Sterling Road Race Cat 4 Race Report

by Ian Sutton

Saturday morning was the Sterling Classic Road Race in well... Sterling, MA. I drove out to the race with Mike M and we almost didn't quite make the race on time due to Google Maps' fantastic directions and the well marked toll lanes on the Mass Pike (see: Sarcasm). I drove through the Fastlane which is no problem, should you have a transponder, but much like a roller coaster, they'll send me a nice picture of Mike and I in the car breakin' the law. Fear not, we did make it to the race with plenty of time to spare.

The registration area was pretty crowded which hasn't been typical for the early morning starts thus far this season. We grabbed our numbers and our free water bottle (woot woot!)and I got in line for the bathroom. Much to my chagrin, there was only one stall and one bathroom which complicated matters for all the racers looking to unhitch some extra weight before the race.

After an abbreviated Cro-Mags based warmup and some bike moshing on the trainers we got a little antsy as the parking lot was emptying quicker than if they were giving out free EPO injections at the staging area. I see Mike over in staging so I assume we're lined up with the correct group of riders (see: never assume). They start their 2 mile neutral roll out through the town center (how Tour De France) and thankfully about 10 meters into the rollout someone noticed that I had a different set of numbers on my jersey and that frankly, I look just a bit young to be riding in the masters category so I sheepishly bail out and head back to the correct group. Mike was not so lucky, he did the entire neutral roll out and possibly some racing before realizing he was in the wrong field and just as the Cat 4's rolled out, about a half mile down the road, he comes time trialing back at us on the other side of the road and rejoined the correct field. For Quad representation it was myself, Mike M and Glenn with no real formal team plan for today other than ride smart and at the front and keep our eyes on anything that tries to go away and to attack if we're feeling strong toward the finale.

The first few laps we fairly uneventful with the exception of a minor crash going into the decisive hill at the end of the first lap. The field made a hard right turn on to the climb just before the start/finish and a few people on the inside fell victim to this low speed debacle. Otherwise, no one was really jostling too hard for position and I used this time to get a feel for who was strong, who was sketchy and to check out the course. Virtually the whole right side of the course was chopped up though well marked with spray paint but with the yellow line rule there were times when it was hard to avoid it and at faster points in the race a few people rolled off into the side of the road and were forced to chase to rejoin the group.

Each of the 5 times over the climb I was in the front third of the field and seemed to gain position on the weaker climbers. This also held true for Glenn and Mike although Mike was caught out with a couple anomalous mechanical issues but he was able to catch back on the whole time, even using the SRAM neutral car to make it back to the field without wasting too much energy.

On the 4th lap there was a break of two that had been away for a while and the field collectively decided we've had enough of their tomfoolery decided to maker a concerted effort to chase it down. There was a pretty good train going at the front and Mike and I rode up to do our part in bringing the break back and to help control the race from the front. After only one pull, someone whose team slips my mind failed to pull through and let a gap open up which made no sense, he had no one in the break to block for and when Mike read him the riot act about it his response was "it's hard". The field did end up catching the break on the last lap and I was caught in a lot of fighting for position up at the front for the last 3 miles or so before the climb. The pace was pretty high and everyone was fighting for wheels and fighting for abetter spot in the bunch. When we made the turn into the hill all hell broke loose and everyone dug deep for their best result.

For me this last time up the climb was a little too much and I ended up losing ground coming in with the bunch 2 seconds down on the winner. Both Glenn and Mike finished in the bunch a little further ahead than myself and all and all we put in a solid effort.

There was free pizza back at registration which was a little odd at 10:30 in the morning, but delicious no less.