Onion River Racing

Buckley, McGill and I sojourned south to Colebrook, CT this weekend for a couple of days of stage racing. The weather was spectacular and the tiny town of Colebrook is not what I was expecting out of Connecticut (i.e. no burbs and beemers). The TT was Saturday morning and John and Matthew both logged solid times on an 8 mile course that had one up and over climb. I managed to throw down pretty well and placed 3rd, which was quite a relief after having been thinking about those 8 miles of riding ever since they announced this race.

The Circuit race played out as expected, with the groups staying together for a bunch sprint after 8 laps of a solidly rolling 3 mile course. John was in the thick of the finish in the Masters and Mathew and I stayed safe and sound as well, while the teams with numbers duked it out at the line.

Heading into the 91 mile road race there was much speculation as to how things would roll in both our groups. The terrain was hilly, and despite some extended breakaways things held together more or less in both groups. Some hammering in the hills around mile 60 popped some riders but it seemed like we still had at least 40 guys out of 70 in our group that made it to the bottom of the long climb to the finish that started 5.5 miles out. I was expecting the climb to be a bunch of wispy guys (like Buckley) taking repeated flyers off the front all the way up the moderate-grade, winding climb, but after a mile of attacks things settled down and I was plenty happy to ride tempo at the front. The closer we got to the finish line with no breaks the safer my G.C. time was so I was stoked when nobody challenged my pace…

…Until 2 miles out. There was a short wall that we figured would be the sorting location and sure enough the guy on my wheel broke right at the bottom. I chased hard, but he maintained a gap at the crest and once we got up to the top he was away, and then I had two guys with me with a bit of a gap on the next bunch of about 15. Our group of 3 consisted of one guy who wouldn’t pull, one guy who was pulling strong, and one guy who wanted to pull and wasn’t having much success (that would be me). The wall had taken its toll on my legs so the group behind us, led by Buckley himself, managed to slowly reel us in and tag us with about 500 meters to go. A few people came around me, and then with 200 meters to go there was a brief pause at the crest of a steep dip, and I shot through a gap on the right side in 4th-ish, and by the time we climbed across the finish a few guys had surged back past me and just about caught the lead guy. The nasty ref who was marshaling our group (I’m sure you’d all recognize her 120 db voice) ended up disqualifying the winner who blasted off at the wall because he crossed a non-existent yellow line on a corner that was closed to traffic (lame) so I ended up with a 7th place for the day. After pulling our group of 3 back in, Buckley’s attention waned for a split second and he had a group that got around him, so I think he was somewhere in the teens for a finish place, which was pretty damn impressive considering the last three weeks he’s had with the Flu and then the Essex crash.

I was eagerly expecting the Masters finish with McGill being the total distance strongman, and sure enough that orange Limar helmet was right there as their group stormed up the hill to the finish. They were a tight bunch of about 30 and John was mid-pack. Since they started with over 70 guys there was definitely some sorting going on out there and I was not surprised to see McGill make the cut. And for once, he wasn’t complaining about the lowly distances of Masters racing!

So we all drove back into the crazy VT windstorm yesterday with satisfaction and well-worn legs. Holding onto the 3rd place for G.C. was a definite bonus that exceed my expectations for the weekend. The TT effort may have earned me the podium finish, but feeling strong enough to do battle at the line after 91 miles of racing is equally satisfying.

Long live stage racing!

Nick Uncategorized