Weekend Race Report from Nashua to East Hartland
Report back from Andrew M….
Gate City Cyclone Crit had a good turn out. Jean and I raced in the category 4/5, Jean then came back to join Matt S. in the masters 35+ race, and Mary Ann rounded off the day racing in the women’s 1/2/3.
The Men’s 4/5 race was, needless to say, sketchy. Take 66 riders of mixed ability and experience, and throw them into a fast paced loop with a couple of technical turns and you very quickly find yourself just crossing your fingers that you cross the finish line on two wheels. For most of the race, Jean and I stayed up at the front, as far away as possible from the mayhem behind, and always in good position to compete for primes and final sprint. Jean grabbed a one place prime about half way into the race and won himself a nice set of Specialized tires. I took a three place prime that was pretty much handed to me when the guy in front of me decided to coast through the final 20 meters of the home stretch. The last half of the race we sat in and put ourselves in position for the final sprint. It was clear that no attacks were going to work at that point. In the final laps things began to get really hairy. With two near crashes that would have destroyed the entire field Jean and I moved to 3rd and 4th wheel, with two riders from “Going Green” pulling the final two laps. This position was oddly similar to the conditions of Concord the week before. These two riders had attempted to pull to the front with one lap to go and pushed the home stretch corner too hard, resulting in a hard crash. That thought didn’t help me feel at ease in any way, but Jean and I were in good position going into the final corner and home stretch. The field accelerated on a slight downhill. At that point people began to break up. It was difficult to sprint on the uneven and bumpy road that took a few hops that, if you hit at the right moment while sprinting, would send your back wheel jumping sideways towards other sprinters. In the end Jean placed 6th and I took 8th.
For the men’s masters race, Jean and Matt looked good the entire race. The field was strong, and a few breaks went off with 6 riders who were pushing a good pace. It seemed like the break was going to stick, but eventually got reeled in. Matt and Jean both looked very smooth and gradually moved up throughout the race and were in good position in the final two laps. A crash in the final lap splintered the group in two, unfortunately leaving Matt and Jean on the wrong side of the divide. Both finished up there, with Matt I believe in the top 20. The results are not official beyond the top 10 because the power went out at the finish line and they did not reconstruct the race beyond the top ten.
And finishing up the caravan, Mary Ann placed 7th in her 1/2/3 race which I don’t have enough information to comment on and will let her elaborate on if she wants.
Sunday’s Tokeneke Road Race went really well. I raced in the 4 race which had a full group of 100 riders. The course followed a 22 mile circuit with two climbs, the second of which end the lap at the KOM/QOM, and finish line. The race started off fast with everyone hanging on really well. After a frustrating end at Bow with the entire field blowing by our break of three in the final 50 meters (and 90% of those riders free wheeling it across the finish line), I really wanted to break apart the group and make the finish run a smaller group. I spent a lot of time at the front of the climbs trying to keep the tempo up and we successfully broke the group going into the first climb on the second lap. The final climb saw a very fast pace. The average grade was probably around 4% which meant with our final group of 15 people or so (still much larger than I was hoping for) our pace up that final climb stayed very high as drafting was still possible at that point. With 1k to go the road had a sweeping turn that came around to a final 2-3% grade all the way into the finish. Four of us went hard at the right time and big ringed it all the way into the finish. I pull through in 4th, very pleased with the finish considering I was ready to check out mentally before that final climb. My legs are definitely beginning to feel the effects of heavy mileage all summer and I during the race I was definitely feeling the aches and pains associated with over training. I am trying to ease off this week so that I may still be in good form to race this weekend in Albany at the Capital City Regional RR. All in all though a great weekend as I move closer to my upgrade requirements for 3! Still hoping to get there by GMSR!