Executive Summary: 7th place
Pre-race
Pre- pre-race
It’s good to have a home race. The drive is easy. You feel like the day is good no matter what your result because you marshaled, helping other people have a fantastic time racing their bikes. You have a great cheering section. All these things were true today at the Beanpot Crit, hosted by Tufts and impossible to pull off without the hard work of many Tufts and TeamQuad club members.
After marshaling from 9-12, I grabbed a quick lunch (well, quick once I waited in line for half an hour) from the Boloco on Boston Ave., a major sponsor of the race weekend. The burrito was tasty and was a solid addition to my breakfast of Trader Joe’s Honey O’s. Mmmmm. I was done around 1— time to think about getting ready to race.
"Think about"?. "Take my sweet time" is more like it. Fast forward → 2:45. I’ve just finished pinning my number to my skinsuit. I duck into my car and quickly change, checking my pin-job for quality. Something to be aware of is Flappy Number Syndrome, a sure sign of an inexperienced racer, and something that kills my concentration when I come down with a bad case. Luckily, I pinned it right the first time, and my number needed no adjustments.
Warm-up
Hop on the trainer between Ian and Brian V., two of my team-mates in the race. The sun had gone behind a cloud, so I put on my sweatshirt (I really need to pick up a QuadCycles long-sleeve jersey or thermal in the next clothing order). I did a couple of short efforts, but I really just wanted to loosen the legs up, as I’d put in a solid effort at Charge Pond the day before. I knew it would be fast from the whistle, as Brian’s plan was to have him and Ian go all-out for the first five laps, in order to blow the field apart, and hopefully end up with Eric S. and myself in the final group, ready to execute a lead-out down Professors Row on the final lap.
Racin’
The First Third
If only all good plans could be executed successfully. Actually, Brian did his part pretty well. QuadCycles got the front-line call-up, crucial for good position through Turn 1 and Turn 2, the tightest turns on the course, and early selection-makers. Brian got the hole shot, with Ian and myself sitting 4th and 5th wheel between Turn 1 and Turn 2. However, Lady Carnage called early today, causing the over-eager (SMCC?) racer sitting third wheel (and who clearly didn’t pre-ride the course) to lose traction in Turn 2 and wipe out. I was able to squeak by his still-vertical bike after slamming on my brakes and almost skidding out myself, but I was trying to turn a 53-15 or so from a near-standstill— it was a lot like the first few stirs of a new jar of all-natural peanut butter— slow going. Brian, to his credit, kept his head down and didn’t let up on the gas. If he had, there likely would have been a larger lead group after five laps, which would have hurt my chances down the road. Also to his credit, it took the chasers ’til the end of the second lap to catch him, at which point he was near-spent, having broken wind in an all-out sprint for almost 2km. Gutsy risk for your teammates’ benefit. Hats off to BV.
The pain didn’t want to let up there. People were still itchin’ to go fast, so the pace was high for most of the first third of the 25-lap race. No one seemed to be putting in attacks outright, just driving the pace to test the legs and get a feel for the course. I felt pretty good on the course, this being my third year racing it. I found I was able to corner harder and sharper than most of the other riders, using that to my advantage on Turn 2 to maintain speed, and through the chicane of Turns 3 & 4 to get me up the short rise and into the slight-downhill of Talbot Ave. The short, punchy hill of Latin Way was also good for me, as short, rapid accelerations, rather than more-sustained efforts at a lower intensity, are a strength of mine.. The killer false-flat that is the first half of Professors Row, however, was just that. Killer. Every time.
The Middle Third
Other than general pain from a high rate of speed, not much of interest happened in the middle part of the race. The Yale rider and one of the Team NERAC riders in the lead group with me seemed indecisive about whether they wanted to go two-abreast through Turn 2 and then get dropped trying to accelerate down Whitfield, so I seemed to alternate positions with them multiple times on successive laps, as first they insisted on going inside me on the turn, causing me to drop back for speed and safety (how often are those two related?), but then they would let 3- to 4-length gaps open up after the turn, and I’d need come around them in order to not get dropped. Highly irksome.
I also put in one, three-quarter-hearted attack somewhere around the exact middle of the race. I accelerated up the right side through the intersection of Pro-Row and Packard Ave, establishing a slight gap, and I took Turn 1 and Turn 2 without touching my brakes. Heaven. I peeked over my shoulder once on Whitfield, once on Talbot, and knew that I had at least two people with me, and probably the whole group just strung out behind, I let off the gas after coming around Turn 6, making sure to let someone else take the wind for a while, while I recouped* and everyone regrouped.
The Final Third
It’s still amazing to me how it always happens: the last five laps (excluding the last one, sometimes two) are the slowest of the race. No one was interested in doing any work, and if a chase group had been closer on our tails, they might have caught us. I was able to move around pretty much at will, but I didn’t get good position (it was mostly mental I think my legs could’ve done it) going into Turn 1 on the bell lap. That wasn’t a huge deal— a Team NERAC rider had a bit of a gap— and I felt confident that the group would pull him back in. I’m not positive, but I think I was wrong (we never caught him), as the NERAC guys went 1-2. Anyway, my bigger tactical error was not going around the two collegiate guys in the group sooner. Yale-guy and Pierre from BU had both raced earlier in the day, and I should’ve known that their finish-line power would be the first thing to go. I was behind Yale coming out of Turn 6 on the final lap, and had to accelerate around both him and Pierre, and I didn’t have a wheel for most of the last straight-away. By the time I was around them, the lead five or six riders had a good gap, and I was only able to nip one other guy at the line, for a 7th place finish. However, I was quite pleased with the way my legs held out for the intense opening to the race (I sprained my ankle right around New Year’s, so that’s put me back about 4 weeks in my training from where I’d like to be), and I had some legs left at the end, to boot. The crowd support throughout the race, from ex Tufts teammates, Quad teammates, and especially the Quad tent at the pit, was indispensable motivation, and it helped me stick with the race when I could have called it a good workout after 30-minutes mentally hit the showers. I’m going out of the country for the next week, but I’m looking forward to more solid team racing upon my return.
*— I honestly don’t know whether I recouped, or whether I even needed to. I’ve been racing this season so far without any sort of computer or HRM. I misplaced the head unit of my Polar S-720 sometime during the ’cross season, and haven’t yet found it. Darn. All my workouts are wattage-based, and my trainer is calibrated for accurate watt reading with an associated computer, but it’s so clunky and ugly (and wired!) that I can’t stand to put it on my frame for use out-of-doors. I know, not recommended, especially not in long-breakaway situations, and, believe me, I loves me my data, but it’s do-able to do-without for 40-minute crits that I know I’m going to take to a field sprint if at all possible.
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