Tokeneke Classic RR

[djming]

Cat 4, 35+ field for Kevin and me. Ended up being a very strong field. 56 starters. Bottom line, my frustrating season continues.
Lap 1 - couple guys trying to get away on the backside to start a break but all moves were easily covered by the field. That plus recognizing a bunch of very strong guys I became pretty certain that nobody was going to get away on this field. Stayed in a safe position along the grind section on 181, then on the 2-step climb after the intersection with Rt.20 I moved up. My plan was to go to the front on the false flats leading into the fast descent so I didn't risk being in the big pack and could better pick my line and that's what I did. It worked as I was 2nd or 3rd wheel for the entire descent, and could relax a bit before the long climb started. Hung with the lead group, coming thru the feed zone and end of 1st lap 6th or 7th wheel.
Continued to feel really strong on lap 2, easily moving with the leaders on all stretches. Not unexpectedly, the front group seemed content to let the final climb decide things. Nothing exciting at all thru the "step climbs" and into the descent where I held 10th-15th. Hit the climb and suddenly both quads start to cramp. No way, I thought, I feel to good for this. Decided not to match the surge of the lead 7-10. Backed off slightly, got into a rhythm and kept the cramps at bay. Picked off a few and about halfway on the climb could see Jon O'Connor (NEBC) up ahead beginning to come back and was pretty sure if I could catch him I'd have top 10. I could ride at a "hard tempo" effort but as soon as I tried to really push on the pedals the cramps came right back. Couldn't close the gap on Jon and unable to muster a sprint with my small 4-person group so got edged out for 10th.
My wife was right at the finish and she told me 12th. Given the cramp issues on the final climb I was fine with that. Hey, at least I handily beat where race predictor said I'd finish (by 12 spots or so)
Full results delayed (only had top 10), so after an hour or so back at the car we hit the road.
Get home and check results on bike reg and I'm listed as DNF (2nd time this has happened to me this year). Just got done sending off some emails...

[pcollins]

Cat 3
The first lap was pretty easy and I felt good. Nothing interesting happened until the feed zone, where we weren’t supposed to be taking feeds according to the USAC start official, but people were taking feeds and neutral water. As usual, the feed zone was sketchy with people dashing across the road to get bottles and there was a crash right in front of me. I slammed on the brakes but still had contact with someone, unclipped, put my foot down, but didn’t crash. It was a close one and I ended up with a small gash on the inside of my elbow somehow and a bruise on my shin. Luckily the field was sportsmanlike and eased up so that people could rejoin.
Lap 2 was the hardest lap. The backstretch through Hartland was very hard, with a couple attacks that strung out the field on the rollers. I was off the front solo for a few minutes on a climb then someone bridged up to me but we were caught on the descent. We went up really hard on N Hollow Road (the finishing climb) and somehow a gap opened that split the field in two with ~20 guys up the road (in sight). PJ and I didn’t make it so we (and a handful of other guys) chased all the way to ~300m past the town center where we caught them. The field was reduced pretty significantly after that.
On the flat along the reservoir before the steep, short climb, I was near the front and a young ENGVT rider was being unnecessarily super aggressive and pushed me off someone’s wheel . A couple seconds later he does the same thing to another guy, this time putting his hand on the guys handle bars! I yelled at him, which probably got his adrenaline pumping and he attacked on a flat, into a head wind before a climb, so stupid. We easily caught him just before the climb and he once again got super aggressive and cut someone off, wheels rubbed, and a near crash. It seemed like the whole field started yelling at him, myself included. He said, “You guys are right… I’m sorry.” He was dropped before the final climb .
The field whittled down to 20 guys along the backstretch with one guy solo off the front with a minute gap. We caught him before the final climb while not really chasing hard. Surprisingly, there weren’t any attacks before the final climb, just some surges. Halfway up, I was on Markewich’s wheel (a good wheel, I thought), looking at my power numbers, not paying attention. I then looked up and Markewich let a 10m gap open. Torpey and I worked together to try and catch back on. It seemed like we were making progress at first. At around 1.5km to go, they were out of sight, Torpey was fading and he dropped off. From 1km to go until the finish, there was a line of general public car and motorcycle traffic travelling in the same direction that I had to weave my way through, which was ridiculous. I rolled in solo, ~20 secs behind the front group of 6, finishing 7th/61. I think if I paced myself less and was more attentive to what was going on 5 wheels ahead of me I could have (maybe) stayed with the front group. This was a hard course, it was always up or down and I liked the summit finish.

[jraguin]

Great job guys.
Dave, you had to race JTR who won the race. Great guy and super strong up hills... he actually tried to upgrade before this race but USAC wouldn't let him.
Patrick. Great race report. I noticed one guy in your field who won. Victor Gras. He is another stud runner turned cyclist. I think he has the state record in the mile in MA and went under 4:00 in college. So he has an engine and can go up hills that is for sure.

I think there are some more race reports from some people who will be upgrading soon...

[djming]

Yeah John, I knew of JTR and got to meet and chat with him after. He was just out doing his own thing, was at the front way more than anyone else and easily covering (if he felt like it..) any moves from the field. We actually had a strange episode on the start of lap two when he and I were at the front on one of the initial descents and the lead moto was just poking along at maybe 20mph. We're looking at each other, wondering what's going on. No indication we were being neutralized. I'm riding the brakes, the chase pack is starting to close back in (which they eventually got back on anyway), and suddenly the moto just surges ahead. Guess the driver just stopped paying attention for a bit.

And ditto on both that cat 3 winner and some other exceptional team results.

[Smudger]

Great racing and results guys. Looking forward to the others

Patrick, "looking at my power numbers, not paying attention" sounds very Froomesque.

[Winslow]

Great Day for racing!

This was my first race as a CAT4, with a last minute upgrade on Thursday right before I registered. I was a bit nervous as I didnt know what to expect going into this race, or who I should really look out for. I was lucky to have Dave and Tyler in my race, so knew there would be some good teamwork on our part.

The first lap was relatively uneventful, with a few sketchy riders in the bunch, and people not really wanting to pull through. I had my eye on Gaelen who also just got his upgrade to CAT4 and 1/4 way through the climb to the finish he made a move, getting a bus length gap on the group. Sitting about 3/4 back in the group I put in a pretty big effort to bridge the gap, not looking back at all until I had caught on, with the pace still high. I saw that a few people had stuck with, including Tyler who also put in a big effort to bridge up. Coming up to the crest there were 9 of us, members of GLV who I also had my eyes on with a strong team presence did not make the break. As a group of 9 we knew we were going to have to work together to make anything stick. There were a few people in the break who were really dead weight, pulling maybe 10-15 seconds at most. Tyler and I did probably 50% of the work if I had to guess, but I didnt want this break to get caught so no lollygagging aloud. We didnt really get any data on our gap until about 30 minutes when we were told 45 seconds, which is still catch-able, so I tried to get a bit more fire in everyone and push the pace a bit more. The descents were strange, as Tyler and I got some gaps without even trying, unsure of why but we knew the group would catch if we did anything together off the front.

We got to the bottom of the final climb as a group of 8-9, with another time check 1:10. People in the group said hey lets go neutral and sprint the end...hell no! the Cannondale rider made a series of 3 attacks off the front with Gaelen. I caught the first two, and thought to myself "i cant let these two jrs. beat me", but had put in too much work throughout the race to muster enough to bridge up on the 3rd attack. I held the gap but wasn't gaining anything. looking back at the crest with 1k to go I saw Tyler pushing hard to gap the rider he was with up the hill. I forgot how long 1k could be when gassed and going uphill, I was in pain. Looking down I noticed I was still in the little ring, and promptly switched up to the big ring, finally coming across the line 3rd with Tyler closing in on me in 4th.

[Bradford]

Awesome job team. Sounds like MRC was working together in all of the categories. Nice to see we had a strong presence, and great results too.

Dave and Kevin - nice work out there - way to hang in and push until the end.

Patrick - looks like a strong field. I like riding with Torpey - he's always good for a hard effort and happy to share the work - glad you two worked together, and even happier you popped him at the end.

Winslow, Tyler, Dave - you guys are going to roll through the fours. Depending on your calendars, there might even be enough races left this season. You would all be great weapons to have in the 3s.

These guys aren't the only ones killing it in the 4s - another report required from Meg.

[Megwoodacre]

Cat 4 Women
I had plenty of time to recon the course by word of mouth from Winslow and Tyler as their Cat4 race started at 9am and my race was not until 1:20pm, lots of waiting around which did not help my nerves one bit but I was happy to be there cheering on all MRC teammates that passed by me!
When it finally came time for my race I was ready to roll with words of advice from Winslow and Tyler. The first lap was slow, uneventful and lots of talking between the women which seems normal for road races in the women’s cat4 field. We started with 15 riders and even going at what I thought was a slow pace, we ended up dropping women on the hills. When we finished our first lap, there were only 8 of us. I tried to get everyone to work together, but no one wanted to help do work so I ended up doing way too much work being on the front for most of the race. I had my eye on a few girls that I thought would create a break away and I wanted to be ready to go with the attack but I guess everyone was tired because everyone was riding pretty neutral. The dreaded two mile hill came and went and I decided that I would attack on the last two mile long climb with about one mile left to go. I felt tired but I knew I had a lot of gas left in me. As we got to mile 42, we start the last two mile climb. I was again at the front and after 10 seconds into the climb a women that I have raced with before (pedalpower) made an attack and I followed along with one other women. She attached strong and had about a 30-40 second lead on us. I worked with the other lady for less than a minute and knew she couldn’t put in any more work so I dropped her; it was me grinding it out to catch the leader. I felt like I was doing my FTP test all over again but this felt much worse as I set a new high heart rate. I ended up catching up to her with about .8 left on the hill. We worked together, which ended up being me doing all the work and as we crested the top of the hill I was in first position. 250 meters out, she attacked and I chased her down. I burned all my matches trying to bridge up to her on the last climb that I could not find the legs to push past her for the win. We had about a 30 second lead before third place finished and another 10-15 seconds before the rest of the original breakaway pact crossed the line. Great day for MRC!

[Bradford]

Meg - sounds like you crushed it and made a critical read of the field when the race was on the line - congrats on hitting that elusive top 2 finish!

[Fintan]

Great reports all and excellent riding.

[Jacob]

Thinking about this race makes my legs hurt. Nice work all.

[Smudger]

Awesome Meg.

[pace21]

Well done all. Meg great job identifying the right wheels to follow. Sometimes that's half the battle but not always easy.