Mt. Sunapee Road Race — Cat 3/4 & Wells Crash :-(

by Brian Vickery

Mt. Sunapee ‘shined’ on us today.  I woke up on Saturday expecting almost anything.  In years past the weather at the Mt. Sunapee road race had been pretty bad.  This year was an overcast day but no rain, freezing rain, or snow (yeah it did snow on us one year).
I lined up for the Cat 3/4 46 mile road race with Shaun Landon and Chris Rehm.  The race itself is two laps with one hill of significance.  We deiced that for the first half of the first lap we let the field do its thing while we sat in the first 15 places.  Of course best laid pans do not last.  Shortly into the first lap a large group of riders went down cutting the field in half.  I was brushed by a falling rider but did not go gown.  Chris got caught up in the crash but was OK.  Shaun was right in front of me so he was good.  But in the confusion of falling bodies and bike parts about 20 guys were charging off the front.  I yelled up to Shaun to catch that group and I’d catch him. Thanks Shaun.  With Shaun’s help I bridged back up to the main field.  The rest of the race went OK.  Each time up the hill the field broke up but usually regrouped a mile or two down the road. For the final up hill finish I was lucky enough to still be in the main group.  Someone yelled out that the hill was long and there would be plenty of time to ‘sprint’ for the finish.  For some reason I let off the ‘gas’ (wrong move). That was the wrong thing to do because at that same moment 15 guys took off up the hill.  My lack of concentration lost me some places.  I felt good up the hill and reclaimed some of my places but I learned never to ‘back off’ on the finish.  In all a 28th place, a fine day of racing. 
 
As for Sunday I went to Wells Ave for some training miles and to help out.  Unfortunately on the final lap of the B race there was a massive pile up that I was in.  I went down very hard.  It took several minutes to get off the ground.  Dizzy and confused Chris Rehm came over to help out.  Big thanks to Chris that day as it would have been a hard ride home with out him. I never saw the entire crash but from what I can piece together a rider was leading a group off the front in a Tour de France or Giro sprint style train.  The lead rider when he was spent did not peal off enough AND he turned his head to see the main field.  As soon as he checked the main field position he drifted right back into the charging field.  I’d say about 15+ guys went down to of them had to be taken to the hospital via ambulance (broken elbow and brown collar bone).  I was very lucky.  If I was any closer to the front I’d be the guy with a broken elbow.
 
Keep the rubber side down!  BTW I need a new race kit…