Working Man's Stage Race Report — Cat. 4

by John Naegle

The race is three stages over three nights: A rolling 6.5 mile TT
with one moderate uphill, an 8.8 mile circuit that uses a lot of the
TT course, with a similar profile, and a points race on the Star
Speedway in Epping, NH. The General Classification is scored on
points over the three nights. First on a stage gets 100 points, 2nd
95, 3rd 91 and so on. The person who accumulates the most points over
three nights wins. The races start around 6:00 in the evening, but
we're required to sign in or pick up numbers by 5:30 which translated
into 3:30 departures from Boston to beat traffic on 93 North. Not a
big deal, but it made for long days.

I did this race 2 years ago right after my upgrade to category 4 and
was solid middle of the pack fodder. This year, I hoped to do much
better. I'd been looking forward to this race when I ended up taking
a couple of weeks off the bike in June and realized that with my
training plan, I'd actually be in better shape for this race than
Fitchburg. The TT was a little bit of an unknown, since I've only
done 3 or 4 TTs this year, Charlie Baker a few times and the Fitchburg
TT where I flatted. I hoped to do well to set myself for the overall.
I felt really confident about the road race and I had a personal goal
to win it. I wasn't sure what to hope for in the points race. 2
years ago, I didn't get any points, so I was just hoping to top that,
but without teammates, it could be a really hard race.

Time Trial

When Ian saw I was signed up for this race, he offered to let me
borrow his nice deep dish carbon race wheels. Ian's girlfriend,
Christine, had the wheels and started her race around 6:05. I started
at 6:40, so there would be plenty of time to switch the cassette
before my start. I laid out the cassette tools by my trainer and
settled in for a good warm-up. I expected to do the course in about
15 minutes based on last year's times. The shorter the race, the more
important the warm-up so I hit the trainer shortly after the 5:45
riders meeting. Christine finished up and I changed the cassette from
9sp to 10sp and took the wheels for a lap around the parking lot. I'd
never been on a high end wheel before -- they felt amazing - I'm sure
they saved me more than 10 seconds on the course. For the TT itself,
there isn't much to report. I finally did a good job pacing myself -
I split the course into thirds and went a little harder on each third.
I caught my 30 second guy in the first two miles and my 60 and 90
second riders after about 5.5 miles. I finished in 14:56:00, 4th
place (88 points) and 13 seconds behind Jordan Winkler (100 points)
from Cambridge who won the Fitchburg TT. I may have been able to do
a little better by pre-riding the course - there were a number of
sharp turns that I could have gone through faster. But, 10 seconds
slower would have put me in 7th; I owe Ian a few beers for letting me
borrow those wheels.

Circuit Race

We did 4 laps of the 8.8 mile circuit. I felt really good going into
the race. I did a little warm-up on the trainer, stretched, sat
through the riders meeting, and did another 10 minutes on the trainer
before the start. 42 of us rolled out with the usual set of
instructions: don't cross the yellow line, don't throw trash, etc,
etc. As I mentioned, I felt really good about my chances in this
race, and with 4th in the TT, I had aspirations of doing well for a
good GC position. The race was pretty typical for the 4s: a few solo
efforts of the front and everything coming back together on the last
lap. On our second lap, we rolled came upon an ambulance and some
police officers at the scene of a crash from the Women's 3/4 race.
Unfortunately, Kate Leppanen was down in the crash and on her way to
the hospital with a broken clavicle. Seeing the crash put a big
damper on the race. Please wish Kate a speedy recovery.

The last 1.5 miles of the course includes the KOM sprint, a fast
downhill and slight uphill into a 90 degree corner about 400 meters
before the finish. We'd have the whole road after the corner, so a
few lines would be possible through there. I ended up on the front of
the race into the KOM and rode the yellow line to prevent people
coming by me where I couldn't see them. I think this helped to slow
the pace down a little bit and nobody seemed to be too interested in
punching it up the hill. Jordan Winkler attacked the KOM and took off
down the decent first. I jumped hard at the top of the hill to get up
to speed as quickly as possible and got on Jordan's wheel. Things
came back together and slowed down on the slight uphill and I took
position at the yellow line again to control being swarmed. This was
probably a mistake as it put me in the wind for too long and at the
front of the race for the last corner. I went into the corner 2nd and
came out 1st, but it was too far to sprint. I tried to go a little
easier and get ready for the swarm/jump that was certain to come. I
had picked out a crosswalk about 200 meters out to sprint from, but
people started jumping far earlier. I tried to jump also, but instead
of letting some riders come by, getting on their wheel, then jumping
from my pre-determined point, I got excited and tried to stay in front
of everybody. It was a bonehead move and I ended up in 11th. I
definitely had the legs for a better finish, but the strategy needed
work.


Points Race

I was really disappointed with my Circuit Race result and was sure
that it had wiped out my GC aspirations. I planned to skip the points
race and spend the evening relaxing instead. It wasn't until after I
rode to work (I worked from home the other days) that I saw the
results from the previous night: 11th in the circuit race and tied for
2nd on GC. My wife, Kristen, convinced me that I would regret not
doing the points race. She was nice enough to grab my bike and pick
me up at work so I could race. We got up there early so Kristen could
watch the Women's race. I grabbed some food and waited for my race to
start.

I didn't have a great strategy going into the race - I wasn't sure of
my legs, they were very tired, so I was going to see how they felt and
contest as many sprints as possible and hope to hang on. If I'd had a
team mate, it could have been a completely different race for me. We
could have worked together to lead out the sprint. As it was, my best
chance was to stay near the front and look for wheels to follow for
the sprint. The first sprint came very quickly, each lap was under 40
seconds I think and I was close to the front when the Cambridge
Bicycle Train formed for the first time. They did a beautiful job
leading out the race leader for the sprints -- they were the only team
that was experienced on the track and organized as a team. I looked
for their train time and time again and did my best to find the
leader's wheel and hope to come around him in the sprint. I picked up
quite a few points by sticking to their wheels.

The race was hard and fast - I don't remember much, but a few things
stick out. The Cambridge team did a great job working for the race
leader; they dominated the race. On the double points sprint at the
half way point, my rear wheel skipped out on the last corner (the
track was not particularly smooth) and while I was in great position,
I sat up. I should have jumped back in as I was in good position
still. With 15 laps to go, I was seeing stars and was concerned about
not being able to finish the race, but I ended up behind the rider who
I started the day tied with and found some motivation for the last two
sprints where I took 6 points total. I contested 9 of the 16 sprints
and took points in 8 of them: 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 4th, 2nd, 4th, 3rd and
3rd (double points). I was pretty sure after the race that I had
taken 2nd in the race and 2nd over all, but with the 2/3 race starting
right after ours, it took the officials a while to get the results
posted. After 45 minutes of waiting, results were posted and I took
2nd in the race with 21 points. Jordan from Cambridge was first with
30 and Calder Daenzer from Cal Cycling was 3rd with 17 points. I'd
defended 2nd on GC, but just barely.

Final Results:
Jordan Winkler: 295 points
John Naegle: 257
Calder Daenzer: 252

This was the hardest race I've ever done and will be taking a planned
break for mountain biking, track racing and riding without the
pressure of racing.

Attleboro Criterium Race Report — Cat. 4

by Ian Sutton

Having just come off four days of hard racing and the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, I wasn’t too sure how my legs would feel during this ride. John Naegle who had raced Fitchburg with me was in the same boat, especially after putting in a few attacks during last Friday’s road stage. With a solid crew on board to race (Ken Han, Eric Martin and, John Naegle) and everyone’s favorite late afternoon start time we decided we needed to race aggressively. This was only compounded by the fact that our own Chris Eager had taken the victory in Cat. 3 race with a PRO style leadout train and a big enough margin that he was able to look back a couple times to make sure before throwing his hands up in a well-earned victory salute. But I’ll leave the details of that for their race report.

The course itself was very short, a little under a kilometer in length with a slight and I do mean slight, sweeping rise up to the right followed by a right turn into a bit of a headwind. Then a hard right into a false-flat (I wouldn’t really call it a descent) into another hard right into a quick sweeper to the start finish.

From the gun I rolled up to cover the first move which was almost instantly neutralized. Erik from Cambridge Bicycle came across with me to cover the move and before we knew it we had a 50 meter gap on the field. Nothing serious nor anything we thought would stick that early in the race – however, we agreed to ride the same tempo and see what happens. Just a couple moments later, two riders from Bikeworks/Hallamore bridged across which prompted John Naegle to cover which brought a couple more rider’s whose team escapes me. With good representation in the break and only BRC really wanting to bring the move back our odds looked with about 10 people back in the field working to slow the pace while we increased our gap. However, things are never that simple…

The two Hallamore guys in our move either didn’t want to work, or were simply unaware of how to work in a breakaway. Not to take anything away from them, but it seemed like it was a case of the latter it is bike racing after all and our goal was to make this break stick. John and I took turns being the heavy in the break which meant a lot of yelling at people who wouldn’t pull through, who would sit on the back for too long etc. After about 10 or 15 minutes we managed about a half lap on the field and I knew if we just kept working together we should be able to stick it for the remainder of the race. Then things started to deteriorate quickly.

While taking his turn at the front, Erik lost sight of the pace car and accidently took a wrong turn off the course. While it was pretty funny, I knew we just lost a solid worker in the break and now all of Cambridge would be at the front trying to bring us back. Then, after a few laps sans-Erik the first prime was called. Immediately, I called off the sprint amongst my breakaway companions and the smart people were in concurrence. Then at about 300 meters to the line, some kid sprints for it! To make matters worse, the Hallamore kids panicked and chased after him. Perhaps it was daft of me to think more of upgrade points than a voucher for a pair of arm-warmers…in July. I believe John even offered to give them a pair of arm-warmers if they wanted ‘em that badly. Then about a lap before our break was caught, a guy in a yellow jersey who had flatted was pushed out into the breakaway and not the field. Then, he had the nerve to attack our breakaway! You have to be kidding me; that’s poor, poor form!

Our break had finally dissolved with about 16 laps to go with this guy out there on a solo mission to hold it to the line. My mission was to make sure that didn’t happen. I never dropped more than 5 spots back from the front of the field just to keep an eye on attacks etc. This paid dividends as I covered moves from Spaits (BRC) and Jordan (Cambridge Bicycle) late in the race which somehow ended up with me about 50 meters in front of the field solo which got the team some more air time, though I had no intention of being out there by myself having burned through a few matches trying to stick the break and covering attacks. Cambridge tried to organize a train with about 5 to go and Eric Martin tried to catch them when they were still trying to solidify their position and made a hard effort up the rise but was unable to break free. Finally it came down to the last lap and John and I were still right near the front. NEBC was able to capitalize by getting through the last corner first and then powered the short 300 meter sprint to the line. I stuck John’s wheel waiting to see if he would go and he had a problem with his gears. From there, I jumped wheels and made a hard effort for the line just getting nipped by a Van Dessel rider. I was happy to take third putting QuadCycles on the podium twice in the same race.

Fitchburg Longsjo Classic Stage Race — Cat. 4

by John Naegle

ITT

I'd been looking forward to the ITT for a long time; my goal was to go
under 20 minutes and set myself up for a top 20 overall on GC. Last
year, I clocked 20:38 with a dropped chain, so I felt like this was a
realistic goal. I was riding the same equipment as last year: clip on
aero bars, rudy project aero helment, and 53/39 chainring paired with
a 12-27 cassette. I pre-drove the course and decided to make liberal
use of my 39 this year. Last year I tried to ride the whole course in
the big chainring but couldn't handle the steep kick at around 4.5
miles.

I got a good 30-40 minute warm up on the trainer finishing up about 10
minutes before my start. I took a little too much time getting out of
the parking lot for the mile+ ride to the start line and rolled up to
the start line 40 seconds before my start. This worked out well as I
didn't have time to think about the race and get my nerves up.

Since this year I had a good idea of what my time would be, I set the
count down timer on my watch to 6 minutes and 30 seconds. I recently
used the counter at Charlie Baker to divide the course into 3 sections
with the goal of going harder as the race progressed. Ideally, the
first section would be done a little easier, the middle a little
harder and the last all out. I started my watch and counter when my
30 second man started, got my hold and clipped in on the start ramp.

I started out a little too hard, but realized it pretty quickly and
settled into a good rhythm. I caught my 30 second man after about 2-3
kilometers and had a glimpse of the next two riders up the road. With
a little over 5 kilometers to go, my hopes of a good TT time and good
overall GC position came to an end as I got a rear flat. I ended up
riding the rim for the last 5+ kilometers and came in fourth to last
(123rd) with a 23:07:30 (the last place rider missed his start).


Road Race

Thursday's ITT disaster changed my plans for the road race.
Originally, I had planned to sit in, conserve and go all out up the
final climb. I'm not a great climber -- I wouldn't have a chance at
top 10 - but I wanted to see how I had improved from last year and
compare myself to the rest of the cat 4 field.

Since I was already 4+ minutes down on GC I decided to try and see if
I could get some KOM points. I chatted with Jason Sears from MIT who
was 2nd in last years points competition in the cat 3 race. He had
been in a 6 person breakaway in the road race that swept up a lot of
the KOM points and set him up well for the points competition. That
breakaway had gone on the first lap, right after the first corner so I
thought I would try to instigate something similar. On the first lap
I put in 4 separate attacks, each of which came to naught - no other
teams were feeling aggressive and my last attack ended about 7 miles
into the first lap - right before the long grind into Princeton.

The rest of the race was about survival for me. Despite sag climbing
on the first lap, I almost got dropped from the group and had to chase
back on after the feed zone. The second lap felt better, but I still
questioned why I was doing this and thought that it might not be so
bad to stop. By the third lap, I was well recovered and able to stay
near the front on the climbs. The fourth time through Princeton, my
legs were screaming, but I wasn't loosing position. I came to the
start of the final climb in about 20th position, but I didn't have
legs for anything. I ended up 66th on the day, about 2 minutes down.

Thanks to Ken Han and Bill Maidment for organizing the feed zone and
keeping up hydrated during the race.

Circuit Race

With the Circuit Race coming after the road race this year, I wondered
if people would be more aggressive in attacking up the hill and trying
to establish breakaways. The course doesn't lend itself well to small
breaks -- a 300 meter uphill sprint, followed by 3 miles of fast non-
technical downhill makes it very tough for small groups to stay away.

I got a decent warm up - 20 or 30 minutes on the trainer before the
start and felt pretty relaxed. Knowing that nothing was likely to
stay away, I planned to sit in, stay out of the wind and do as little
work as possible until the last two laps. I started mid-pack and
didn't make an effort to move up on the first lap. My legs felt
pretty heavy the first time up the hill.

The uphill is really two sections - a short section right after a fast
90-degree corner, followed by a flat section, then another kick up. I
settled into a pretty good rhythm: take the corner wide, ride the
first section in the big ring, shift into the small ring for the
second section, then back to the big ring at the top of the hill. My
legs felt better each lap, but the race was very nervous. There were a
few crashes, some bumping, some bunny hopping of pot holes (!?!?) and
a fast pace (average speed: 26 mph).

With 2 to go, I made an effort to move up from my mid-pack position
towards the front. This was a tough position to hold as every time on
the downhill, people would swarm up the outside. On the downhill,
Toby and I had a quick chat and he would try to lead me out for the
finish. A traffic island split the 4-lane road about 1 mile (less
than 2 minutes from the finish) and Toby and I decided we would try to
go left while the pack mostly went to the right.

On the last lap, Toby and I were able to find each other and go left
of the traffic island as planned, but we couldn't really get to the
front of the race. It was too fast for a two person train to drill
the pace and stay at the front for the finish, so we ended up coming
through the last corner in around 25th to 30th position. We punched
it up the hill and Toby took 9th while I ended up in 16th. If we had
been in better position going into the final corner I think we would
have ended up even higher, we both passed a lot of people in the
sprint.

Criterium

I think people either love Crits or hate them. I love them and I'd
been looking forward to this race all year. I got another decent warm
up and lined up on the sidewalk as the category 2 race finished up.
While we were waiting for the 30+ people involved in a last lap pile
up to limp across the line, I chatted with the leader of the race and
found out he was a mountain biker and not a fan of criteriums. I got
the impression it was his first criterium, but I later found out he
has done a few before -- only at stage races. Due to the sheer number
of racers, this is not a good course for nervous riders or a lack of
confidence. We had 105 starters, only 3 fewer than the Pro race, but
only about 50% of the bike handling skills.

We did 20 laps for around 22 miles. I got a 4th or 5th row starting
position in the race to the line. My plan for this race was relax,
stay near the front where there is less braking in the corners and put
myself at the front (top 10) with 6 laps to go and stay there.
Hopefully between Toby, Ian and I, we would have some sort of lead out
for the finish. The race was very sketchy - lots of crashes, lots of
bumping, lots of abrupt line changes. For instance, two people rolled
off the front on the downhill and one of them ended up crashing on a
straightaway. If we went through the two 90-degree corners with 20
people, there would be 25 different lines taken through the corners.
For the first 14 laps, I just tried to stay out of trouble, stay away
from riders who looked unforgettable or braked too much. It was tough
to settle into any sort of rhythm with the nervous, twitchy bunch, but
I found I could pretty easily move up at the 180 at the top of the
course by shifting earlier and peddling earlier than everyone else.

With 6 to go, I put myself at the front of the race. From here on, I
just tried to stay at the front, watching for people swarming and
jumping on their wheels as they did. I was sitting in 6th to 10th
wheel on the outside with about 1/2 mile to go when Toby found me and
offered a lead out. I slowed slightly to let him move in front and
got on his wheel. Toby drilled it on the downhill into the two
corners and when I looked back, we had put a slight gap into the
field. Toby took me though the last two corners, but I ended up
taking the second corner on a slightly different line and ended up
first with 250 to go. This was basically a repeat of last year when
I led Eric through the final two corners and to about 250 meters to
go. That proved to be a little far for a lead out as Eric got swarmed
in the finish and ended up 11th. I started my sprint early and stayed
at the side of the road, so anybody passing me would have to come by
on the left. I got passed with about 75 meters to go and ended up 8th
-- a good result that wouldn't have been possible without being in the
top 10 through the last corner. Despite doing a huge pull and leading
me for a good 400 meters, Toby drove it home and ended up 12th.

Lessons Learned:

* Get your tires in order well before the race. Due to a wheel
failure, I ended up racing different wheels than planned. I had to
change my rear tire 3 days before my TT and I only had a chance to
ride this once for about 30 minutes. I feel like it was a contributing
factor to my flat.
* Two person lead out trains are really hard to time correctly.
* Category 4 fields are very passive. Don't expect people to attack
and establish breakaways.
* Category 4 fields tend to attack off the front. Its hard to attack
effectively off the front - its much better to sit 20 riders back, and
pass the front of the field at high speed, rather than trying to jump
off the front. Jumping off the front just ups the pace for the whole
group.
* Mountain bikers do very well in the cat4 race at Fitchburg (last two
winners were semi-pro/expert level racers).

Boloco Heartbreak Hill Grand Prix — Cat. 4

by John Naegle

Everybody was nervous about turns 3 and 4 (a narrow left-right combo
about 300 meters after the start). We lined up 20 wide and 5 deep on
a road that would only support 6-8 wide after 50 meters and then 2-3
through the left-right combo. I started in the front row and jumped
hard to take the hole shot and stay out of trouble. Ended up second
and able to go through without braking on the first lap. For the next
4 or 5 laps, I settled into a good rhythm and stayed top 15 for the
rest of the race. I ended up going a little over threshold each time
up the hill, but wasn't losing places unless people were punching it
hard, in which case I either cornered better or used my greater mass on
the downhills to move back up. With 3 to go Collin Huston from
CLNoonan put in the only real attack of the race. He dangled 10-15
seconds off the front for 1/2 a lap. I bridged across to him on the
downhill (proving that breaks were doomed in hindsight) and traded
pulls with him for a little bit. We were pretty quickly absorbed,
but at least it felt like a bike race — so many races go by without
any attacks. Toby was looking really strong the whole race, so I
decided to try and lead him out if I could get into good position.
Lost a few positions the last time up the hill. Toby was probably top
6 at this point and I was around 15th. Somebody in a Caisse d'Epargne
jersey ended up leading the group through the last corner… He ended
up braking really hard and dangerously slowing the whole group down.
After the last corner it was slightly uphill for 50 meters than about
a 1km downhill to the finish. Somebody took a flier and almost held
it to the end (he took second). It was basically impossible to move
up on the downhill so I couldn't do much to help Toby. I sat right on
the yellow line until we had the whole lane then jumped (at 40+ mph, I
don't think it was much of a jump) but was able to move up from around
15th to 7th. Somebody drifted into me during the sprint and we
almost locked handlebars, but neither of us panicked and we held it
upright. Toby ended up 4th and I was 7th.


by Eric Martin

My first lap I was mid pack sitting in and getting the feel for what was a
sketchy set of initial turns due to some bad bike handlers near my flanks.
At first, I didn't go for the hole shot even though I had good position b/c
I still felt wonky from the Thai food of the prior evening and the
subsequent dehydration I felt at the start. Still, it felt good to be at the
races and confident I could regain my early season form. At about lap two,
something felt funny. My right felt funny and my pedal efforts did not
translate the usual accelerations/power that I can generate and had
difficulty hanging on. I literally was spit out from around 20th to off the
back on the top of the a climb that usually suits my style of riding.
Finally, after my third time into the chicane while leading a chase group of
maybe 5, my pedal shot off of both my pedal spindle and then my cleat. I
looked for the hay bales and/or a soft landing but managed to stay up
and slow to a stop.

From that point on, my race was over as I pedaled with one leg with my tail
between my legs over to Eager, Silva, et al. I am lucky that I didn't go
down, and I felt shaky for at least 30' afterwards. I suspect, and in
retrospect, that the failure occurred on the downhill where we were going
~40 mph, and that my cleat was sliding along the spindle into the first
series turns.

Yes, these are the recalled Time pedals, and yes, they have failed once before
on a very fast descent. I did add Loctite to the threads following my 1st
failure, but this was not enough.

I can no longer recommend Time pedals to others.

Results on VelocityResults.net

Boloco Heartbreak Hill Grand Prix — Cat. 3

Synopsis: 2nd place, thanks to a strong team effort

This race was a new race on the New England circuit, and part of New England Race Week, which culminates in the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. The course was a short (~2.6 mile) circuit, which featured the renowned (thanks to the Boston Marathon) Heartbreak Hill, and a fast, downhill finish in Newton Center.

QuadCycles entered 5 people in the 10-lap category 3 race: Glenn Ferreira, Jeremy Jo, Matthew Miller, Eric Silva, and myself. There were over 70 starters, with many fast riders eying a good result before Fitchburg started on Thursday. However, in our pre-race discussions, we liked our chances, as the finish suited our strengths, and we had a well-practiced lead-out train.

The first few laps were pretty intense, especially going up Heartbreak Hill. There were several attacks up the hill, on the descent, and up the slight rise after the start-finish. However, it became pretty clear that an attack up the hill would have to be quite substantial to stick, as the downhill required a sustained effort to maintain speed, and the pack had no problem swallowing those who took flyers before we reached the start-finish.

I had set a goal before the race to not make any foolish attacks, or work too hard to bridge to any breaks—I'm prone to get excited since I'm coming into form—because I didn't think they would stick, and I'd have my best shot in a bunch sprint. I didn't meet this goal—at two points, I was off the front for no real reason—but I did well to not try to bridge up to the myriad attacks.

The middle laps were a little more subdued on the hill, and I was able to ride in the first 10-15 riders the whole time. The pace was high on the downhill, but I was able to always be on a wheel.

Cutting to the last time up the hill, the pace was high, but not unmanageable. I was sitting in the middle of the pack, on the right-hand side, when Glenn and Jeremy passed me; I knew it was time to get in finishing position. I hopped on their wheel, Glenn towed us up the side of the field, and we were able to move up to 10th wheel when we took the final turn onto Beacon St.

A small gap opened, but Glenn shifted into his 53×11 and closed it. About 600m from the finish, Jeremy came around Glenn, and towed me up to 4th or 5th wheel. I hopped off Jeremy's wheel, up to third. The field (apparently) was pretty strung out, but I was concerned about the field swarming us, so I sat third for just a little bit, and then jumped 300m from the line. I spun out my 53×12 at 130rpm, and had about a bike length lead for all but the last 50 meters or so. Paul Curly, Master-extraordinaire, came around me, but I was able to hold off Eric Edlund from MIT for 3rd.

The clear lesson from the race is that teamwork pays off. No other team was organized in the last 5 minutes the way QuadCycles was. We had an effective three-rider train up the side of the pack to the front. It was so good, in fact, that I was worried another team would see what was up, catch my wheel, and steal the show.

When we got to the front, no other team had people working together for a result. I wouldn't have been in the right position and well-rested without Glenn and Jeremy setting me up. Our result today was truly a team effort, that one of us alone couldn't have achieved.

Results on VelocityResults.net

Myles Standish State Park Road Race — Cat 4

by Ian Sutton

What was supposed to be a cool and overcast day transformed itself to perfect cycling weather with temperatures in the low seventies and abundant sunshine. This coupled with a very civilized start time (Men's 4 at 11:50AM) sweetened the pot even further.

With such a short race of only 20 miles (32km) we knew it would be fast from the gun without the usual chit-chat that seems to make the first few k's go by faster. With Ken Han, John Naegle, Eric Martin and I representing Quad for our field we formulated a simple plan of shutting down any breakaways and trying to set it up for a sprint finish.

Right out of the gate we tore off up the first hill past the start/finish and down hill into a sharp, sandy right turn which would make quite the nightmare if you weren't the first few wheels through the corner having to brake hard and then chase up the next hill. Almost immediately, one kid rolled off the front and after a quick chat John and Eric went up to cover the move and after a moment I found myself up there as well. I guess the first Jens Voigt of the day didn't want a Quad sandwich for lunch and he sat up immediately and went back the field to think about what he had done. Wanting to stretch the legs and help drive the early pace, I kept it rolling at around 25mph (40kph) while John and Eric slowly sat up and went back to the field to try and slow them down. With such a short race and a rolling course, I didn't have the strength nor the intention of trying to TT my way to the finish but simply to keep the pace up and maybe if we were lucky, force a selection and split the field up (This seemed to happen in all the finishes we watched previously). After just under a lap of this pace I was swallowed up by the field and spent the next ten minutes recovering about ten or twelve guys from the front. The benefit of being off the front on this course was being able to apex every corner as well as picking your line over the pothole riddled course. Of course the downside is that you're taking all the wind and trying to pace yourself so that you're not going flat out but just tickling your red zone - something I still need to work on.

The next lap went by without too much excitement and of course positioning was key to staying near the front and by lap three, you could really feel an uneasy, nervous energy throughout the field while a few sketchy moves by other riders in the field forced me back a little further than I would like and it took some work to get myself safely back up to the front. It was not uncommon to be on the side of the ride trying to keep it upright in the fallen pine needles etc. (Cyclocross skills pay off here). At this time another attempt at a solo breakaway happened and the lack of organization from other teams compounded with what seemed like a lack of knowing how to paceline made this move especially nervous and frustrating. By now Eric is driving at the front setting tempo to keep the breakaway attempt in sight and get him back to the field before our next Jens Voigt gets too much of a gap and sticks the move. Eric signals the next rider through to take his pull and he declined touting that it was someone else's responsibility to do the work. Sensing Eric's frustration and my thin patience I opted to burn through a few matches and just drilled it up the right side of the road, dragging the field right up the breakaway up one of the few hills on the course. After going full gas for about 30 seconds, I went into the red and needed to head to the shelter of the field to recover but had successfully put John and Eric near the front. In hindsight it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, energy wise, but sometimes the quick and dirty is the way to git 'r done. Coming through the turns to the start finish the field seemed to be soft pedaling, perhaps gassed from all the accelerations that had been happening since we rolled out of the parking lot 40 minutes before.

On the fourth and final lap, the nervous energy was at an all time high while people who have been sitting on are trying to get near the front for their shot at victory while the group already at the front were trying to keep the pace high and then it finally happened. The sound of carbon hitting the ground. What sounded like a pretty big pileup happened near the back likely due to a touch of wheels and some sketchy group riding, of which there was plenty to go around. I conducted a quick headcount to make sure none of our guys went down but didn't see Ken (dramatic pause…). Thankfully he was in front of the crash just behind me but unfortunately he eventually had to abandon with a loose headset - not the type of mechanical you can live with on this course, not with the condition of the road surface.

With about 2km to go I was fourth wheel hoping that the three guys in front of me were willing to keep the pace high and take turns pulling. Of course this would provide a safer finish and discourage attacks from the field. Unfortunately the lead wheel wouldn't pull off and his pace consistently slowed into the final km. By now we've been swallowed up by the field and I was unable to find a hole to get back up to the front when magically what seemed like the entirety of the field folds over to the left side of the road and I promptly thanked Charlton Heston for the timely move. With the whole right side of the road open I upshifted a few gears and took off up the side of the road. Sadly, I was caught almost immediately but not to worry, John and Eric were near the front of the field where they would hopefully be able to organize themselves into a sprint. We head into the slight downhill right before the uphill finish and things started getting very dicey. Some riders punch drunk, others just appear crazy, thinking they can still win from 50 spots back start sprinting it out for 30th place. I just sat up and let them all fight it out for the finish. John slotted in 9th place, a fantastic result on top of his brilliant 4th place, just off the podium at Saturday's Ninigret criterium while Eric finished in the top 20 and I was about 25 guys back.

Overall it was a great early season race and it was apparent that Quad was one of the only teams that was able to ride as a team and execute a plan to the best of our ability. With that in mind, it's not hard to notice our results are becoming more consistent and I am confident that they will only get better as the season progresses. Very nice work everyone!


Results on BikeReg.com

Tour of the Battenkill Race Report — Cat. 3

by Christian Eager

Saturday, April 19, saw high temperatures one-degree off the all-time record (82°) in Salem, NY. Three members of QuadCycles made the trip for the early-season epic, the Tour of the Battenkill (née Battenkill-Roubaix).

Eric Silva and I did the category 3 race, which started at 11:30 a.m. Toby Phillpotts did the Masters 30+, which started 10 minutes later.

The Category 3 field was nearly full with 96 starters. While Eric and I knew that we probably were not going to place very highly, we were looking forward to the race, which had a reputation for being difficult, rewarding, and one-of-a-kind.

All three of those ended up being true. The most difficult parts of the race were the three main un-pavé (a.k.a. dirt road) sections, as not only were they unpaved, but the majority of the climbs, and certainly the steepest climbs, were all during these sections.

The group stayed together, and the race was not too difficult until the first of the off-road sections, on Juniper Swamp Road, about 10 miles in. The final climb of that section, before a long, fast descent, was .35 miles with an average grade of 9.4%. The majority of the dirt section was well-packed, but the last 100 meters or so was quite loose, and many people ended up needing to dismount and run to the top. I was one of these unlucky folks, and even though I managed a decent cyclocross-style remount, the group was well down the descent by the time I crested.

Thus began the middle section of my race, the group chase. A group of about 6 riders, including myself, Eric, and Jeremy Dunn of Cambridge Bicycle, collected at the bottom of the descent and began a smooth, rotating, paceline for the next 10 miles or so. We caught a few riders who joined us, and by the end we had about 10 people working together trying to chase back on to the group. It wasn’t meant to be, though as we didn’t catch them before the next set of unpaved climbs, which in turn shattered our group.

During the second or third climb of 5 in this middle un-pavé our group had dwindled to 6, and Eric and I were lagging behind the lead 4. After cresting this climb, we tucked in for the fast, negative-5%-grade descent. Just before descent ended, I heard a BANG, and looked behind me to find Eric had gotten a flat. Luckily, we had just passed the second of two support vans for our race, so he was able to get a wheel change without waiting for too long. I pressed on, unsure of how long the wheel swap would take, and still hoping the group would re-coalesce after the dirt section ended.

It didn’t. Or, at least, I wasn’t a part of it. In fact, for the rest of the race I never was able to work with another Cat. 3, and only saw another 3 or 4 people from my race. The 13 miles to the next dirt section were relatively uneventful. I passed several riders in other races, and ran out of water around mile 42. Luckily, this was just before a neutral feed zone (thank you, Greenwich!), where I was able to get a bottle of water to tide me over ‘til the end.

Just before the final dirt section, on Ferguson Road, I was caught by the Masters 30+ field. This wouldn’t have been a big deal, but for two things. Firstly, and frustratingly, there were a few Cat. 3 riders mixed in with the group. Although before every road race, competitors are warned not to work with other groups, it seems that inevitably a few people mix in with subsequent fields when they’ve been dropped. “What’s the big deal? I’m so far back,” they’re probably thinking. Well, it’s a little annoying to have worked for 10 miles by yourself, only to have people you dropped an hour ago ride by on the coattails of another group. You’re not helping them, but they’re certainly helping you.

The second thing was that it meant I was entering the section shortly after the field and their follow cars. The third dirt section was much dustier (mostly unpacked, and between ¼- and ½-inch of loose dirt) than the previous two sections. In fact, visibility at the beginning of the section less than 25 meters there was so much dust. A couple of people passed me on this section; the loose dirt proved to me more challenging for me than it was for them.

On the published course profile, the last climb, about half of which is dirt, looks steep and, well, mountainous. In reality, it’s a long, steady, shallow climb, about 3% for 2.5 miles;the first 1.75 miles is dirt. After the crest is a long, fast descent, and then it’s mostly flat and about 4 miles to the finish. I had one Cat. 3 pass me on this stretch, the last of only four to do so legitimately after our chase group shattered around mile 30.

I was quite pleased to cross the finish line at 2:46:11, in 63rd place. I knew Battenkill-Roubaix was not my race from the beginning. However, I’m glad to have done it and gotten to see a

Congratulations to Toby and Eric for finishing, too, 20th and 76th in their respective races.

Results on BikeReg.com

Rick Newhouse Memorial Criterium — Cat. 4

QuadCycles’ First Win of 2008

by John Buchheit and John Naegle

Under sunny skies on the coast of Rhode Island, the Category 4 men made another impressive showing at the Rick Newhouse Memorial Ninigret Criterium. Nessim Mazrahi took the win and John Naegle placed fourth. John Buchheit finished with the pack. Here’s the way it unfolded:

The race was a timed race. It was advertised as 55 minutes, but ended up being closer to 45 minutes. It began at noon. The course was a dead-flat 7 corner course built on an old airstrip with a right-to-left cross wind on the finishing stretch. The wind direction meant a headwind coming into the last corner of the race. We arrived at 10:30 am and had a quick team meeting. Everyone was relaxed. We decided that because the course was windy and open (the pack can almost always see any breakaway), the race would be decided by a field sprint. As John N felt good, Nessim felt tired from training and John B had yet to race this season, we decided to lead John N out for the field sprint. We decided Nessim would take the first leg of the lead-out and John B the second. John B wanted to see what he had for a sprint and told his ‘mates he’d compete for an early prime. Nessim offered a lead out.

After a good thirty-five minute warm-up and some stretching, we met on the course and discussed the details of the lead-outs (where each lead-out should begin and end, which side of the track would be best for sprinting and which way the lead-out riders would pull off). We felt confident at the line.

After a few laps, a rider from the Blue Hill Cycling Club attacked and with the help of a teammate stayed out for three or four laps. His one teammate in the race moved to the front of the pack to block and chase down anyone trying to bridge to his teammate. The attacker never got far enough out to make the pack uncomfortable. In fact, the pack seemed to understand that this tactic was making two riders put forth a lot of effort with little chance of success. The single attacker, on a windy course and in full view of the pack, was not going to stay away for 30 minutes and his teammate was working hard reeling people in (when his teammate would probably have been better off if he had been joined by some other riders). The breakaway failed as the rider seemed to just wear out.

The first prime was the called and Nessim checked in with John B. They agreed to try and take it. Nessim provided a strong lead-out and soon he, John B. and another rider on John’s wheel were in front of the pack. However, John B was having trouble holding Nessim’s wheel and Nessim opened up a gap. John B., realizing he did not have much in the tank, directed Nessim to try to take the prime. John thought that even if he could come around Nessim, his efforts would only bring the rider behind him in for the win. The rider on John B’s wheel did come around him and looked like he might take it, but Nessim accelerated before the line and beat him. After this event, John B told Nessim and John N that the order of the lead out should be changed so that Nessim gave the final lead out. It was clear that today Nessim would provide the stronger lead out.

Soon thereafter a couple of riders attacked to create a three man breakaway. After a few laps, a fourth rider bridged and for a while they looked strong, building up perhaps a fifteen second lead on the field. The Quad riders remained in the shelter of the pack, riding conservatively. The break’s advantage decreased to around 6 seconds, but it was getting close to the finish and John N. and Nessim agreed that the break posed a threat, enough so that Nessim went ahead to either break up the rhythm of the group, or, in the alternative, allow the break to pull him to the finish. Nessim quickly bridged and when it became his turn to pull, he just soft pedaled. One of the riders in the break told him that if he was going to be part of the break, he had to work, at which point Nessim delivered the bad news: he was not there to help. This seemed to demoralize the break and it soon fell apart.

Before we knew there were two laps to go. John N. and Nessim were in good position, in the front third of the pack. John B. was not, but began moving up to see if he might be able to start the lead out as planned. Approximately five hundred meters before the finish, before the second to last corner, John B. pulled up alongside Nessim and John N., put did not have the energy to contribute. Nessim accelerated through this corner, slipping between two riders, and opened up a gap on the field. John N. lost Nessim’s wheel when Nessim made the move. Nessim continued to open up this gap coming around the second corner and was able to hold it all the way to the finish. John N. took the inside line sheltered from the wind by two riders to his right sprinted for fourth. John B. was in decent position, but after making his way to the front in the final lap, had nothing for the sprint, and was passed by many riders coming down the final stretch (I felt like I was going backwards).

Another great result for the team!

Results on BikeReg.com

Tufts Criterium Race Report — Cat. 3/4

by Christian Eager

Synopsis: 2nd place

I hadn’t planned on making the Tufts Crit only my second race of the season. However, no matter how many races I wish I’d done, I couldn’t have hoped for a much better result. The weather threatened until the very start of the race (we actually had some showers pass through the area around 12:30), but the course was dry, with overcast skies and temperatures in the low 50’s when the race started. There were about 20 starters, four from QuadCycles—myself, Eric Silva, Toby Phillpotts, and newcomer Jeremy Jo, a graduating senior from Tufts.

The race started briskly, as usual; you don’t want to be near the back the first time through turn 2. You can’t be sure who will negotiate it well the first time, and who will take a dive into the wall of hay bales.

Luckily, the group was small, and relatively experienced to boot, so the race was pretty smooth. In fact, I can only recall one crash, involving our own Jeremy Jo, which happened on the long straightaway between turns 6 and 1.

All in all, our team worked well together. We launched multiple attacks, trying to wear down the people we marked as dangerous before the race. Eric attacked about a third of the way through, and one of our marked riders chased him down. Toby and Jeremy took turns riding second wheel, keeping their eye on the group while keeping themselves out of the wind.

During the third quarter of the race, I was feeling a little antsy, so I put in small attacks on several laps, usually so that I could take turns 2-4 by myself, since there were a couple of competitors who weren’t as skilled cornering, and I could maintain a gap without expending as much effort.

With about 10 laps to go, I tried to create a gap with a rider from MIT, who had won the collegiate B race earlier in the day. He clearly had the talents of a time trialist, as he took several strong pulls, but we weren’t able to make a gap stick. This move did split the group, with a lead group of 8 forming for the final 5 laps.

As the bell rang with one lap to go, I was in good position, second wheel. Because I didn’t have much of a problem riding at the front during the first 29 laps, I was confident that I’d be able to pick my position for the final lap. Coming out the final turn, however, I was a little further back then I would liked, in fourth. The eventual race winner, Steven Gauthier, was second wheel, and when the lead rider jumped with about 200m to go, he was on it. I was too far back to ever reach Steven’s wheel, but I maintained the gap through the finish. If I’d been on his wheel, I’d like to think I could have passed him, in spite of his well-known tenacity in the sprint. In retrospect, I should have known his was the wheel to be on if it came down to a sprint, as I raced against him many times at New England Velodrome last summer.

Still, I’m very pleased with second place. My thanks to Eric, Toby, and Jeremy for working for me in the race. The plan from the beginning was to set me up with a lead-out, if possible, and, in any case, to wear down the competition with multiple attacks, and covering any attacks key riders made during the race, which they did admirably.

Results on BikeReg.com

Below is a video of the finish, taken by my brother. You can’t see the final move, but you can see the result.

Cyclonauts Road Race (4/5): Someone call a Doctor, QuadCycles is putting on a clinic!

by Ian Sutton

When you roll up to the line in a Cat 4 event with 8 guys on your team it makes all the other teams wonder what the hell is going on. This Saturday, QuadCycles put on a display for the people and we launched attack after attack after attack and simply wore the field down.

We rode the first 10k at a pretty casual warm up pace and everyone was chatting and hanging out enjoying the early morning cool as the low clouds burned off with the ascending sun. Eventually someone decided to try their luck with an attack and it forced the whole field to stretch their legs a bit. With the whole Quad team riding the front 3rd of the peloton, any of these initial moves were brought back within a few minutes and were typically followed by a counter attack on our behalf which would prove to frustrate the entire peloton over the next two hours.

At about kilometer 50 we happened upon one of two level crossings that were mentioned at the race start, but what we did not plan on was actually having to stop for a train. From about 300 meters out, we could see the "ding dings" come on and unfortunately we all had to stop to let the train pass; the slow moving, half mile long freight train. For a minute, the train's engineer looked at the peloton as we barreled towards the crossing and you could tell that just for a minute, he thought "are they going to try and beat me across the tracks?". Unfortunately, one lone, lucky attacker had beat the train to the crossing by about 45 seconds and he would ultimately take the victory. How Paris-Roubaix circa 2006. While we waited for the train to pass, several people used the time to take a natural break. About five minutes later, the racing - now ultimately for 2nd place resumed. A few chases to catch the lone leader tried to formulate, but some nervous riders were simply trying to ramp up the speed sprint style and really just created a disorganized cluster off the front for about 15 seconds at a time.

The race settled back into a nice, fast rhythm for the next 15 or 20km and then we hit the climb. I made sure to be right up at the front at the start of this climb as its length would surely force a selection by the summit and it was so. The whole peloton came to the climb together, but only about 20 or 30 of us were left by the time we hit the summit. The selection was made and this group settled in for the remainder of the race.

The tempo was pretty tame after the climb, save a few easy rollers everyone had plenty of time to top off their fluids and to eat a bit. I believe 5 Quad riders including myself made the selection and again, we started attacking, testing everyone's legs as they tried to flush out the pools of lactic acid that filled up during the climb.

Quad attacked right up to the final climb, which we had ascended earlier to create the initial selection, only this time we were (thankfully) only going about halfway to the top. I did my best to keep tempo on the climb but really had to dig deep into the proverbial "suitcase of courage" to get up the hill without being dropped. As of this writing, the official results have not been posted on bikereg.com but I'm fairly certain that all of us who made the split, finished within the top 20 with our best placing being Glenn F with a fantastic 6th place.

While a podium finish certainly would have been better, QuadCycles went out to this race to kick ass and take names and that we did. As a team we were very active and very aggressive in the race and made it hard for any other teams to follow us. From the gun every Quad rider had a smile on his face and really made it an enjoyable morning for the whole team. We were the buzz of the peloton and there were even some inquiries into joining the team. Bike racing really is a team sport and today we made it oh so apparent.

The course was great, it had a little bit of everything, the weather was perfect, there were no crashes to speak of and everyone raced with class.

Results on BikeReg.com

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.

Boston Beanpot Cycling Classic — Category 3/4 Criterium

by Christian Eager

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.

Thanksgiving Weekend Double in the mid-Atlantic

by Christian Eager

Thanksgiving weekend means I get to travel back to Maryland to visit my family. It also means I request off my usual Sunday shift at work, and I finally get to do two 'cross races in one weekend. Here's a somewhat-verbose summary of each:

Saturday, November 25
Sutliff HUMMER PA State Cyclocross Championship
Carlisle, PA

In spite of the title sponsor, I decided this would be a good, fuel-efficient race to do, only 2 hours from my house. I signed up for the B race (my first one; my first 5 'cross races were in C) because it was at 11, as opposed to the 9 a.m. C race. The pre-reg list was small, and because I'd gotten 4th and 6th in my past two C races, I figured I'd be able to at least hang with the field and not get DFL. I arrived an hour before the race, got my number, and was suited up with 35 minutes to go. I did a couple laps of the course, which was on the county fairgrounds. It had a nice variety of terrain, a coupe of short power hills (no run-ups), a fun downhill section with several off-camber 180° turns, and two sets of double barriers. I went back to my car to get some water and a carbohydrate gel (silly me, I only brought my skinsuit in my suitcase, so I couldn't stick a bottle in my back pocket). Staging seemed to be pretty low-key, and the B race wasn't at the line yet. I started riding across the fairgrounds to the staging area. I bunny-hopped a small ditch on my hoods, and my handlebars slipped forward (I flew home, and am always wary of over-tightening when I put my bike back together). Luckily, the pit was right by the start, and I found a guy with a hex wrench and adjusted and tightened my bars. Unfortunately, by that time they were at the line, my hear rate was up, and I started the race in last position. That spelled doom, of course, as I was one of the last through the hole shot onto the course, and was playing catch-up the whole race.

The race itself was rather ho-hum. The course was fun, but nothing of note happened. I felt strong, battled with, dropped, and towards the end overtook a couple of guys. On the final lap, I was gaining on a group of three, and would have overtaken them had there been another 50 or 100 meters of pavement leading up to the finish line, as they were clearly fading fast. Sadly, I ran out of road and finished 13th of 21 starters.

It felt good to finally do a race that lasted longer than 35 minutes (I was on-course for about 46), and I got some good handling practice, especially on those off-camber 180s. I'm definitely in a position where I'm stronger than most people in the C race, but lose time on technical sections.



Sunday, November 26
MABRA Cross Championships
Taneytown, MD

This race was the Maryland-Delaware-Washington, DC-Northern Virginia district championship race. Only an hour from my house, I was able to get up for the 10 a.m. C race without much trouble (The B race was tempting, considering my result from the day before, except it was 2 hours later, and I had a plane to catch later in the day). On top of that, who doesn't want to try to win a race?

I was probably the first bike racer there (there was a charity 5k run scheduled for 8:30 a.m.), because I overestimated travel time. There was also a good deal of fog on the drive up, and on the course itself - visibility was less than 1/10th of a mile at times. That delayed the junior race, scheduled for 9:30. It also made me assume that the C race would be delayed. (You already know the moral: don't assume.) I did a few laps of the course (relatively flat, with one short run-up, a couple of muddy patches, one set of double barriers, and a few technical corners. It was a pretty fast course, with a couple of mucky, power-straight-aways), and at 9:50 went back to the car, to get some water and a gel. See a pattern?

Thankfully, I decided to take my water to the staging area and watch the juniors go off. As the staging area came into view, I saw a lot of people on their bikes, and they looked a lot bigger than juniors. I tossed my bottle and high-tailed it to the starting line. The C men, B women, and juniors were all switching their numbers from the right side to the left - the chief referee and race promoter had had a disagreement, and the finish line had been moved for the first race, thus causing everyone to have their numbers on the incorrect side. Big problem. I was in my skinsuit, and had no teammates to help me out. I started undoing pins, but couldn't get the one in the corner on my shoulder blade. Luckily, I was standing next to the referee-starter, and he took pity on me. He undid the last pin, and re-pinned my number on the last side. I was able to grab a spot on the first row (of two), and the race started about one minute later.

The start was a wide, 200m stretch of pavement into a left-turn, and I was in about 7th position. The first section of the course was about 3m wide and not very technical, and I moved up to 3rd behind a junior (who it turned out was registered in C) and another rider. After a 180° turn, there was another short section of pavement, which they were taking pretty easy. My legs felt good, and I decided to attack. "When in doubt, lead out," they say. Sure it was early, but the second-half was narrower and much easier to ride alone. I got about a 30-yard gap, and that was that. After a lap, I had about a 20-second gap on the pair (after the 180° turn on the second lap, the junior rider decided to yell, "I'm going to get you!", but he only faded from there). One of the nice features of the course (which was actual changed at the last minute, to get around a parked car), was a downhill off-camber turn, on the outside (the side you would go into if you didn't turn tightly enough) of which was a wall. Good fun. After the race, I was told a guy ran into it head-on during one of the laps. Ugh.

The pair of chasers were caught and passed on the penultimate lap by a single rider, who kept me honest and working for the rest of the race, but he never got within 30 or 45 seconds, in spite of a slip on the run-up on the third lap. Because the finish had been moved, it wasn't very dramatic - a narrow grass section, and I was passing someone right at the end - but it was a good victory. I gave the mid-Atlantic guys a taste of what it competition is like in New England (my best finish up here was 4th, and about a minute behind the winner at that). Apparently down there B and C races are pretty small, usually not more than 30 starters, compared to to the 50-70 rider fields I've competed against up here since I started 'cross racing last month.

I'm racing the B race in Cheshire, CT next weekend. Hopefully I'll get see some of you there.

And congrats to Ryan on the U15 win at Sterling!



Hopping the barriers in the MABRA 'Cross Championship. Photos by Kevin Dillard

Furnace Creek 508 Race Report

by Emily O'Brien

This year’s 508 started out feeling very different from last year’s. Instead of wondering whether I was in over my head and out of my mind, I felt confident that I’d have no trouble improving over my time from last year. I was still on my beloved 1974 Raleigh Professional, with pretty much the same setup as last year, which has served me well for countless thousands of miles, including two 508’s now, the Boston Brevet Series, and the BMB. It’s not the lightest bike, and it isn’t new, and it has only one gear and no freewheel, but it’s seen me through a lot and it’s very comfortable. It’s been a faithful steed, and I hope it will continue to be for many years to come.

I had two main goals this year: to take a chunk out of last year’s time, and to make it up Salsberry Pass without getting off to walk. I walked some on Salsberry last year, but it was mostly because it’s a long, hot grind, not because it’s all that steep.

My crew this year was my Dad, Michael O’Brien, and my boyfriend Jake Kassen. Jake had been on my crew last year, and is a very strong long distance fixed gear rider, who knows my riding style and habits better than anyone.

There was no detour this year, so at 7 AM sharp we all rode out of the parking lot on the regular race route. A few minutes into the morning group cruise, one of the two small Cateye LED lights I’d mounted to my fork got caught in my spokes (must have gotten knocked when my bike was in the van) and went flying. Nothing worse came of it though, and I had other lights, so I didn’t worry about it.
It was pretty chilly when we started out, and it stayed chilly for longer than last year; when I made the right turn to where all the support vans were parked, I still didn’t want to take off any of my warm clothing. Jake and my Dad had climbed up the cliff on the other side of the street from the vans, and were cheering me from their perch when I rode past.

The early hours of the 508 take you over some moderate climbs that will make you pay attention, but nothing ridiculous. You also start to see roads like you never see on the East Coast: long, straight lines that go on forever until they disappear into a hazy mirage in the distance before hitting some large landform and then glancing off and heading in a new, equally straight direction. They’re either inspiring or intimidating, depending on how you look. You see some tiny object or landmark in the distance that doesn’t seem to get any closer, no matter how long you ride. But on the other hand, you have this long road stretched out in front of you, and another one after that, and another. You feel like the whole world is stretched out at your wheels, and your tires are just hungry for those expanses of pavement.

There was a fair bit of headwind, enough to make me ride hard into it, but not enough to feel discouraging. On the flats I passed a lot of riders who had passed me on descents, coasting while I spun the pedals like crazy.

I reached the first time station in California City and used the indoor facility at the gas station, then headed out. Shortly thereafter, I got to take an unanticipated break when I realized that both of my tires were flat. Jake took the front and I took the rear, and we discovered that both tires were stuck full of cactus thorns. In hopes that they would be a bit more puncture resistant, we took off the Michelin Krylion tires and installed the Megamium ones I’d brought as spares. Jake admonished me that I should have used the Megamium ones in the first place, because they matched my color scheme so much better! Jake and my Dad apparently pulled a bunch more thorns out of the Krylions later, too. I’m glad we don’t have thorns like that back East!

I rolled into the Trona time station later than I had last year, but feeling fresher. There were more people still there than there had been the previous year, so I felt encouraged even though I was a bit behind schedule. I chatted with some folks from Team Bonobo, who were well on their way to their awesome final time for the first fixed gear relay team. I attributed my later arrival in Trona to more headwind and maybe the flat tires.

It was pretty well on the way to being dark when I left Trona, and I remembered the pavement after Trona and before the turn onto the road to Townes Pass being fairly wretched. However, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I remembered, and I rolled over it without being nearly as uncomfortable as I’d anticipated.

I’d forgotten how much fun the descent into the Panamint Valley is. I bet it’s a blast on a geared bike, but even on a fixed gear it’s better than the greatest roller coaster evere built. If curvy descents are your cup of tea, it’s about the most fun you can have on the whole course.

When I got to the base of Townes Pass, there were a lot more other riders still there than there had been last year. I started climbing, and when the road got steep I got off to walk. I got back on when it levelled out, and got off again when it got steep. I walked comfortably, and Jake and my Dad played music for me over the speaker. When I first asked them to put on some music, I heard a flute playing Locatelli….. Hey, that’s a dirty trick! “Hey, no, put something else on, anything but that!” I said, realizing that it was a recording from one of my own concerts.

All in all, Townes Pass went by much more quickly than I remember from last year, and when I crested the summit I felt no desire to stop. I passed a good handful of riders before I rolled over the top, knowing I’d see them again going about twice as fast as me on the way down. On the way down Towne Pass, I tightened up my front brake with the brake release (I keep the barrel adjuster screwed out so that the pads are in normal position with the release open; that way I can flip the release to make a hands-free drag that I can modulate) to drag on the steeper parts of the descent to give my hands a rest, and flipped it open again at the bottom.

When I got into Furnace Creek, it was still later than it had been last year, but I figured that if I didn’t hang around too long I wouldn’t be too far behind schedule. My stomach was feeling pretty gassy, and I wasn’t feeling so great about food, but kept trying to eat anyway. I took a nap sometime after Furnace Creek, feeling myself getting slower and sleepier.

By dawn, I felt myeslf dragging, and I was pretty behind schedule compared with last year. As I saw Badwater up the road (I didn’t see Badwater last year, because it was still dark) my stomach decided it had had enough, and decided to toss out everything I’d put in it. I leaned over and vomited over my left shoulder, and pulled over when I reached Badwater. While I used the outhouse, I heard Jake talking to another rider outside who had dropped out of the race, and started to think that maybe dropping out wasn’t a bad idea. I was so far behind that I was doubtful I’d beat my previous time, and I had already puked with the sun barely up on the second day.

But then I remembered Salsberry. Last year, I got off and walked on Salsberry for reasons that were really more mental than topographical. I was probably not going to accomplish my goal of improving on last year’s time, but damnit if I was going to give up on the one goal that was still within reach: making it up Salsberry without stopping or walking. I got myself back onto the bike and started riding.

The road to Jubilee Pass was longer and hillier than I remembered, and the sun was starting to peek over the tops of the mountains. But on the other hand, I was getting a daytime view of Death Valley that most 508ers never get to see, because it’s too dark.

Mountains in the Northeast are much older and more worn by water and wind and ice, and are wrapped in magnificent draperies of green that obscure their origins. But looking at the landscape of Death Valley and its surrounding region is like looking Geology right in the eye; in the flesh, and in the nude, wearing just the barest gauze of Biology that doesn’t leave anything to speculation. The layers of prehistoric ocean floor sediment are clearly visible in the rock faces where the once horizontal land was heaved up at stress points near fault lines as is typical of the so-called “basin and range” region. The alluvial fans are clearly visible, down to the different textures of the sediment near the center and at the edges. So even though a part of me was dragging, part of me was thoroughly fascinated.

Before the left turn to Jubilee Pass, the road snakes around lots of points of rock, the protruding bases of the mountains. I knew there was a left turn coming, and that it would lead me to the dreaded exit passes, and every time I came around a curve I would eye the grade of the next visible gap in the mountains and wonder when I would finally get to the climb.

There was a good headwind by the time I made the left turn to Jubilee Pass. At first, I was happy to have finally gotten to this point and started the climb, but that relief soon gave way to just wanting it over with. Jubilee seemed to go on for much longer than it had any right to; after all, it’s the short one! Salsberry is twice as long, and it’s the one that seems to last forever! It seemed like I had been climbing for so long that at one point I started to wonder whether I’d somehow not noticed that short 1-mi descent between Jubilee and Salsberry, and was on my way up Salsberry already. My Dad confirmed by telling me I was just a mile or so from the top, and then it was all downhill to the next time station in Shoshone. I knew I was probably still on Jubilee, but I really wanted to believe that I was almost at the real top, and almost had myself convinced that my computer was busted.

When I saw the sign at the top of Jubilee Pass, I almost felt like crying, even though it only told me what I already knew. But I told myself to just enjoy the descent while I could, and to just shut up and climb when I got to Salsberry.

The road pitched up again in short order, and I told myself to just shut up and climb. Jake and my Dad would drive ahead and ask if I needed anything, but I pretty much needed both hands and most of my energy to climb, so it was as good an excuse as any to not eat. I told them I’d eat when I got to the top.

At one point, Jake asked me if I needed anything, and I replied to him, “All I need is a summit!”. The next time the van passed me, Jake leaned out the window and said, “Okay. I’ve got Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, and a bunch of heads of state all lined up and ready to go. You’ll have a great summit…. So what would you like to discuss?”

I would have rolled my eyes, but I was too busy thinking about how much I wanted to be at the top. But I got into a good climbing rhythm, and as I went higher and higher, it got windier and sunnier, and finally I saw that beautiful sign telling me I was at the top.

I sat down on a rock by the sign to try and force down a PB&J sandwich and some beef jerky and put on my long-sleeved white shirt for the desert sun.

As I sat there nibbling my sandwich, Jake took some photos of my bike standing up with the pedal supported by a rock. A gust of wind blew it over, and when he picked it up, he said to me, “Hey, how long has your drag brake been on?”

“My WHAT?!?!?!?”

“Your drag brake is on. The rear brake.”

“You’re ****ting me!”

“No, it’s really on.”

“****.”

“Err, sorry, but it’s really on.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I saw you fiddled with it on Townes Pass.”

“But I didn’t drag the rear, just the front!”

“You must have, because I saw you fiddle with it, and it’s dragging now.”

“Do you think it got knocked when the bike fell over?”

“No, I don’t think so… it’s been tightened. You must have done that going down Townes Pass.”
I had no memory of closing the rear brake on that descent at all, but Jake said he saw me do it. I tried really hard not to think about how many miles (and how many feet of climbing!) I’d been mashing it with my brake dragging as if I wanted to control my speed on a descent! Gee, no wonder I was feeling slow!

Jake rectified the brake situation, and I got back on the bike for the descent into Shoshone, feeling somewhat better about the world. I still didn’t feel much like eating though, and although I choked down some hammer gel and bits of clif bar, it wasn’t enough. At the time station in Shoshone, I got two ice cream sandwiches at the convenience store which tasted about as good as anything at the time. The idea of soup at the Mad Greek sounded like what I really wanted though; all I had to do was make it to Baker, and I’d get soup. I really wanted coffee too, but Jake and my Dad thought it would take too long to get it in Shoshone; I could get some with my soup at the Mad Greek. The guy staffing the time station admonished me that “If you stop eating, you stop riding,” which of course I knew very well, but it didn’t make me want to think about food anymore.

I got back on the road for the leg to Baker. It’s not a long leg, and it has no major climbs. But it’s hot and sunny, and it has been the low point of both of my 508 experiences. Last year I puked on that leg, although I felt much better afterward. This year I just felt ****ty. It’s also a comparatively busy road without much shoulder, and all of the traffic on it goes really, really fast. And about three quarters of the vehicles on that road are campers towing trailers full of ATV’s or dirt bikes, or trucks towing campers towing trailers. Even though I grew up riding my bicycle in Washington, DC traffic and now I commute every day in Boston traffic, the traffic on that road to Baker is intimidating.

I tried to focus on the landscape, which as always, is very interesting, but as I rode on I felt worse and worse. I thought about quitting the ride, but told myself to just make it to Baker and have some soup, and then decide if I wanted to keep going after the soup. The numbers on my computer were climbing very, very slowly; the sun was beating down; I was tired, and just wanted to be lying in a bed sipping a cold beer or a hot coffee. There were hazy lines of telephone wires off in the distance, and something that looked like possible signs of human habitation. Jake and my Dad assured me that I was getting close; the time station was only six miles past the telephone lines, and probably only about twelve miles from where I was. I tried to tell myself that twelve miles isn’t a lot; that it’s less than the distance to work and home again, but it seemed like an eternity. It also didn’t agree with what my computer was telling me. I thought my computer was probably on the fritz, because it frequently goes in