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.