Norwell

[Jacob]

As I drove down to Norwell today I was feeling kind of depressed. Maybe it was the drizzle or the lack of coffee, or maybe it was the remnants of my Hilltowns hangover. It all conspired to give me the feeling that I was about to have my ass handed to me by a bunch of cat 3s and that the best I could hope for was to not get dropped. I’ve realized that how I fancy my chances in a race plays a big part in how excited I am do to a race. That’s one of those thoughts that seems obvious once you acknowledge it.

Rob D and Carl were there at the start line. I think that we were all in about the same place confidence-wise. My mood had transitioned from negative to neutral once I got through my warm-up ride, so that was an improvement.

Last year when I raced this in the cat 5, I intentionally went slow over the climb on each lap and allowed myself to drop to the back of the pack. Then I fought my way back to the front around the rest of the course. This year I did basically the opposite. Since I was worried about getting dropped, I hammered the climb each time, usually with a fairly low gear. On the backside of the course, I focused on staying out of the wind and out of trouble and I generally lost places there. The interesting thing was that I was reliably gaining those places back, and more, on each time up the climb. Hmmmm…

With two laps to go I was feeling quite good and riding near the front. The second to last time up the climb I pulled up to the very front and saw a guy in a polka dot jersey blast off into a full-on sprint towards the finish line. I turned to the guy to my left and said, “We’ve got one more lap after this right?” “Yep.” The polka dot guy crossed the finish line 20 yards ahead of us and pumped his fist into the sky to the sound of the ringing of the bell lap. As we rolled past him over the top of the hill, I heard him say, “I thought that was the last lap!” Yeah, we know.

Now I was setting the tempo with nothing up the road. Whoops!

I managed to hang around in the first 5-10 places through the bulk of the last lap. The pace went way up about a ½ mile prior to the final turn, but I managed to hang around for that too. I made the turn cleanly and did my sprint for 19th place.

This is my best individual result so far this year and I wasn’t even sure if my head was screwed on straight at the start line. I’m happy that I went and did it even though I wasn’t thrilled about it beforehand.

[Smudger]

Nice one Jacob. Great result.

[Robd2]

The second to last time up the climb I pulled up to the very front and saw a guy in a polka dot jersey blast off into a full-on sprint towards the finish line. I turned to the guy to my left and said, “We’ve got one more lap after this right?” “Yep.” The polka dot guy crossed the finish line 20 yards ahead of us and pumped his fist into the sky to the sound of the ringing of the bell lap. As we rolled past him over the top of the hill, I heard him say, “I thought that was the last lap!”

Funny you say this, I saw that guy swearing like crazy right after we crossed the line for the bell lap. I couldnt figure out what the problem was. : )

I'll write up more tonight on my adventures for the day.

[Robd2]

My goal for the day wasn't so much about results but about getting in a couple of hours at race intensity. One of these days I really should start working on some better results. My real next goal is to be able to hang with the leaders in a few weeks at Tokeneke.

As I’m driving down in the rain I’m imaging how to ride the first race (M35+). I’ve done this M35+ race before at Norwell, basically all the top guns and state/national champs got in an early break and the rest of us normals had a nice race. My big decision this time was, when the break goes, do I try to go with it? Maybe I can try to hold onto the break, don’t do any work and then battle it out on the final climb?

As we lined up I see all the big guns there again. It’s actually pretty cool to be able to line up with these guys. We roll off, the pace gets hot. That’s the thing about Norwell, it becomes a very intense 50+ minute ride. I think somewhere around lap 2 or 3 I see Jonny B (one of the national champs) launch off the front, its go time. I chase Dean P (the state champ) who is also mixing it up with this break.….

Fast forward to the last time up the climb. My plan had actually come true. The pack is nowhere in sight and it’s just Dean and myself on the final climb. Only one problem, I’m a lap down now. : ) I did get a great view of the finish though. I think at first the officials thought I came in second but I told them I was a lap down.

It took a massive effort to try to go with these guys on that first break and that didn’t even stick. Lot’s of attacks in this race with everybody covering. I think I got dropped around lap 7 or so but wanted to finish.

The 3/4 race was very similar, another hot and fast one.

Overall a great day of intensity work. Kudos to everybody that came out to race.

[PJ McQuade]

Jacob, nice result, sounds like the beating at Hilltowns got you ready for this. Rob, hard man points go to you for doubling up!