Norwell Circuit Race 3/4's & p123's

Ahhhh Norwell, it seems like just yesterday that I entered this race for the first time. And now I’ve done this race 4 times. Where does the time go? I like this race. One relatively short sprinter’s hill and you get the whole road to race on so none of that yellow line cramped feeling. It’s also close to home. Good stuff.

I registered for the cat3/4 field and doubled up with the p123 race since it was only $10 (another plus). Pre-reg for the 3-4’s was big, but the phenomenal weather brought in huge day-of numbers. We had a full 100-man field in the 3-4’s and 45 in the p123’s.

Cat3/4

The 3-4 race went first. NEBC had Bernie (who is making a late start to his season), strongmen Chuck and Jerry doubling up after their master’s races, a new racer that I’m yet to meet, and myself. Ken was there too. There were also a whole bunch of faces that I didn’t recognize.

Last year I was warming up with Ken when he got a flat at the school a little ways down the main road. And wouldn’t you know it? The exact same thing happened to me this year. My tubular burst and I was left running back to the car 5 minutes before we start. Great!

Unlike Ken I was lucky enough to swap out my race wheel and get to the start line in time. Unfortunately it did put me at the back of this gigantic swarm of racers which would end up being the race’s major challenge.

Our race was 10x 2.3-mile laps for 23 miles total. It took me 5 full laps to go from the very back of the field to the front. Why? Because there were 100 dudes bunched up the entire width of the road every inch of the way. It was hard to tell from my “obstructed view” seat, but there couldn’t have been much, if any attacking. I finally got to the front by going hard up the hill when a lane opened there. It may have just taken a few laps for a little attrition to set in.
Once I was in the top 20 or 30 it was much easier to move around. The front of the peloton was arrow shaped and not the entire width of the road. Lots more room to work with.

There was very little action though. A few little attacks here and there, but nothing with enough commitment to get a real gap. I tried ramping up the pace myself on the back-side roller but didn’t do anything beyond string out the field.

Approaching 3 to go Stephen Pierce (CB) commented on how nothing had really gotten away. He also noted that a lot of the strong riders may have been at the front.

I agreed, and when we came up to the turn before the finishing hill I went again. This time I attacked hard and didn’t look back until the top of the hill. I’d hoped that a few people would come with me but it looked like absolutely no one moved. Oh well. I settled into a TT position and started thinking about how long of an effort this would have to be. 7 miles, probably somewhere around 20 minutes. I was going to need help.

Around the bottom of the downhill someone in a red/blue kit that I didn’t recognize bridged up to me. He was strong and was ripping my legs off. I may have just been tired. When I pulled off I swear I was working harder just to stay in his draft. That’s not supposed to happen!

The field swept me up right before the hill. It looked like they were working hard at least. I think my breakaway mate surged again to stay away a bit later. He must’ve had a lot left.

Getting swept up at the start of a hill is awful. It was especially bad this time because I wanted to avoid floating back too far in the field with 2 to go and miss the sprint. I dug deep but was able to keep it in the front 20 or so.

We were at 2 to go and a car was parked on the course right at the bottleneck section where the cones take us down to 1 lane. Brakes were screeching and we came to a standstill as we went around the car. I lost all sorts of position and ended up in the thick of the bunch. Stupid. I should have done anything I could to keep towards the front.

After that it was like being in jail. I couldn’t move. Everyone around me was gunning for position but we weren’t doing much more than passing each other over and over. I was in a terrible position when we hit the final turn.

A lot of people popped really early on the finishing climb, like not even half way up. I ended up sort of sprint/coasting, powering through holes then easing off to find the next hole. Pretty bizzar, I probably should have just sat up altogether but my legs felt great. Oh well, that’s bike racing. I think I finished up 28th or which means I probably hit the final turn in at least 40th. Ouch.

Pro123

Luckily there was still the p123 race. I felt like I hadn’t even really raced yet so I was eager to get out there again.

The contrast between the two races was huge, right from the beginning. People actually attack in the 123’s! Good hard attacks too, none of this rolling off the front stuff.

Each lap going up the hill a group would attack. Seemed like it was all new faces each time too. The breaks would generally stick each lap until the long false flat uphill to the finishing hill. Then a new group would go.

My legs felt great after the first race and I had enough left to go with two or three moves early on. None of these moves amounting to anything though. The pace wasn’t hard enough yet.

About half way through the race there was a crash on the right side of the finishing climb. I saw someone go down, and then another guy to his left. It was an awkwardly slow crash. The second guy to go down was barely moving, and he seemed to just sort of tip over to his left side. When he tipped over he rolled, causing his bike to go even further to his left.

I saw all this happening right in front of me. My immediate reaction was to go left, then go left more, and more, and awww darnit… no more road! The dude was on his back, his bike up in the air, and I think his pedal or something got caught up in my bike. I didn’t actually crash, but I came to a screeching halt when our bikes locked together and I had to unclip. Banged my shin on his chainring and drew some blood too.

The mechanic said I needed a new wheel and by the time I got one the field was gone. No free laps in this race. The officials said I could hop back in but that I’d finish a lap down. At least I’d get a workout.

I think I missed the most selective point of the race on the lap I missed. Before I rejoined the bunch there were a whole lot of people that came by me looking like they were just TT’ing on their own. Made it hard to know where to hop in actually. Gavin and Skip were motoring away.

So I finished up the race and thrashed the heck out of my legs each time going up the hill. I was starting to weaken a bit by the end but hey, it’d been 50+ miles of racing at that point. And that's the whole point right?! Boy that was a fun race.