woods another rider had caught up to me and all the people in front of me were long gone. This was a bit demoralizing and I turned it down a notch for the rest of the race. It didn't help that I was worried about my bike breaking every time I went over some bumps.

On the last lap I was pretty much chilling as I soft-pedaled through the woods saving myself so I looked stronger where the spectators could see me. I was almost in tears because my lower back hurt so badly but at least my hands didn't hurt today (40 psi is much better than 65psi). Apparently this gave the guy in back of me a chance to catch up and pass over the bumpy carrige road. I was pretty annoyed with myself for letting someone pass me so finally I had some sort of motivation to try again. Going through the field and the twists and turns I couldn't seem to get in a good position to make a pass. We got to the barriers and the other guy takes the left line while I make a move to the right. At this point I hadn't quite overtaken him and he decides to remount before going up the hill. I see him hop on and so sprint to the top as quickly as I can, overtaking him on the inside. I remount only a little bit sloppy this time but I'm blocking off the good hard-packed line and hold my position. All of the sudden I am a cyclocross hero, or at least that's how I felt. For the rest of the lap to the finish I really wasn't going too crazy, but I guess it was enough pressure on the pedals to stay ahead until the finish. Crossresults.com has me in 40th/83 and what a battle it was to stay out of 41st!

Photos and results at http://crossresults.com/?n=results&sn=r&raceID=446#r18605



Update: 2 days after the race and Tony points out that I had my number pinned on upside down (see link below). Apparently I am "that guy" and should feel right at home racing in the back of the 4's.

http://picasaweb.google.com/bauerguerra/Wrentham#5261294506542334914

2008 Canton Cup Cyclo-Cross Race, cat 4

My first cross race. I received my oh-so-sweet hand built custom cross frame from Tony Maietta after day 2 of Gloucster last weekend. Built the frame up on Monday and spent a good portion of the week dialing things in (wow cantilevers are a pain…). During the week I was able to get out twice on the bike, once on my paved commute to work and the other a super tame “mountain” bike ride through the Belmont conservation land. The off-road ride felt surprisingly good and I was impressed how the well the bike tracked through loose dirt and bike rocks. I’ve never ridden a cross bike before and really have no basis for comparison, but I’m told that if the bike fits you well your weight will be well-distributed which will help in technical sections. Seeing as I’m 95% roadie I need all the help I can get on the technical stuff.

128 people pre-reg’d for the cat 4 field. I don’t know much about cross but I do know that 128 dudes is a lot, especially seeing as everyone I talks to says getting a good start is crucial in a cross race. There was no organized staging at Canton so a good strategy was to line up early and get on the front. Seeing as this was my first race and my only experience doing things like mounting/dismounting came from watching youtube clips, I fairly lined myself up where I belonged, right in the back.

The race starts and not 10 meters in some dude who was on the line in front of me crashes hard, taking out the guy right in front of me, who took out some other dude. It was like watching dominos come down. Pat Kelly said he got caught up in the mess. I got super lucky and was able to sneak through the mess. By the time I did though the pelican (is it OK to call it that?) was already chopped in two and I was chasing to close down the gap.

The course starts off on pavement and makes a transition onto a dirt carriage road before turning onto a long maze through the fields. I caught back onto the group just before the fields and must’ve been in 90th or 100th place. The racers back here didn’t seem to be going very fast, and it was amazing to me how many people would just sort of run off the track into the long grass coming out of the turns. I was able to consistently make passes on the inside of turns for the majority of the first lap.

Without having any real idea of what the limitations of my bike are, I kept pushing my luck more and more through the corners as I tried to carry as much speed as possible. It was working out really well and I felt like I was moving up without burying myself. Eventually I came to a chicane section where I found the limit and I came crashing to the ground. Luckily it was on soft grass which was like falling on a pillow. It took me a minute to get back going again and I was passed by a few racers.

Maybe three-quarters of the way through the lap there’s a short but steep downhill with a few washboard bumps before making a sharp turn back up the same steep hill. I kept braking harder and harder until my levers were totally bottomed out on my handlebars. Luckily I was able to slow down just enough to make the turn but I would have been in big trouble if that hill was any steeper.

Shortly after this there was a super steep runup onto a rubber running track. Dismount, run up (I hate running), get back on and go. Dismounting was going surpringly well, those youtube vids actually helped I think. Remounting was not as successful though. I wasn’t willing to just toss myself onto my saddle like the fast guys do. Every time I had to get off my bike I ended up feeling pretty winded for the next 30 seconds or so. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t doing something right.

thx geoff for the great pic

After the track there was a series of three hairpin turns through a very narrow maze that wasn’t more than 5 feet wide. The first lap was extra exciting through here and we took the corners two-men wide. I don’t think I could have held that steady of a line on later laps as I got more tired.

Through the end of the first lap and the beginning of the second lap I started to slow down quite a bit and I wasn’t passing very many people any more. Those barriers were especially tiring and seemed to send me into the red every time they came up. I’ve ridden maybe three times in the past month and any ability I had to clear lactic acid seemed to be gone. I didn’t feel as if I could keep pushing like I should have been able to do when the going got tough.

Laps two, three, and four are pretty much a blur. I kind of kept nearby the same group of riders the majority of the time. Sometimes I would feel good and move up with them, other times I would feel not so good and drop back.

By the fourth and final lap my hands, butt, and lower back were hurting more than anything else. It was painful just to hold onto the handlebars and the bumpy field sections were torture. At least my legs felt pretty solid. I didn’t come out of the 50T chainring once during the race and it never really felt too big. I was told after the race that most people run somewhere around 50 psi in the tires and I was running 65 psi. Hopefully going to a lower pressure will help smooth things out next time.

I finished in 41:17, 4:09 back from the winning time of 37:08. I think this put me in 54th out of ~130 starters. It looks like there may have been an error in the results because they skip from 40th to 50th place. I’m hoping to be more competitive next week when I give Wrentham a try.

Three Village Road Race / Rose Pedal Criterium

The “Mohegan Sun Race Weekend” consists of two races which were my first races as a cat3. Saturday’s race was the Three Village Tour Road Race, a 5-lap, 50-mile race over rolling terrain. There is a longish but gradual “stairstep” climb early in the lap followed by a short but steep powerclimb with a downhill runin not too long after. The finish this year had a gradual downhill leading into it with just a short straightaway following some winding turns. Sunday’s race was the YMCA Rose Pedal Criterium in downtown Norwich on a 0.6-mile loop. The crit course was either uphill or downhill, had almost no flat section, and included two 120-degree turns one of which followed a fast downhill.

Three Village Tour Road Race, cat3

Being the end of the season, only a small field of 25 racers or so came out for the race. Exodus had the largest team in the race with four racers, and set out to control the race right from the start. Immediately after clipping in Exodus attacked and we gunned it until the first climb. Two miles into the 50-mile race and I was already breathing heavily. Luckily the pace eased up a bit after that and the gradual climb was fine.

The back side of the course was fast and had a thrilling downhill right-hand turn as well as an intersection crossing that could toss you off your bike if you’re not ready for it. Shortly after the intersection was a fast downhill that led into the short steep climb. I figured this would be the make or break it part of the course for me. Each lap we basically just sprinted to the top of this thing. Shifting was a bit interesting because I came into it pedaling in roughly a 53x14, and had to downshift on the way up. I chose to stay in the big ring and climb out of the saddle each lap. Other riders were spinning their way to the top but I didn’t want to risk dropping my chain. The first lap up hurt but was manageable.

After the steep incline the course is pretty much flat with some very gentle rolling hills. We were basically in easy group ride mode at this point and were just crawling along. A racer was off the front but no one cared. I ended up on the front by mistake and everyone seemed content to let me hang there for a while despite the fact I was barely pedaling.

On the second lap I was better warmed up and the long gradual felt good. I was sitting in on the back of the field with no thoughts of attacking. Heading up the steep climb, a handful of racers attacked on the front really driving the pace. A few of the larger riders in the field were sag-climbing and this caused the field to split in two by the time we crested the top. I was caught in the back half. A frantic chase ensued but we eventually came back together after a few miles.

Lap 3 started out easier than the first two laps. There was a neutral feed at the top of the long gradual climb and I was able to grab a water bottle. I had been hammering through my two bottles so this was a bit of a relief.

As we started the short steep climb I noticed the usual suspects attacking hard at the front. Everyone was generally a little bit more alert after the second lap panic, and we started off flowing up the hill nicely. For whatever reason I looked down for a brief moment, maybe to check my gearing or maybe just trying to find a groove. Suddenly I realized that two sag-climbers were directly in front of me and that I was on a collision course. I had to jam on my brakes to avoid crashing, and nearly came to a stop. I swereved and accelerated up the side to maintain contact with the back of our small group. I reached the top of the climb intact, but about 15 seconds later I couldn’t breathe and I dropped off. The sprint effort to stay in the race annihilated me. At the end of the lap I pulled out of the race to save myself for the crit on Sunday.

Rose Pedal Criterium, cat 3

The field size for the crit was even smaller than for the road race, maybe 15-20 people. Most of the people racing the crit had also raced in the road race. I got a spot on the front line and was able to clip in right away, so I took off to the top of the hill just to cause some panic. After getting to the top of the hill I started soft-pedaling, but no one wanted to come around. It wasn’t until we went over the hill on the third lap that someone attacked and came around me, weird.

The course seemed pretty well suited for breakaways having very few flats and a few technical sections. Each lap we would hammer up the short steep hill and pretty much coast for the remainder of the lap. The pace was very peaky but was manageable. We had a number of attacks that were successful in staying away for a bit, but a serious 2-man break went up the road somewhere around the mid point in the race and the gap opened up to around 20 seconds.

With the break 20-seconds up the road a number of racers started to panic. As we came down the narrow downhill over the rough section of road, a group of 5 or 6 racers dive-bombed the inside line approaching the sharp 120-degree turn. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but I think one of the guys on the inside went down first and took out the racer to his outside. This was two wheels in front of me and I was narrowly able to avoid the crash by swerving to the outside and bunny hopping onto the sidewalk.

The confusion caused by the crash was ridiculous. I had avoided the crash, and made the decision to keep going. After passing the SRAM tent I realized that there was only one other racer in front of me and not a single person behind me. It turned out that the entire field stopped at the SRAM tent to get a free lap. After half a lap of trying to chase down the one other rider in front of me (Curely?), I gave up my chase and stopped at the SRAM tent with the others.

Eventually the officials restarted us when Curely went by who was the only person on the course that was not part of the breakaway. The restart was also pure confusion. I ended up chasing for a full lap before finally getting on a wheel and almost cracked myself in the process. Two laps later someone attacked off the front going up the hill and did me in. I was really annoyed to drop out but I had been redlined for too long.

The weekend was a pretty big disappointment and I would have really liked to have finished one of the races. However, stupid mistakes were the cause of both of my DNF’s and I felt my fitness was fine to race in the cat 3 field, even on the hills, and I’ll look forward to racing next season.

This race weekend pretty much concludes my 2008 season with the lack of daylight making it very difficult to get enough saddle time. I may race at Jamestown on Columbus Day but I expect that my fitness will be much worse by then. Also, the new Maietta cross bike will be ready in mid-October, so a few cross races may end up on the schedule.

2008 Josh Billings Triathlon

“The Josh” is my most fun race of the season. Unlike most triathlons it includes a canoe/kayak leg instead of a swimming leg, and the race begins with a mass start road race. Most people do the Josh in a team format although there are still many iron men. 500 cyclists line up in Great Barrington, MA, and start all at once. USCF licensed riders that are cat4 or better get to start at the front.

The first 2 miles of the 27-mile point-to-point bike leg are fast and resemble a downtown criterium with two sharp 90-degree corners. The second 90-degree turn heads out of town that leads into a short but selective hill. This first hill is a very significant part of the race because it breaks the massive 500-man pelican up into several smaller pelicans, usually 25-50 people each. It is very difficult to bridge up to a faster pelican, so it is essential to make the best effort possible on this first hill. The remainder of the bike leg includes moderately-sized rolling hills that make for a challenging race.

Cyclists hand off a wrist band to their canoeists after a screaming fast 45 mph downhill. One paddler will meet the cyclist up by the road to take the wrist band, run back to their boat, and run down to the boat launch. Paddlers do 1 and ¾ laps around Stockbridge Bowl for 5 miles total.

After completing the boat leg, paddlers pass the wrist band to their runner, who does a 6 mile route around Stockbridge Bowl on very hilly terrain. The last one-mile is all uphill before heading into the finish at Tanglewood.

This year I cycled with our family team, with Dad and Shawn paddling and Todd running. Big Time went from having a 4-man team, to a 3-man team, to a 2-man team, to being a kayak-class iron man. Erica and Jamie did a tin (2-person) women’s team

Bike Leg

As described above, the first hill is all-important for the outcome of the bike leg. I looked at my race data from 2007 and pre-rode the course on Saturday to gauge what type of an effort it would be. From the 90-degree turn to the back side of the hill (when you can stop pedaling hard) is about a 3 to 4 minute effort for cyclists at the front of the race. This hard anaerobic effort comes just 5 minutes into the race so a good warmup is crucial. Originally we planned on parking at the finish line and riding the 10 miles to the start, but showers the morning of the race changed that plan. Instead we parked at the start and did a shorter warmup. I got about 20 minutes total of warmup with one 2-3 minute effort at about 110% of threshold.

I got a decent position at the start but was still 3 rows back and on the left side. I’m not sure it’s worth sacrificing warmup time to line up super early on the front row, but at least you get your picture taken there. Josh Lipka and Jamey Driscoll (Fiordifrutta) were to my left, and if they didn’t need to be on the front neither did I. There were some fast guys present this year, including the two fruttas, Robbie King (Rite Aid), Chris Fischer and Nat Faulkner, all guys who typically break away from the first pack at ~26 mph. Jamey Driscol lined up sporting an aero helmet. I’ve never actually seen anyone use an aero helmet in a mass start race, but that sure makes a statement to the 500 other cyclists: “I’m going to go on a breakaway and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

The gun fired and we were on our way. Initially I took Lipka’s wheel and moved up near the front, but he went all the way up and I needed to stay a little more shettlered from the wind. I sat in around 20 wheels back as we cruised through Great Barrington at around 27 mph. The reflectors and yellow line (no yellow line rule in the first 2 miles) in the middle of the road were extremely slippery, and I couldn’t seem to get on a different line. After making the 90-degree left as we approached town center I started getting swarmed and had fallen somewhere around 40 or 50 wheels back. Luckily being on the outside paid off and I was able to do some swarming of my own just before the 90-degree turn leading into the all-important first hill. I moved all the way up to tenth wheel just before the turn.

I took the outside line around the 90-degree right-hand turn which let me carry slightly more speed into the hill. The pace stayed pretty mellow for the first half of the climb and I stayed in my big ring. The climb has a false flat in the middle and I used this to try and relax and stay sheltered behind the rider in front of me. As we came to the last steep section near the end of the hill, I saw Lipka spring out of his saddle and start drilling it. The pace went from manageable to insane. As we crested the top of the hill there was a group of 8-10 riders that stayed intact, breaking off the front. My legs were screaming and I just barely managed to hold on to a first pack of 20 or 30 riders. Another 4 or 5 riders behind me also managed to sneak on. I wanted to throw my hands into the air at this point, I finally made the first pack at the Josh! However, there was still 24 miles of 27 miles total to go and last year I got dropped from my initial group on the long second hill.

There isn’t much time for recovery between the first and second hill, less than 10-minutes, and it’s especially short if you’re working on the front of your group. Last year I buried myself before the second hill trying to catch the pack in front of us and had nothing left for the second hill. This year I sat in towards the back and let the others do the work. There were several racers that seemed a little freaked out by the breakaway being 8-10 people large, and they were doing a lot of work. In fact, I found it somewhat hard just sitting in and I began to doubt that I’d be able to make it up the second climb.

This second hill climbs in steps, with a little room for recovery in between. It is also the longest climb, taking a good 10 minutes from beginning to end. Luckily the pace seemed much easier once we started climbing. This was my kind of group! It was hard going over the first two steps, but manageable. We also started picking up riders that had been dropped off of the breakaway group, but I’m not exactly sure how many. The last kicker near the top of the hill is the steepest, but I was ready for it this year after pre-riding the course. It was the only part of the course the I used my little ring for, and I thought my head was going to explode as I worked to maintain contact over the top. As the climb flattened out we picked up a ton of speed, and the pace stayed darn hard. In the immortal words of Jens Voigt, my legs were screaming to stop, and my mind was saying “shut up legs and do what I tell you to do!”

The race was pretty uneventful for the next several miles. The long descent was an awesome break, and we took it especially cautiously on the wet roads. The long straight climb out of West Stockbridge was the easiest of the day, likely due to a moderate headwind that kept the pace on the front in check.

As we rode through Stockbridge I was feeling really strong and I began moving closer to the front. We were again very cautious and took the 90-degree left-hander coming out of town at almost a painfully slow pace. I was lucky to be near the front because the two guys in front of me attacked coming out of the turn and into the hill. For some stupid reason I must have thought I was Alberto Contador because I countered their move as we crushed it up the steep 10% grade at the beginning of the climb. This ended up being a 500W 1-minute effort and I nearly got dropped because of it. Luckily their attack was short-lived and we eased up significantly once we hit the long false flat at the top of the climb.

No one attacked in the final few miles before the last climb by Stockbridge Bowl. When we finally got to the final climb things got chaotic. Some people attacked from the middle of the pack while others cranked out a steady pace. I got a bit anxious and followed one of the early attacks. I quickly realized that this was a mistake and eased off just before heading too much into the red zone. I maintained contact over the top of the climb and across the false flat past Tanglewood, but our group had split into pieces, with the front part being 30 meters or so ahead. We each made some big pulls and kept things tight all the way to the finish.

As I got to the transition zone I was panicked not to see my brother waiting right there to take the wristband handoff. It was a minor blooper only costing us about 5 seconds, but it’s amazing how that feels like an eternity at the end of a bike race. The bike leg time doesn’t end until the paddler crosses the timing mat, and it’s painful to see your hard-earned seconds waste away. Another racer in my group must’ve stood there for a minute before finally making his handoff. I would have cried.

The results have me at 1:07:50 and 13^th place for my split. Driscoll went on to set a course record of 1:00:33 with the help of breakaway mate Robbie King. A second breakaway group consisting of Lipka, Fischer, and Faulkner finished in 1:06:10. Amazing that the lead two were able to get so far ahead. It must’ve been the aero helmet, ha.

Canoe Leg and Running Leg

Dad and Shawn paddled well in the canoe, finishing in almost 57 minutes exactly in a slightly slower than average year for the paddlers. Shawn reportedly took 10 seconds to run the 200 meters from the handoff to the canoe, shattering the world record of 19.3 seconds and improving my bike split. Solid S-man.

Shawn went on to make a perfect tennis ball throw (with the wristband) at the canoe-run transition, with Todd making a clean catch and keeping his shoes dry. Todd went on to finish the run in about 42 minutes even. This was good enough for 39^th place in a year where super high humidity (we’re talking 90%+) took a nasty toll.

Our family team finished in 2:47:00 putting us in 34^th place out of 419 finishers overall and 1^st of the 32 family teams (largest division this year). The Sawyer/Porter team has won the division the past several years but they were not present this year. Had they performed as they have in previous years, we may have come up a little short, but we certainly would have been close. Either way it was awesome to set a new personnel best as a team, and I now have a gigantic Josh Billings coffee mug that says 1^st place on it.

Data Analysis

My goal for the race was to get into the first pack over the first climb and hold on to the finish. Before the race I was trying to figure out how much of an effort this would require, and I now have the answer. Starting from about 10^th wheel at the 90-degree turn coming out of town, it was a 400W (5.33W/kg) for ~3m20s effort to get into the first pack. This comes after the initial crit-like sprint through town which seems to be easier for some people than others. I tend to recover quickly from very short peaky efforts on flat courses and this part of the race was easy for me. In contrast, Erica (who weighs a lot less than me) thought that the pace was super hard through town. If we were to take out the initial sprint through town Erica would probably have climbed up the first hill faster.

The first hill was my hardest effort of the race, but the last hill was close as everyone gives 100% maximum effort on tired legs in a long sprint to the finish. The long second hill was a very peaky climb. Average power was relatively low but normalized power was much higher.

Average power was 216W with normalized power at 285W for the duration of the race. This is a VI (norm ÷ avg.) of 1.32. A VI of 1.32 is on the low side for a road race and closer ressembles most crit races I’d done. I think this is due to the race being short and the overall time actually meaning something unlike most USCF road races where the pace slows down dramatically between hills.

Cat 3

Topsfield brought my upgrade points up to 20, and my upgrade to cat3 was approved yesterday. I'd like to give some cat3 races a shot here at the end of the season while I still have a little fitness. I debated waiting until next season, but I might as well upgrade while I have the points and race at that level with the fitness that got me there.

Topsfield Circuit Race, cat 4

This was my first year at the Topsfield Circuit Race. The cat 4 field does 6.5 laps at 4.4 miles per lap and finishes on a short ~300m climb at about 5% grade. Total mileage is 28.5 miles. The course is beautiful and rolls through picturesque New England farmland with rock walls, stone bridges, and narrow roads. No major climbs but there were a handful of shorter power climbs. The weather was far from perfect this year due to hurricane Hannah leftovers, but wasn’t too terrible. It poured for most of Friday night and started easing up in time for our race, but it was still a wet one.

I rolled around for a whopping 5 minutes as “warmup” before we started. I wasn’t in very good spirits that morning after being forced into eating a McDonald’s breakfast for the first time before a bike race. It ended up being fine but I wasn’t so confident before the race.

It looked like there were about 50 starters on the line. 48 had pre-reg’d and I’m sure some people didn’t show up, but there were also a few faces present that I didn’t recall being on the pre-reg list. If I hadn’t pre-reg’d, I doubt I would have come to race in the rain. Good for those people.

During lineup the officials said that the yellow line rule was in effect. Several racers that seemed to be familiar with course expressed their concern that this couldn’t be right with the road being extremely narrow in places, but the officials maintained that it was in effect. That rule was followed for about 6 seconds at the start before people started passing all over the road. We continued to use the entire road for the rest of the race and it was great.

With the roads being so wet we were slowing down significantly for each turn, and then really coming out of each turn fast. Our average speed was a little lower and the power output was a little peakier as a result.

The first lap was pretty tame and there was little attacking. I’m guessing everyone was in the same boat and hadn’t warmed up much. On the second lap things got a bit spicy. I saw who I think was Chuck Dopfel, Tucker Anthony, and Josh Tetrault (all NEBC) throw out some attacks on the front, so I went up to make a useless attack of mine own. I got a decent gap quickly but I think I sprint too hard when attacking (1150W this time) and I really fry my legs. I might have hung out off the front for 30 seconds or something meaningless when someone bridged up to me, but I was ready to go back already by then, haha. Breakaways are too much work for me and I have a better chance when dicing it up in a group finish. I also stupidly attacked shortly before the hilly part of the course, which made recovering a real strain.

For the next 3 laps I was in total cruise control, and I allowed myself to float almost all the way to the back of the pelican. Every time someone would attack, the entire field would react. NEBC was the only team with significant numbers in the field (and we had a LOT), so pretty much everything got chased down hard.

With two to go as we approached the hilly section Colby Ricker (NEBC) came up the left side and went up the road. Someone yelled “Attack on the left, and this guy is strong!” but he still got away. Actually he REALLY got away, quickly building up a 15-second gap or so. I would have thought he would get out of site and have a chance on this twisty, wooded course, but once again the pelican was alert and unwilling to give him any breathing room. He was caught somewhere along the narrow section of the course.

It was about this time that I got serious about maintaining a position at the front. We weren’t going very fast and were spread out all over the road. I wanted to be in a good position before the hilly section, because there was no way I was going to waste energy moving up the hills faster than other people, and after that section the course goes to a fast downhill into the super narrow road. I got into a position about 4 or 5 rows back which was probably like being 20 wheels back with how wide we were riding.

As we crested the final uphill Mike McKittrick (Cambridge Bicycles) goes to the front and hammers it down the hill. I don’t think he had any teammates in the race at this point, so I’m not sure what the intent was, but I certainly appreciated it because no one was passing me and I held onto my good position. We slowed down maybe a little bit as he pulled off going over the narrow road section.

With maybe 1500m to go I believe Josh Tetrault and Chuck Dopfel (NEBC) were on the front drilling the pace. The pelican was all strung out and I was about 10 wheels back. As we went around the two ~90-degree turns, two riders went down and slid across the pavement to the outside of the turn. One rider crushed into a hay bail and the other rider’s bike went cart-wheeling across the lawn of the house on the corner.

John Gibbons (NEBC) got caught up right in the middle of this disaster and was forced off the road onto the same lawn. He then pulled off one of the most heroic moves I’ve seen to date in bike racing. With the two racers crashed on either side of him, he stayed upright and successfully navigated his way across the wet line, around a tree, through a row of bushes on the property line, across the neighbor’s front lawn, and right back into the race! He went on to make an amazing 6^th place finish.

I was forced to slow down a bit as a result of the crash, and then had to make a somewhat serious 1000W for 5s sprint to keep a good position. The leadout train was really hauling despite the crash. It was Chuck Dopfel (NEBC) just crushing it on the front. I was about 5 wheels back and was filling up on lactic acid before we even reached the left hand turn to the final 300m climb to this finish.

Chuck brought us to the turn and pulled off just after. He must’ve been spent. I tried to sprint but could barely move my legs by that point. Colby and John were right in front of me, and I think they must’ve been in the same boat as me. Williams College guy came flying around me on my left and made a strong finish. Another races in a yellow and green kit managed to come around us as well. The guy that won finished way up the road, opening up a 2 second gap in that last sprint. His legs must’ve been feeling good.

I crossed the line in 8^th, Colby 7^th, and John 6^th. I blame the crash for my finish not being better, because my positioning after it was nearly perfect in my book. Once again I need to be careful not to get too excited and sprint too hard before I have to finish. 1000+ watt efforts really tax the system, and I think in this situation a more gradual 500 or 600W effort for 15 seconds or so would have done the trick. Winning was probably not a possibility with the leader having such a big gap, but a top 5 or podium finish should have been within reach today.

2008 Green Mountain Stage Race - Cat 4A

The Green Mountain Stage Race is becoming my end of the season finale race. It’s the longest race in the area and even the “flat” stages seem hilly. This type of race doesn’t suite me at all, yet I still consider it to be the most fun race of the season. Vermont is the perfect location for a stage race and non-climber types like myself can focus on the sprinter’s competition or aim for stage victories.

The 2008 version of GMSR was almost entirely different from previous years. First off, it was time based instead of points based. The prologue was an ITT with a mix of climbing and flat stuff instead of the mass start App Gap hillclimb. The Stage 1 Circuit Race, which is really more of a road race, was moved from the traditional course to a location west of App Gap. The new circuit race was longer (~65 vs. ~55 miles), and had a moderately pitched climb that was a little bit longer than the old course. Stage 2 went over Brandon Gap instead of Middlebury Gap due to water damage on the road. This change lengthened the total distance from ~66 miles to ~75 miles and moved the sprint line about 9 miles closer to the start. The Brandon Gap climb is longer but more gradual than Middlebury Gap. The Stage 3 downtown criterium in Burlington was the same course, but lengthened to 34 laps (20 miles) to meet the minimum distance requirement for upgrading.

NEBC fielded 5 racers in the cat 4a, including Keith, Colby, Oscar, Ian, and myself. Big Time raced for NCC and shared a condo with me. The girlfriends also came along and played a huge support roll including working feed zones and cooking when we were too tired to move. I don’t think I would have been capable of feeding myself adequately each day after racing, so this really was huge.

GMSR Prologue – ITT

5.6 miles long. The first 2 miles or so climb at roughly 5% average gradient with the steepest pitches taking my speed down to about 8 mph. After that the course is flat to slightly downhill. With 500m to go there is a dip in the course, where you hit 40+ mph then climb up 10% grade for 100-200m. No TT bikes were allowed, although aero helmets and disc wheels were.

Racers with options like myself were forced to decide between going with heavier but more aero equipment or lighter but less aero equipment. For me this meant choosing between using my powertap rear wheel with the disc cover (~1600g) or my rear 44mm carbon wheel (~850g). I went with the heavy powertap wheel not only for aerodynamics, but for the pacing benefit of having a power meter.

Warmup was decent but casual and involved mostly spinning around nearby roads. We did make one above threshold effort on the nearby Lincoln Gap road. Total warmup was somewhere around 20-30 minutes and finished about 2 or 3 minutes before my start. My quads had an odd twitch in them but otherwise felt loose and good to go.

I put my bike in the small chainring for the start and left it there until the climbing ended after the first 2 miles or so. In the first 200m or so I felt like I was soft pedaling, yet when I looked down my JM read 400W. I was targeting an average of 300W so this was way too high, despite feeling super easy. After reducing my effort to 300W I felt like I was doing a recovery ride. I’ve never averaged more than 285W for a TT longer than 15 minutes, so this was a good sign, especially considering that my body weight is at an all time low of 163-165 lbs.

After the first 5 minutes I had averaged 316W, and I was overtaken by the racer staged 30 seconds behind me. He was absolutely killing it up this hill. I tried increasing my power output to something that more closely reassembled his speed, but this brought my power output to 400-450W. This kind of pace would surely make me crack, so I settled back in at around 300W.

When the gradient leveled off I put it in the big ring and kept the power on the 300W cruise control. I was working hard but was concerned about blowing up like I have in so many other time trials this season. I really found a good rhythm on the flats and felt like I was flying, hitting a high cadence in the 53x11 on one occasion.

I had taped the mileage of significant course landmarks to the top tube of my bike, and I was counting down the mileage to the dip before the finish. My speed was as high as I could get it as I started the steep but short descent. I tucked into a tight bullet position and kept my legs as loose as possible for the final climb. As I rolled up the steep final pitch, Erica, Jamie, and Tim were standing there screaming at me to go, and I was able to give just about everything I could to the finish. It was a little bit tricky shifting from the 53x11 down to something like a 53x17, and my cadence got down to about 50 in the process.

After crossing the finish I looked down at my average power and read 313W, by far a new best. I didn’t read my time off of my bike computer before pressing lap reset, but I was confident that this would translate into a fast time. I was wrong. My finish time was 17:35 which was a good 2:20 down from the leaders and put me into 54/58^th place. Not at all the result that I was looking for. I just can’t seem to figure out how to make myself go up hill fast. Oh well, GC wasn’t really my goal anyways so the focus shifted entirely to the Sprinter’s Competition and stage wins.

Colby, Kieth, Oscar, and Ian all put in respectable times but were each about a minute back, so we did not have a strong GC contender to protect.

GMSR Stage 1 – Bridges Resort Circuit Race

Racers staged about 5 miles from the circuit, then did 2 laps that were around 29.5 miles each for a total of 64 miles. The course was selected by the race organizers with the intent of having a bunch sprint at the finish. In Massachusetts this might be a couple hundred feet of climbing but in Vermont it meant a long gradual climb with somewhere around 1,000 feet of vertical gained. The flat finish with a downhill approach would suite me well, but the real race for me was to maintain contact over the climbs.

The neutral start was nice and easy but that changed immediately after going live. NY Velocity had the largest team in the race and seemed determined to take control. I’m not sure exactly what was going on at the front, but we were strung out single file for the first several miles and everyone was hurting. After 10 miles or so of this we finally bunched up and the pace slowed. Break attempts were going off the front but nothing was serious and everything stayed with sight.

The KOM line was about 20 miles in. On the profile it looked like the climb gained about 1,000 total vertical feet over 10 miles, but I didn’t even really notice we were climbing until I saw the “5k to KOM” sign. The pace stayed very manageable almost the rest of the way to the KOM.

After making the right-hand turn onto the “Baby Gap” road the pace picked up and we were a little over 1k from the KOM. I was in the mid-front, maybe 20-25 racers back out of 60. At 500m to KOM the gradient got steep and the pace switched from moderate to brutal. From where I was positioned things looked chaotic because some racers were sprinting for the KOM and others were trying to maintain a consistent pace. I felt comfortable still and figured I might as well stay close to the front over the KOM since there is only 500m to go. I think I cross the KOM line in the front 10 or 15 wheels.

It was after the KOM that my race went sour. Instead of going downhill and giving me a chance to rest, the road continued to go uphill. On top of that, the pace continued to be hard as if people were attacking after a prime lap. This put me into nuclear explosion mode and I felt like I was pedaling through sand. I fought as hard as I could to stay on and gave myself a bit of an asthma attack. Since I was so close to the front, I got to watch the majority of the stretched out pelican go by and there was nothing I could do. I soft-pedaled for maybe 3 or 4 minutes before hopping in a chase group.

Ironically, the chase group that I ended up in contained Big Time. I was pretty pumped to have a friend to ride with at this point. The four of us hammered down Baby Gap and continued to hammer after making the right-hand turn onto 116N.

After several miles of chasing I was sure that I had a flat. This seemed like way too much work for how slow we were going and it looked like my rear tire was bulging under my weight. I gave up hopes of the chase and checked my tire, but it was fine. Funny how you can convince yourself that it’s the bike’s fault you’re going slow when it’s really just you.

I started riding again and hoped to catch up with the chase group again, but knew that I didn’t really have a chance. Just then we went around a corner and I could see the pelican just 30 seconds up the road from my former chase group. Darn! I wish I had hung on for just a little bit longer. Big Time ended up falling back to ride with me but I do think the other two made it back on. There were a lot of lessons learned today about maintaining contact with the pelican in road races.

The time cut in each stage was 30%. I figured that the leaders would finish in roughly 150 minutes (2.5 hours), so I would have to finish 45 minutes behind that. That was no problem. Big Time and I rode side by side for the remainder of the race mostly soft-pedaling and chatting. Devastating for our GC positions but those didn’t really matter at this point anyways. We ended up finishing the stage something like 30 minutes down, but at least we saved our legs.

Colby took some points at the intermediate sprint and Keith finished the stage in third place, so both racers took sprinter’s points for NEBC into stage 2. This would play into our race strategy.

GMSR Stage 2 – Mad River Road Race

NEBC had decent sprinter’s points with both Keith and Colby scoring 5 and 3 points respectively in Stage 1. The scoring system gave a massive 10 points points to the winner of stage 1, so that was a good lead for him. In stage 2 the only intermediate sprint is about 12 miles into the race, and pays out for 3 places with 6-4-3 points. The majority of the remaining sprint points would be earned in the stage 3 criterium.

Shortly after going live I found myself pretty near the front. I turned to Big Time and joked that I was going to attack off the front just 2 miles into this mountainous 75-mile race. A gap opened up on the left side and I moved myself to third wheel. The Sprinter’s Jersey was on the front pedaling a light tempo pace, probably watching for any early break attempts for the sprint points.

About 3 miles in the Sprinter’s Jersey must have got tired of being on the front and pulled off to the side. I noticed he ended up getting a little blocked in next to the guard rail so I jumped off the front and buried myself for about a minute before looking back. To my surprise no one was there and the pelican looked like they had no interest in chasing me down. I was still a good 8 or 10 miles from the intermediate sprint and it consisted of a gradual 500 foot climb over Granville Gulch. I’m a lousy time trialist so I didn’t give myself a real shot at making. Nonetheless, I settled into a good rhythm around threshold and kept it moving.

After 5 minutes or so I looked back and could see a single rider attempting to bridge up to me. The pelican looked like it was pretty far back still and not making an effort to chase me down. I eased up just a bit and let the bridging racer join me. This racer turned out to be 220-pound Kyle Jones (Evolution Cycling Club). He had impressed me the day before by not getting dropped over the KOM (unlike myself), so I knew that he had some serious horsepower to offer.

I was right. Kyle joined me and immediately pulled through, nearly dropping me in doing so. As he went by he told me that my team was doing a great job blocking. I really pushed hard initially to share the workload but this was wearing me down fast. Kyle encouraged me to work as hard as I could so we could get out of site, and we did just that. The gradual ascent up Granville Gulf seemed to go on forever, but once we got there the official pulled up and told us our gap was 1m30s. Coming down the hill Kyle nearly rode me off his wheel and I finally pleaded with him to do the majority of the work and take the sprint points uncontested. He happily agreed and kept the power down all the way to the intermediate sprint. We took first and second place at the line.

After the sprint point I was ready to soft pedal back to the pelican when the ref pulled up on the motorcycle and said we had something like a 2-minute gap. Kyle had taken off at this point and I decided I’d ride tempo for a while in TT position instead of just soft-pedaling. We had a nice tailwind and it was easy to keep my momentum going.

I ended up staying away all the way to the feed zone which was 27 miles into the race. I never expected to stay away so long. In the meantime two other breaks had gone off the front and I tried to stay with them, but their pace was insane. I was much happier riding at my own pace. Being just off the front made for an easy feed and I was relieved to be back in the bunch once again.

However, my time spent in the bunch was short lived. My legs were already tired and I was shelled at the first steep pitch, even though it was a small rise. Keith tried to keep me alive and gave me the biggest boost I’ve ever had, but it wasn’t enough. I coasted off the back and pretty much soft-pedaled for the remainder of the ascent. It didn’t bother me much because I was happy to have taken the sprint points. Before falling back I was told that Keith had taken the third place points (3 pts) and that the Sprinter’s Jersey had been trying to chase me down.

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. The descent down Brandon was fun, but I started to suffer once heading north on route 7. The tailwind that had helped my breake be successful was now my enemy, and I was going painfully slow. There were a few other 4A riders on the course that passed me after having mechanical issues, but their pace was too fast for me. All I was interested in was making the time cut. I was sucking down water way faster than I expected, and was totally thrilled when Loraine of NEBC came driving by with a friend in the back seat that filled my water bottle. That was absolutely huge. Even with that extra feed I still was running low on water.

The Notch Road “wall” was brutal and I had to resort to tacking to make it up in my 39x26. My legs were toast. I sat there wondering how I was ever going to make it up App Gap and more importantly how I was ever going to compete in the crit the next day.

I eventually hit Baby Gap and focused on spinning up comfortably feeling pretty sure that I would finish within the time cut. The Auto-Bus was in good form here. This climb seemed to go on forever. I stopped to grab a Dr. Thunder and get some caffeine.

Eventually I hit App Gap proper. I knew from there it would be 15 or 20 mintues before I was done, so I just put my head down and maintained a consistent power output that was nothing crazy and didn’t worry about the fact that I was doing about 4 or 5 mph. About half way up the climb I looked up and around and noticed that there were several other racers around me doing a similar pace, a nice confidence boost. I did pass a few racers before reaching the top, and was pumped to see Erica, Jamie, Shannon, Tim and Matt screaming at me for the last 500m. This really does make all the pain go away and unlike last year, I was able to finish up looking not completely wasted. I finished about 40 minutes back of the leader, a good 25 minutes within the time cut. Big Time decided to take a little detour and went an extra 8 miles. You’d think 75 miles would be enough for one day.

GMSR Stage 3 – Burlington Criterium

Crits have really been my thing this year, but I was not so confident going into this race. For one thing, I’ve had nightmares about this race after being dropped something like 4 laps into the race last year. I’m not even sure that I got dropped last year, because getting dropped implies that you were once with the pelican, and that was not the case! On top of that, my legs were totally thrashed the night before from doing my Jens Voigt suicide move and riding 70 miles alone in the road race. To my surprise, my legs didn’t feel half as bad as I expected while warming up. I guess slamming down 5,000+ calories and spending the entire afternoon stretching and relaxing is worth a thing or two.

Keith was now in second place in the sprinter’s competition with 8 pts, 2 pts behind the leader. Our plan for the crit was to not worry about the first sprinter’s prime just 4 laps into the race because those would likely be eaten up by GC guys driving the pace. With 15 to go we would lead out Keith to overtake the leader and on the finishing lap we would all try to eat up as many of the points as possible to maintain the lead.

Just like last year, the staging was 25% of the race. We lined up off the course, then raced to the next line as the rope was dropped, then repeated the move again and sprinted to the start line. This part of the race is totally unique to the GMSR crit, and I’ve never seen another race that’s done like this. We were literally sprinting then locking up brakes as we moved from stage to stage. Just before we started a racer nearby me commented that he was originally in the front row and was now in the back.

At the start I was able to stay calm and clicked in without any trouble. Colby was next to me behind the Leader’s Jersey, who was not able to click in so easily. I was able to gain a ton of positions right off the start as racers got stuck behind the race leader. Unlike last year we actually stayed neutral until the half way point of the first lap.

Once we went live the pace got ridiculous. It seems like all the GC contenders use their massive threshold power to shell as many racers as possible and it works. The 6-turn, 1-km course really causes the pelican to stretch out when the pace is hot, and it’s a ton of work riding at the back. I was fortunate to have ended up in a good position about 10 or 15 wheels back.

To my surprise, the Sprinter’s Jersey went off the front with 30 to go and got the sprinter’s points. I had expected that the GC guys that were on the front would chase him down, but instead they let him go. I worked my way to the front to try and minimize the amount of points that we would take, but he was just too far up the road. This really put a damper on our plan for the race.

Somewhere in the middle of the race, a pair of two riders went up the road. I don’t know exactly when they went, but I think it may have been with 25 to after the GC bonus prime lap. The race announcer kept saying that they had about a 20-second gap, but no one seemed too worried. No teams were taking control of the race to bring it back. A few random individual efforts did help close things up a few times, but the effort wasn’t consistent enough.

With 15 to go the 2-man breakaway took the sprinter’s points. Keith raced ahead for the remaining points, then attempted to bridge the gap after crossing the line. He made a great effort and stayed away for 2 laps or so, but the gap was too great.

As the lap card counted down to 1, it became evident that the breakaway was going to stick and that we were racing for third. I was able to maintain my position on this course much better than usual, likely due to all the tight corners. So many racers were braking way too much or taking really goofy lines, and this made it really easy for me to move up. I think it was rare that I was not in the front 10 wheels.

With 2 to go Colby and Keith moved up to the front. Their plan was to try and make a 2-man break with 1.5 laps to go. The Sprinter’s Jersey was on the front, and was not willing to let Keith go so easily. This caused the entire pelican to react, and their effort essentially turned into more of a leadout effort.

On the final lap I was 7 or 8 wheels back and the pace got super hard as we turned up Church Street. I knew that it would be very difficult for anyone towards the middle or back to move up now. The guys on the front seemed to be trying to make a solobreak, but were unsuccessful. After turn 3 one rider did get a gap, but he navigated turn 5 poorly and crashed himself.

We flew down the descent and I contemplated making my break there, but the pace seemed too fast and the crash had caused me to hesitate just a little too long. We took the last turn at a super high pace, and I took the turn as inside as possible to carry my speed into the hill.

As we came up the hill on the finishing straighaway, I launched my 100% effort up the inside. I had great speed as we crested the hill and was overtaking the other riders quickly but we had been just a little too stretched out coming down the last hill and the front couple of riders had a nice advantage. I wasn’t quite able to nip everyone off and finished third in the group sprint and fifth place overall. My front wheel was right at the rear wheel of the rider who won the group sprint and I had enough momentum to overtake him just after the finish. Another “if only the race had been just a little shorter/longer” finish.