The day after Stafford Springs, I had made plans to make the
trip to Connecticut again to race with Jon.
Although Jon had suggested heading down the night before, I pressured
him into a morning departure, because I had my fill of hotel rooms over the past
couple of weeks. Since Jon was racing
master’s 55+, we had to leave at 4:30 a.m. to ensure on time arrival for his
race – it was really, really early! We
met at the Scarborough park and ride, loaded my gear into Jon’s car, and
started out for New Britain. Conversation
was good; we discussed tactics, and I tried to give Jon the course overview
because I had raced there many times in the past. For those of you who have not raced there,
you have to try it once – it is a super fun course that was actually built for
bicycle racing in the early 1900’s.
Jon had a fantastic 55+ race, where he pushed the pace and
split the field several times. He ended
up just outside of the top 10 mostly due to a last lap effort to ride away from
the field that didn’t quite make it, but definitely put a large group of people
in the hurt-locker. However, I will let
him provide a more detailed report on that race.
45+
Immediately following Jon’s race, I lined up for the 45+
race. I scanned the group to see who
showed up. Again, I saw many strong
riders including Brian Wolfe, Mike Norton, Dave Bailey, and more. I wasn’t too worried about a break forming
and sticking, but I wanted to stay toward the front of the field just in
case. Lap 1 rolled off, and Dave Bailey’s
Audi team-mate attacked bringing another rider with him, who I will call
Sparticus, because he had a Sparticus sticker on his bike. I was concerned because it looked like it
might be an evil Audi plan, so I bridged across as quickly as possible, only to
be joined by Dave, the other Audi rider, a few seconds later. Sparticus seemed strong, and I knew Dave was
super strong because I have seen him ride away from the field in the past, so I
really thought we might stick a surprise break. We took turns working to increase the lead,
which unfortunately began to shrink within a lap, and we were eventually
caught.
A couple of laps later, a tall Sunapee racer jumped off the
front and was soon joined by Sparticus.
I decided not to join, but instead to sit near the front in case I had
to bridge at any point. The field wasn’t
in a rush to catch them, but they didn’t really allow the group to gain much
more than 5-10 seconds, so I wasn’t too worried. They stayed away for a few laps, then I could
see the gap grow to 15-20 seconds, which started to cause a bit of
concern. I rolled to the front to take a
pull and speed up the pace to bring them back, hoping that others would help
out, but they seemed to be satisfied with my effort. Since no-one was pulling through, I spent the
next lap closing down the gap without going too deep. I wanted to remain fresh for a big sprint.
Once we were back together, the race proceeded with several
soft attacks, which were quickly brought back.
I continued to monitor and go with anyone who seemed strong. Nothing stuck for more than ¼ of a lap.
With 5 to go, I went into the finish plan: Stay in the top 5, continue to move forward,
cover any late attacks, and stay positioned for a big sprint. By this point Mike Norton (a.k.a. Terminator),
Sparticus, Tall Sunapee, and The Audi guys were mixing it up at the front. Sparticus tried to get away a couple of
times, so I stuck to his wheel. Terminator
was doing his usual bumping, and one of the Audi guys was particularly
sketchy. As we were coming into the last
lap, I got bumped by Sparticus and went into the dirt for a second, but I was
able to slide back into the group and only lose a couple of places – so instead
of being 3rd wheel, I was riding around 6th. Terminator then put in a big surge down the
right side and brought a small number of riders with him – crap, now I was in
10th-12th place.
On the back stretch before the final turn, I got out of the saddle to
move up on the left side – I was able to gain a few positions, but was still
not where I wanted to be. We came into
the final turn, I was on the inside line, and came out of the turn somewhere in
the top 20. Bummer, the outside line
ended up being MUCH faster. I started my
sprint about 300 meters from the line and felt fast, but was only able to get
by about 7 riders, so I ended up 13th. Pretty disappointing because I should have
done much better, but still a solid result.
Data afterward showed that my sprint topped out just shy of 39 mph, so I
am happy with everything except my final lap position and line choice.
Pro-3
We had to wait around the entire day for the Pro-3 race to kick
off, so we spent a good part of the day watching races, which included another
strong showing by Jon in the category 4 race.
During the waiting period, I elevated my legs, stayed in the shade,
fueled, and hydrated. I know the group
that was lining up at the start, so my goals were far less ambitious than they
were for the 45+ race. I wanted to move
effectively though the field throughout the race, feel good at the end, and
squeak into the top 20 so I could hit a pay-out. Having almost 100 fit racers line up with me
would make this a reasonable, but sufficiently lofty goal.
The race was fast, averaging 28.7 mph, and temps were in the
90s, so I focused on moving up whenever possible (if you aren’t moving up, you
are moving back), and I made sure that I remembered to drink throughout the
race. Several small breaks went off the
front of the group, but I wasn’t planning on being that active, so I stuck with
my plan. I would move up on a long
sweeping uphill turn on the back side, and I would move up again on the long
stretch through the start/finish area. I
found that as long as I was willing to get in the wind and throw down some
wattage, I could move up whenever I wanted. The entire race was a lot of fun, good
surges, close riding, and a large enough field to keep me on my toes until…
With 4 laps to go, I was riding about 1/3 of the way back
in the field, and was starting to solidify my position in the top 1/4 well before
the final two laps, because I knew that moving up at that point would be really
tough. On the sweeping uphill turn,
Jeremy Powers made an abrupt move to the right to shift to the outside, and he
subsequently pushed a rider into the curb which started a chain reaction and brought down several riders. I was
quickly closing in on the “pile” without any gaps to ride through, so I
continued to slow as quickly as possible and targeted the lowest section (two
bikes with overlapping wheels on the ground).
As I hit the bikes, my bike started to endo, so I unclipped and somehow
was able to leapfrog my handlebars, jump the “pile”, and land on my feet on the
other side. I quickly looked back and saw
my bike on top of a rider, so I grabbed it to take off and chase the field. Crap, my chain was off and jammed outside of
my 11 – it took a few seconds to get it back on and start rolling again. While I was fixing my bike I heard one rider
moaning and saying ”I dislocated my shoulder”, another rider said “I think I
broke my wrist”, and another was complaining about a broken clavicle, so
all-in-all I considered myself lucky.
Next up is the Yarmouth Clam Festival race - I think my fitness is there, and I am ready!
Thanks for reading...
Jeff
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