Myles Standish RR

[cbusick]

Cat 4. We had 11, probably the biggest MRC team in a race in quite a while.
It was a pretty crazy race for only 20 miles, a lot went on, I'll just tell what I saw and let the others fill in their experiences.

The first lap was crazy. It went hard from the start and was a battle for position all the way down lower college pond road.
There were a couple attacks, but they didn't go anywhere. It was a little better coming back up upper college pond road, but still fast.
Way too much breaking on the turn towards the finish.

On the second lap Scott went on a break that was reeled in. I wanted to counter attack, but couldn't move up to get away. A lone guy with a bigger a$$ than me and Stefan combined went on a break, He had decent diesel power and stayed away for a bit. Then two MIT kids countered, but one fell back. At this point, I'd moved through to the front, and we were climbing on the good pavement so I took off, went by the Tall MIT kid, who jumped on. We got a decent gap of a 100 yards or so, but the pack charged back and caught us before the final turn. I was pretty blown, and drifted back, only to find the pack ended at about 40 riders instead of the 100 we'd started with. On the 3rd lap Stefan attacked, but didn't get anyone to join him. Then we were neutralized as we found the rest of our field at the scene of a bad crash. We were brought back to the start, and held in the grid waiting for the injured racers to be taken to the hospital.

We restarted with just one lap to go. It was even crazier than the first lap. I fought to get up in the top 10, saw Jacob stuck on the front, so I went around so he could get on my wheel. Then a voice behind said I had help and then John Barron pulled in front of me and kept the pace up. I stayed in the top 10, sometimes on front with Tall MIT kid. when we turned onto upper college road for the last time, I got swamped by some riders on the climb and moved back to about 20th. That's when I saw Stefan making his move up the right. Jacob was in about 5th position. As I was fighting my way back up through a gap in the middle, a guy two rows up pulled his rear wheel off the ground and sideways into the guy next to him. They went down, I ran right into the back of him and over. To my left was a horrendous pile up. I got up, saw I was ok other than a cut on my finger. I helped untangle some people and bikes from the pile. Then the ambulance arrived so I checked my bike over quick. It looked operational, front wheel out of true and the handlebars pointing the wrong direction. I cruised into the finish, to learn that Stefan had won!

[rusto]

Ooof, Chris - glad you dodged serious injury to yourself and your bike.

[scottc]

The club had a great turn out in many fields and it was my intent to make this one a double header, but we cut it a bit too short on timing on the drive down. Upon arriving at the parking area we were told that the lot was full and to wait for further instruction. It was 11:10AM and the Masters 35+ field got called to staging as we sat there waiting for the park officials to tell is what to do. After a few minutes, the park guy told us to back out into the race course and follow the guy driving a Chevy "because he knows where he is going". The minutes are melting by and I'm thinking that this race is gonna go off without me. Then I turn to my nervous carpool partner, KevinT, who is scheduled to race the 2nd wave of Cat5s going off in less than 10 minutes, "Dude, I'll get your bike ready". Needless to say he made his race and managed to have someone in registration pin-on his number and roll to staging just as the whistle blew. Man, so far the day had an already not-so-good vibe lingering.

Now with 75 minutes to kill before the Cat4 race, I decide to recon the course. Immediate first impression was this is Cape Cod. Short scrubby grass, sandy rolling hills and narrow roads lined by evergreens.

Fast forward until about 20 minutes till show time and MRC kits were accumulating as the P1/2/3 and remaining races staged. We had the numbers, but no real chatter about solidifying a game plan. Stefan was staged on the front row, ChrisB and myself on the second with the other club members not far behind. Whistle blows and we're off. Immediately there is an attack then another and another, but nothing sticks. Things settle into hard tempo with lots of jockeying for position. Having the whole road added a very different dynamic to the race because the pointed end of the pack could be over taken (and was) at any turn by ambitious guys riding the gutters. Not having a centerline rule lead to very undisciplined line holding through every turn, which really got sketchy.

After a hair raising lap one, things got a bit more sorted out simply because aerodynamics left little to be desired for folks caught in the wind. I covered a move on the biggest rise and ChrisB soon followed and got into the move. This was the freshly paved part of the course and had just taken the left turn, so I sat up. The peloton swarmed around me. I grabbed Stefan's wheel and kept right on it for a duration of time not in my control. We were riding the outside gutter and then I noticed that the distance between my wheels and the sand was crouching on fractions of inches. "Hold your line" and "On your right!" and "Hey! Hey! HEY!". Then a shifter lever in the a$$ and I was off into the scrub. I looked down 28mph on my computer then the sounds of a bike race crashing out behind me went off. Managing to stay upright and get back onto the road and was okay but the bike felt different. I looked back quickly and saw a lot of guys in the road. I kept riding and noticed that my front was going flat. Very few guys passed me. Nolan passed and said someone got caught up in the crash and my heart sank. I was hoping Kevin was at the car so I could swap wheels, but he wasn't so I called it a day.

Changed up and headed to the start finish and got a pretty good dose of 'sober mood' as I walked. Racers rolled by commenting about 'the crash'. I saw Kevin and Chris's wife Katie taking pictures and learned that at fellow team mate was caught up in the crash. All remaining races were neutralized for atleast 15 minutes, so we decided to pack it up and call it a day.

Epic day for sure, but glad to hear that Stefan pulled through for MRC and got the win!

[pace21]

Anxiously awaiting:

A. Stefan's race report
B. Status of the MRC crash victim?

[rusto]

C. Identity of MRC crash victim??

[JeremyC]

Carl was the unfortunate victim. Huge gash on his right leg. Bloody face. And he was a little giddy when I rolled up from my race which was neutralized. Possible concussion or they had administered some early medication. All in all he wasn't as bad as the guy with a compound fracture of his arm. It was ugly. The course was like racing on a sidewalk, and not a good one. Not sure I will do this race again as the finish is a twisting downhill with a a finish line squeezed down to 10ft.

[scottc]

Not sure I will do this race again as the finish is a twisting downhill with a a finish line squeezed down to 10ft.

100% agree. Everything from the start of my day to the end had a bit of a bad taste. Live and learn.

[Jacob]

This one was memorable. I don't have much to add about the crash other than it was relatively quiet -- it sounded like only one or two guys fell down.

After standing around for a good long while, we had 5 miles to race for the win. I'm sure that most were as stiff as I was, so it's not a big shock that there was another crash. Chris B and Trey Cassidy did a great job making tempo on that final lap. I found some other guys to ride behind who just seemed to like having their faces in the wind. Stefan came past me near the finish and yelled to get on his wheel, which I did. I followed him around the corner and down the hill. We were tight on the right side of the road, the front of the pack was crowded together, and my instincts told me that we were rolling towards a closed door. The left side of the road seemed to provide a clearer shot at the finish line, so I left Stefan's wheel and shifted over there. Bad move. I ended up well and truly boxed in, tight to the left side of the road. I did what I could, within reason, to sneak up on the edge, but it's narrow in there at the finish, so I never got a clean look at it. I glad that my mistake didn't end up mattering!

Does anyone have an update on Carl's condition?

[swawersik]

Partly spurred by some informal discussions of tactics, I'd given a fair bit of thought to how to manage the finish sprint at this race. Starting at about 800m out, here's a steep-ish downhill going into a fast but a little scary left hand turn, then a downhill-ish but still rolling final 500m to the finish line. I'd talked to Chris Pare, who had some advice, and even checked out one of Colin Reuter's old GoPro videos of a prior Cat3 finish. I thought that MAYBE a late flyer right before the downhill MIGHT get enough of a gap that I could use the downhill nature of the finish to hang for a win. If that didn't work, I'd switch into leadout mode and give Jacob a draft so he could use his punchier sprint. If I'm honest, I mainly wanted to be on the front of that downhill turn so I could pick my own line through it.

So, the race: Wow, was that ever a sketch-fest! I'm not totally sure why, but I think it's got some of the problems that Marblehead often suffers from - early season and everyone thinks they have Superman legs - combined with a wide course that leads to constant reshuffling of the pack. So you always had to fight for position or suddenly find yourself sitting mid-pack. The twisty roads didn't help either, as people were constantly trying to move to one side or the other to avoid getting pinched in turns.

Chris gave a good description of much of the race. As an example of how twitchy it was, there was a Salem Cycles guy who was clearly not comfortable in the pack and who kept swerving and narrowly missing other riders. When someone finally yelled at him, he started to yell back while TURNING HIS HEAD AROUND nearly taking out everyone within 3 bikes of him on any side. I made a point to get the hell away from him as fast as possible.

So, at some point when Chris was off the front, I was sitting 4th or 5th wheel, trying (somewhat ineffectually) to disrupt the chase effort, when we heard a strange sound behind us. The guy next to me and I briefly discussed whether that was a crash, before rolling on. Later, after I'd been out on my brief solo effort, I shuffled backward to rest and found a much diminished pack size. When I asked whether there was a crash or we'd just shed a bunch of people, I was told there'd been a big crash. So I wasn't surprised when, a few minutes later, we saw two packs stopped ahead of us and we were brought to a halt by the pace car. We were told there'd been a big crash, then Jeremy and Todd rolled back to us and told us that Carl had been cut pretty badly and would be taking an ambulance ride (more on Carl later).

So we rolled back to the parking lot, where they held us for ~30 minutes while they cleared the course. This was, by the way, long enough for Anthony Clark to start goofing around on his bike, fall over, and break his derailleur hanger. During this time, we discussed a combination of how to get Carl's car (and possibly Carl) home and how we were going to deal with the 5 mile rolling brawl that was coming. During this time I mentioned to Nolan that I'd had success moving up in the pack on the long false flat on Upper College Pond Rd (the last 2 miles before the downhill finish), and suggested that it might offer a way to move up on the final stretch. I reasoned that everyone always wants to attack on the left, and that causes the people being passed to move left to try to grab the attackers' wheels, causing space to open on the right. Plus, there was a little shelter from the left to right tail/crosswind. Nolan nodded and looked at me as if I was insane.

When they lined us back up, I used some cx start skills and a few gentle shoulders to get into the first 10 wheels. A few guys attacked from the whistle, which had the happy effect of lining the field out for the first part of the lap. Until they died in the wind. Once they were caught, the swarming began, and I found myself very quickly further back than I wanted to be. I made some real attempts, but didn't make much headway forward until we hit the power climb at about 3 miles to go. There, I was able to pick my way through some weaker riders, but was still sitting only mid-pack with about 2.5 miles to go. Twice, I tried following wheels up the left side only to have the path forward snuffed out. So I thought about my discussion with Nolan and started shading to the right. At about 2 miles to go, a REALLY small gap opened on the right, so I shot through it and put in a big effort to move up the right, passing 20-30 guys in the process. By the last hill before the downhill, I'd made it to the front, but was still 10 wheels back - and we were going way to fast for my "late flyer" idea to have any effect.

Just as we started really ramping up, I heard the sound of crunching carbon (Chris's crash), but was going too fast for it to register. We made it through the downhill turn and I had maybe 10 guys in front of me. I rolled past Jacob and told him to get on my wheel, which I think he did, but I'm not sure. I just tried to be patient, moving from wheel to wheel but constantly moving forward. With about 150m to go, I realized there were only 3 people in front of me, and I was gaining on them. I had to wait briefly for a gap to open up between the guy in front and the guy ahead of me on the left, but it did. I shot through it, using the front guy's slipstream to give me clear air for acceleration. Next thing I knew, I passed him and crossed the line. In first place! For reals!

Now, more importantly: Carl. He was taken to South Shore Hospital (not Jordan Hospital, as we'd originally been told). Cell phone coverage in the park was spotty, and I couldn't make a call, so I went to Jordan before reaching Carl by cell. When I spoke to him, it wasn't clear if he'd just need lots of stitches or some surgery. He was in good spirits, though, and insisted that I not head to South Shore and wait around for him - in fact he mostly wanted to hear about the end of the race. I plan to call and check on him in a little while. Jeremy deserves top teammate honors for making sure that Carl had his cell phone before he left, and for making sure that Carl's car got home. This sort of thing definitely underscores the need to get more people to put their info on the team emergency phone list that Russ was setting up a few weeks ago.

[Robd2]

Well done Jeremy, sorting out Carls car situation, I was wondering if there was anything we could do about that. Carl heal up soon, unfortunately crashes happen too much in this game. Stefan, very very nice result. The longer it takes the sweeter it is.

[Smudger]

Super result Stefan. Well done.

Carl, hope you are reading this and heal fast

[pcollins]

I'm not MRC but here's my 2 cents. I raced in the really sketchy Cat 5. Glad that's my last cat 5, I'm upgrading. Shitty state forest roads, sand (that they suddenly decided to sweep during the race), and the usual inexperienced cat 5 racers and one day-ers. I witnessed at least one minor crash early on in the race, and a couple close calls. One guy (probably a one day-er) could not hold his line and was yelled at constantly, I saw him nearly go down after touching tires. On the last lap,I was sitting in good position after the downhill left turn, on Dave Dzikiewicz's wheel, a strong sprinter who ended up in 4th. Then suddenly someone came from behind and took me out around 200 to 300 m from the line, I was probably going around 65 km/h when I hit the road, I slid like it was a ski accident. Got some road rash and gashes. Jersey, helmet, shoes, cleats are really scratched up/ripped. As I was telling Scott, the race was poorly organized, sending 100 riders out at once is ridiculous, especially on those roads. Maybe it would have been a little safer if they raced in the opposite direction so as to eliminate that dangerous finish. With so many crashes, I think they will have a hard time getting approved by USAC for next year, I wont be doing this race again. Nice win Stefan. Get well soon Carl.

[swawersik]

Just got a short text message from Carl. He spent the night in the hospital, but all is ok. He'll be discharged this AM. I didn't get any details on his injuries.

[jraguin]

First, congrats to Stefan. Winning a bike race is so rare, I hope you feasted and drank in your glory last night.

Second, hard to be really happy with all the crashes. Multiple of our guys down, and Carl in the hospital. I have to admit, I couldn't get too psyched about Stefan's win when reading about all the carnage and feeling badly for Carl. In addition, for those who know Mike Harris (Bikeway Source guy, rides with the Monsters often) , he broke his collarbone in the Masters 45+ this weekend at the same race. Such a bummer.

Heal up Carl, Patrick, Chris, and Mike Harris!

[carlshimer]

This race was a last minute decision based on my schedule and the huge team we were fielding.

From the get go this was a very sketchy race. A big field and nevous riders. I have managed to avoid the big crashes in the past but finnaly it was my time to pay the piper.


I was on the left side if the road, almost in the gutter. The crash started on the right hand side. I thought I would avoid it but then a bike slid across the road right to left. Maybe if I had better handling skills I could have avoided the bike. My last memory was thinking maybe I could bunny hop / ride over the rear wheel of the downed bike.

The next thing I know I am on the shoulder and someone is looking at my right leg. It looked like someone had tried to fillet my leg... 5 inch cut down to the muscle. Also had a mild concussion as I cant recall much after the crash. Strangely my helmet is unharmed.


In the last 12 hours I had two CT scans, ultrasound, and finally surgery under general to fix the wound. Pretty banged up but the surgeon thought it will heal quickly. Going home today!

[carlshimer]

Looking good.

[Jacob]

The Gladiator!

[JeremyC]

With regards to teammates of the day, I actually didn't do anything a side from looking for Carl's car and trying to help where I could. Todd Savage and the 2 other Cat 4s in the race (Mike and sorry I don't know the other guy) we're the conscientious teammates and deserve a lot of credit for getting keys/car and also calling his wife. Great job.

Here's my Cat 3 race report:

Very very fast (faster than the P123)
Rode near the front for the whole race with Rob D
Race was too fast and barely any breaks made more than 100 meters off the front (typical Cat 3 race, kind of boring)
With 1.5 miles to go and 4 greenline guys lining it up I was in prime position 6th wheel. Then a 5th Greenline guy attacked up the left with 2 other guys. GLV went into full block mode. Terrible strategy with that many guys on the front.
I threw caution to the wind and sprinted across the 100m gap
Made it across, typical peloton response, got caught/swarmed at the top of the hill
Soft pedaled in after deciding not to mix it up for 20th place in the sketchiest finish I've ever seen on a race course

[swawersik]

With regards to teammates of the day, I actually didn't do anything a side from looking for Carl's car and trying to help where I could. Todd Savage and the 2 other Cat 4s in the race (Mike and sorry I don't know the other guy) we're the conscientious teammates and deserve a lot of credit for getting keys/car and also calling his wife. Great job.

The other guy was John Baron, a (relatively) new addition to the club, and clearly a good one.

[kenchadwick]

Carl, that was one heck of a wreck. You probably don't remember a couple of us standing over you while the EMT was pulling turf out of your leg and your eyewear frames out of your nose. Another of the racers was a doctor and he seemed to take charge right away. Godspeed on the healing!

Nolan and I very nearly got caught up in the second wreck that took Chris down. I thought for sure I was going over someone, but somehow took a shot and stayed up. Nolan said he followed me through.Think I burnt a nearly new rear tire though, looks like it went right down to the kevlar, didn't even know I was on the brakes. I'll take it...

Great job by the guys up front and congrats to Stefan, awesome! I was real happy to be close enough to see him win. That sure was one fast last lap!

Both times I've been on this race I saw very significant injuries. Think I'll sit this one out in the future....I think the field is too big for the skinny/winding road. Seems like I heard a season full of braking in this one race.

[argus]

Carl - heal-up and feel better quickly!

[cbusick]

Ken, maybe you should move up a bit more in the pack. Witnessing all these crashes can't be good for you.


-Chris

[kenchadwick]

agreed

[Mkidd3]

Great job boys!! Congrats Stefan!! Hope you heal up quick Carl!

[PJ McQuade]

This thread sounds like the arena scene from BEN-HUR. Way to go Stefan - the picture on Twitter says it all! Rest up, Carl, glad to hear you are doing okay considering.