Minuteman Road Club

I staged with a large field of around 80. Richards Fries was on the mic keeping it real. Other than Steve Wright and a few other MA regulars, the pack seemed to have a high NY/CT contingent. Oh and a freakshow from RI some of you 4s know. More on him later. This race is unique in that within 1 minute of the start you're climbing a mini-mountain complete with two switchbacks. This is Constitution Hill, which is also "neutral from the start until the top of the climb." Ha! Our field is keeping up with the moto and we're doing 10mph. My heart rate was pegged on the neutral climb. Welcome to Housatonic Hills! My goal of staying near the front vanished fast as it turns out and within 10 minutes I modified my lap 1 goal to: stay in contact. Nothing really exciting went down until the KOM at mile 18. Blue kit attacks hard out of the corner at the base of the climb and is flying up the hill. Naturally the rest of the pack tries to follow. Blue kit, Jerb (nice guy!) takes the KOM and I quickly chase back on with a few others.

The 10 miles or so after the KOM is essentially descending which is nice in way, but not when you know Constitution is right around the corner. We must have lost quite a few riders at the KOM because I noticed the field decreased. We rolled into the start/finish and began the ugly ascent. Enter Keith Kelly, of very recent Purgatory fame who destroyed the Cat 4 field last week by, um, 6 minutes. I think it was Jeremy who warned me about this guy. I forgot all about the warning until I see an Arc en Ciel kit attack the front before the first switchback. He won by 3 minutes. The worst part is he's a nice guy who you'd like to hate but can't. Anyway, I'm slip sliding away from the front on Constitution and got gapped with a few others by the time we crested the top. Getting gapped is something you need to be comfortable with here. A few minutes later we were back on, this time the field with maybe half of what we began with.

The miles after Constitution are either up or down, but there's really no critical climbs until the painfully long stair step BEFORE the KOM. Gapped again. I look around for fellow gappers to chase with and only see the SRAM car, who honks and drives around me. Oh no. TT time. I did my best Fabian and caught on a few nervous minutes later, knowing my day was over if I let the field go. Ah, recovery, no wait, it's the KOM now. Steve Wright pegged the KOM and created a split in our group halfway up. Then it was just carnage and survival. We regrouped, but apparently 4 guys got up the road. We made it real close, but they managed to stay away. As we approached 1k I stayed up around 10th wheel and took the corner into the school tight right. Steve W and his CF teammate went off the front and I started to feel boxed in. I made a dash up the right side, riding the grass for a second, and shot to the front to get a glimpse of Steve and his teammate. I surged forward and passed them to take the field sprint. 6th place overall, in the money. This is the kind of result I was hoping for today. It feels especially good after last week’s fiasco at Purgatory. Housatonic is a brutal course that will make you realize your limitations, but if you survive it’s a thrill. They also have a fruit stand with bagels and water waiting, which is key.

Awesome PJ! Congrats

PJ, very impressive result on a tough course!

PJ...belter of a result today

Nice job!

PJ - awesome job. That is a man sized effort.

Jeremy mentioned Keith Kelly's blog so after your comment I checked it out. As Jeremy mentioned it is about a 10 on the unintentional comedy scale. Here's an excerpt from his post about Sunapee:

The course was 2 laps around Lake Sunapee with some nice climbs. Certainly more up my ally in terms of course profile. The distance was 46 miles which is ok, I prefer longer. Learning my lessons from last week I opted to hide in the pack and feel out the first loop. After the two back to back hills on the opposite side of lake Sunapee I was pretty confident that I would win. Guys were pushing at the front and other guys were struggling while my HR was low and I was perfectly relaxed. Patience is not one of my virtues so it took a strong effort to focus on staying in the pack until the next time we hit these two hills. The pace was dropping all the time and I was getting very restless. Finally, after what seemed like eternity we arrived back around to the hills. The first kick is 11 miles out from the finish, I went hard and broke clear. Surprised that no one came with me the hammer went down and I pushed all out for home. By the second climb I looked back and I could see no one. I chased the lead car to the finish and won by 1:07 shutting down the last 1km. Bottomline is that when it comes to hilly courses I can compete with the cat 3 racers so I need to get myself in that group. Soon enough.

Frickin' hilarious...sounds like Jens. I love the "other guys were struggling while my HR was low" comment.

Thanks guys for all the positive feedback. Rob - completely funny blog! After speaking to him after the race he has a skill for saying funny stuff without trying to. I congratulated him and was asking about his training, etc. and he said his engine is good but he needs to work on his legs because they felt sore today. REALLY?? Other things I found out: 1) He was a NCAA national champion in 2000 for XC. 2) He was a professional runner until a knee inury in 2009. 3) Athletes of this caliber clearly belong in the P/1/2 field.

PJ, congrats on an awesome race. If only we hadn't let those 4 guys get away maybe you could've grabbed 2nd! Definitely one of the hardest races I've done since the field was killing every climb. Without the pace slowing a bit after each climb no way would I have ever gotten on after the few times I was dropped.

I thought I was moving up the little finishing hill pretty well until PJ passed me like I was going backwards. He has some SERIOUS fitness.

Look forward to racing with you (and hopefully a few more MRC guys) later this summer.

PJ,
Wow, what an monster effort and great race instincts to not burn too much chasing when you sensed the pack was catchable without that level of effort. I need to learn that stuff. The course sounds brutal and to persevere, especially after Purg, in that heat and cop a top 10 is bigtime.
Nice work.