Minuteman Road Club

I'll post up a longer report later as I'm on my way out the door but I finally grabbed the podium today! 3rd place in the Cat 3s. I raced with Chris who was super strong out there all day - but I'll let him share his tale. The race was well-organized and well-attended. Seems like the club made out well. Nice job, race crew.

Unbelievable PJ. Looking forward to the race report. I'll post up a Cat 4 report but it wasn't that exciting.

Stefan, Sween-dog, Jacob and Rob got to start at the front which never gets old. First lap is tame, second time up the hill hurt real bad, I actually got slightly gapped at one point and had to go hard. Power numbers show that to be the hardest one of the day. Third time gets better. No breaks to report, which made the race boring. Most of the MRC guys looking good all day, including Stefan on the hills showing he has great form. I think it was the 4th lap and we are drilling it pretty hard at the top of the hill past 190 and I look up and see Sweeney doing all the damage. I'm proud of him, but still remind him not to waste matches. Later in the 4th lap on a slight decent there is a huge crash, at least 15 guys. Unlike most Cat 4 races, no one drills it which is a nice gesture. Hit route 12 and move to the front, which was the script I was following all day. I was getting ready for a break up the hill on the 5th lap, but it never came to fruition. Hit route 12 again and it gets interesting. Scott must have been feeling good all race, as he looks at me and heads to the front. He starts to drill it and for some unknown reason, rider #2 in the line let's him ride away. Half way down Rt 12 he is 300 meters off the front. Jacob and I exchange words like "good for him, let's sit in". It's a great strategy and at one point it was getting close to the point where Scott could actually WIN the race. Unfortunately some dude attacks and the field reacts and we slowly reel him in. It takes some time to catch him, and we're past Dunkins when we finally do. I'm 10th wheel and in great position at the beginning of the roller. In hind sight I wish I had the nuts to attack, but I liked my position so I was waiting for the sprint. Here's where the frustration kicks in. After catching Scott the field sat up, and on the uphill of rt12 our line of 10 guys, of which Jacob and I are well positioned, gets swarmed. All of a sudden, were heading to the last turn and I'm boxed in at about 30th wheel, I'm screwed with nowhere to go. Jacob is actually still somewhat near the front, we make the turn and I want to salvage every last position possible. I'm pretty happy with my sprint moving up at least 10 spots as people were going backwards (sadly Jacob was one of them, but still rode a great race), but can only wonder what would have happened if I didn't play it safe.

All in all it was harder than expected, Sweeney was an animal, Stefan Jacob and Rob all looked great through out. AND THE ORGANIZATION WAS PHENOMENAL!!! GREAT RACE MRC!

I had THE best possible position on the turn but I just. Did. Not. Have it. Back to the drawing board to put myself together for races in July.

Huge props to PJ. I like his strategy, super smart keeping his nose out of the wind for 55.8 miles and then DRILLING it for 0.2 miles. Success!

I on the other hand spent some time on the front, but mostly just near the front. I had good position (5-10th wheel-ish) coming into Meetinghouse, but took the middle line and got squeezed hard from both sides. A 1 or 2 pedal stroke pause was all it took for me to lose momentum and like 10-15 guys came around. I got many of them back as they imploded on the steeper grade, and I was a little irritated that I had some gas left in the tank at the line. The end result was somewhere in the teens (I think but not sure).

PJ -- Congrats on a HUGE result!

Fantastic job PJ! And a teenish finish is still something to be proud of Chris! Arggh...I wish I could have been racing.

Lead driving for the 4s, I could see it was shaping up for a sprint finish. Around 190, I see Scott push the pedals and gain a gap. I am cheering in the car as the rest of MRC 4s are chilling and the gap got bigger and bigger. Alas, I saw that guy go hard and soon I realized it was over for Scott. Tough to watch. The big ones award goes to Scott for trying. I saw Jacob in good position coming around to the hill but couldn't see anyone else. I hoped for a better result as you did, but not to be today. Still good racing.

Drove for womens 4s. The winner was pulling the field down rt 12 and then just rode away from everyone on the hill. Did I mention this was the first lap? She soloed to the finish, probably 4 min ahead of the field.

Ditto what John said to Chris, excellent job.

PJ Holy KOM you were flying. I'm looking forward to my domestique duties in the 3s, you guys would have coasted in for the win hands clasped like Horner and Levi :o

Wow PJ, fantastic finish which I haven't heard about yet. But it must have been a great last 2 miles or so because when you passed me on Rt. 12 (marshalling), there were 3 guys up the road a few seconds with about 25 closing and you tucked into the middle. You did look fairly fresh though.
Looking forward to hearing more.

Huge congratulations PJ, that's a great result! No wonder you and Chris keep putting the hurt on the rest of us going up hills.

Jeremy's report caught all the main details of the 4's race, such as there were. It was kind of a bland race, really.

I came into this race nervous, as that ride up Meetinghouse has always made me its bitch. Like, 5 years in a row. But I've decided that I can now climb, so it wasn't going to happen this year. Right?

So the race, for me, can be summarized in terms of the hill:

Neutral: OK. A little of that "legs waking up" feeling, but not too bad. Initially did a little sag climbing, but still held onto the top 10 wheels. But the neutral time up this climb has never been my problem.

1st time: Mid pack. You can do this. This is gonna hurt. Here we go. Ow that hurts. Hey, that's not so bad. WTF?!?! I'm passing people. Gotta drill it on the flat. A little suffering, but caught the front group.

2nd time: Much like the first. Things strung out pretty thoroughly, so had to dig on the flats and going under 190, but caught on. As we got going at the top, I hear some guy say "What is this a no-drop ride? Why are we killing ourselves up the hill and then regrouping at the top?" Besides the fact that I always want to tell people who make comments like this that if they want it to go faster, they should haul their carcass to the front and make it go faster, this got me thinking - the guys in the front 10 are just going steady. The stress up the hill is mostly from dodging people (WTF!?! I'm dodging past people going up the hill). Next time, I'm staying near the front.

3rd time: Went near the front at the Dunkin Donuts. Jeremy let me in, with a warning that the three guys on the front were "all over the road." They were trying to drive the pace by rotating, mostly, but were just getting organized. One of the guys heard Jeremy and started yelling at me that if I wanted to complain, I should get up here and work. I did not. Stayed in the top 10 or 15 (again, WTF!?!?) up the hill - that was much easier.

Now I was feeling a little cocky. And, after last week, I'm the new MRC breakaway king, right? So I started looking for a break to go. But every time anyone went, they'd get 25m on the group and then just dangle there. Nothing looked too promising and, frankly, I still was a little worried about two more times up the hill. So I didn't go. Chicken. I lose some Jens points...

4th time: Like the third, but without being yelled at or anyone trying any breaks. We were all clearly resigned to a pack finish.

Final time: Coming down North Row, I drifted back to try to find Jeremy. This was dumb - he did not need me to help him move up, as he did fine on his own, but now I was mid pack. I thought saw a lane to move up on the right, but it closed up as I got halfway to the front. I worked my way through the pack to the left, but was still too far back. And the whole time I was nervous about the final hill. I kept thinking I should get up to Jeremy to lead him out, but I couldn't figure out how to get there without burning a big match or two.

I should've burned the matches - once we hit the hill, I made up a ton of places. If I'd been more willing to fight for position going into the hill, I had the legs to contest a solid (though painful) sprint. Opportunity lost, lesson learned.

Even so, I'm pleased with my kind of "meh" 28th, because I am no longer Sterling's bitch.

Nice racing by Sweeney, Jacob, Jeremy, and Rob. Everyone was right at the front all day long.

Team MRC, nice job today. The race from a volunteer and racer perspective was fantastic. Bill T, you put those Giro race directors to shame. Everything went off without a hitch. Smudger, great work with the volunteers. We had two people I've never met at registration this morning and they were pros They were really great and the reg process went very well. Jorge, El Capitan, nice work this morning holding it all together.
MRC put on a hell of a show today both on and off the bike.

Hey Len, what's your race report? I do agree that everyone did a great job putting on a heck of a race. The only negative comment I got was "MRC could use more pins for the numbers". If that is the worst we get, that is pretty awesome.

What do you mean "more pins for numbers"? Does anybody TELL racers how many to use? For myself, I have kept a bunch from previous races and are in an old Rema Tip Top tire patch case, that way I don't have to freak out about not having any when I leave the reg table.

Silly bike racers. Two guys in the pro field even got recorded by JD as "Folded Number". You'd think they'd learn the basics before catting up.

To everyone that raced or volunteered, well done. It was very interesting to me as a marshal to try and figure out what was going on at times, specifically the morning races. The groups shattered apart by the second lap and looked like a mess to deal with at the start finish. At one point I almost didn't see the lead woman, then later doubted she was in the front just because the massive gap she created on two laps seemed unlikely. I suspect that was a really fun set of races to try and place everyone at the finish, so kudos. I do wish I had worn sunblock though, oops.
Being new to the whole cycling scene and just joining MRC, I think this is a great club filled with great people. So again, well done to everyone who was there today, and I am very happy to be a member of MRC.

I decided to man up and do 3 races yesterday. I was in front almost all day, with many attacks trying unsuccessfully to bring me back. Most notaby, Tim Johnson was ever present at the front of the Pro break, with his Red Bull helmet and VW kit, but he just couldn't bridge to me. I'm pretty sure my power numbers looked good, and had I started Strava, I'd surely have the KOM.

For a lesson in what not to do, TJ attacked the other 3 leaders on the bell lap somewhere by the ice cream stand. I thought "Bold move, if it sticks.". He had about 50m or more at DD. By the end of the false flat at Rt 62 junction, they brought him back though, and hit the hill together. TJ went hard, but not hard enough and got 3rd.

Great race MRC.

My race report?
Go to San Fran the week before the race, stay up til 3am all boozy with customers every night, and then sweat it all out on the race course! After not being on the bike at all during the week I can honestly say that I enjoy the suffer. It was fun out there. My only regret is not looking back (at all) when I took the flier on Rt 12. I was going hard when I was caught, but had I seen the gap that I had, I would have willed myself to go even harder. BTW, Stefan can climb - no more whining about that dude, you looked great all day, as did our two usual stalwarts, Jere and Jacob.

Hey guys, really great event - to echo John R's comments, if the only criticism we got as a club today was more pins, I'll take that as a collective job well-done. It's great to see everyone come together under Bill's leadership to pull off a good show.

Part II race report. This is not the day I would have expected for a top 3 as I felt sort of lackluster throughout the race. I was at the front with Chris for much of lap 1 courtesy of the MRC call up, but slipped into the middle of the field and even the back for several laps - not a good place to be to see the breaks but a nice place to rest. This was a fast race. Several standout juniors were in our field who pushed the pace and initiated several breaks. The pace stayed hot and I may have been working more in the back than I would have in front since gaps kept opening at the top of Meetinghouse and Rowley Hill which had to be closed. I could tell it wasn't my day to hop in a break so I figured I'd sit in and let the teenagers battle it out. Skip ahead to the final lap. A handful of KMS/CF/Hot Tubes kids are off the front up Rt 12 and the rest of us are charging forth to catch them. I can't take any credit for the catch, which I didn't even know happened. Chris had a good position toward the front and I spent most of the Rt 12 stretch trying to get near him. I used the breakdown lane to move up behind him somewhere around the ice cream stand. We hit the riser after DDs and I started making my way toward the yellow line to set up for the quick ride into town. I imagine this is where the break was caught because I was moving up in the pack I noticed several strong riders were gassed, perhaps from chasing? At this point I was just thinking I'd get a decent position and maybe snag a top 25 up the last climb. It was suddenly coming down to a bunch sprint and I didn't want to get caught in the back. As we hit the common, 30 meters before the climb, I was maybe 20 wheels with a good position on the left. I took the turn onto Meetinghouse wide-left, took advantage of the full road and sprinted up the left, which was virtually wide-open. I'm not sure where this sprint came from as I felt rather beat for most of the day. I did very little work on the false flat into town though, which made a difference. Chris, thanks for chasing down the leaders - just like we planned, right? Halfway up the climb I had the pack behind me and saw two riders ahead. Still not knowing we caught the break, I figured these two were chasers from our group. It turns out I was watching the top 2 finishers roll through. They were out of reach but I managed to create enough space to secure 3rd. Chris was in the bunch right behind for yet another solid performance (3 for 3 in the 3s).

Driving the lead car for the morning/late morning races was quite fun, I must add. It's like rally car racing. Sign me up for next year, I'm renting an Italian sports car.

Gentlemen! Sorry for the delayed post, it’s been one family function after another since the race.

I wanted to start by thanking MRC as a whole for putting on such a great event. Well done, everything was perfect. I also wanted to thank the MRC racing crew I’ve been hanging with the last few weeks. It’s great to be part of a team like this where everyone helps and pushes each other to become better riders and racers.

Looks like most of the race details were covered above. I wanted to officially nominate Scott S for the “Big Stones” award of the day. I loved the aggressive riding.

I only have two regrets on the day. When the pack brought Scott back on the final run in I should have taken a flier. I had very little left in the tank and would not have lasted long but it might have weakened any chasers before going into that final climb for the rest of you. I also regret shutting it down on the final climb. I should have just grabbed the inside line and went.

I’m really excited for what the summer will bring for all of us.

Hey, PJ there was a lot of discussion at the finish about the winner of your race. With hariy legs, $1200 bike and a kit fresh from Nashbar some were skeptical. Was he with you guys all race?

Bill -

I was driving the lead car for the 3's. Hard to see leg hair in your rear view mirror. On the bell lap for the 3's we had a two man break on RT 12 that at the max had a 34 second lead. I thought one of the leaders had a KMS kit although I could be wrong (KMS and greenline were attempting breakaways all race).

This lead started to come down towards the dunkins and the rt 12 climb. I don't recall passing any riders between DD and the finish but I could be wrong. My goal once getting on meetinghouse was to get the hell out of the way. Over the line I ended up right behind the lead car for the women's finisher. I pulled through and parked off to the side. PJ popped over the top a couple of moments later. I don't recall seeing the 1 and 2 finisher - perhaps they stopped at the line?

One note: the winner has no other race results on road-results.com. that's doesn't make sense unless you are a cat 5 or haven't done any local races.

BTurner wrote:Hey, PJ there was a lot of discussion at the finish about the winner of your race. With hariy legs, $1200 bike and a kit fresh from Nashbar some were skeptical. Was he with you guys all race?

The guys doing the damage off the front had team kits if I recall, but I never actually saw the guy who won. I know I have never seen that name before in the 3s or in any race for that matter. Do we have a podium bandit on the loose?

There's no other results for Pereira Jacinto online, but there's a Jacinto Pereira from New Haven with a decent pedigree (including 8th in the 3's at Sterling last year). Based on that, I'd say he's legit.

Is this the guy (start of 2nd lap, I think): click

Masters 45+ race recap.
Tough day. One lap too many. John's pre-race summary was spot-on. I thought about it throughout the race yet still ignored it when the attacks began on laps 4 and 5. We had a 4 or 5 man break from lap 3 on and various attempts to bring them back, failed. The attempts were pretty week and not team directed so these guys had little to worry about. The only true threat came at the end of lap 3 when Skip Foley jumped around the pack on Rt. 12, crossed the white line (we were dilly-dallying across the road) and within 5 seconds had cut their 50 meter gap in half. But he got nipped by the moto and was tossed (not even relagated). On lap 4 I nosed up to the front with a small group and a chase group formed. We really had it going for a lap and coming down Rt 12 were in spitting distance of the Sram car and 4 guys. Caught the 4 guys around D&D...and it was the wrong 4 guys. Some stragglers from the 35+. The Sram car motored off to catch the real leaders and we were completely blown. Climbing the hill at the start of lap 5 I swore to mind John's instructions - save it for the inevitable sprint finish even if it's for 6th place. Once again I ignored it. The only solid team without a man in the lead group, Sunapee, finally got going and sent 3 guys to the front. They went hard and I went with them. I spent whatever I had left working with these guys and a few others onto Rt. 12 when we realized there were another 50 guys right behind us. Everyone slowed for a bit going down 12 and it looked like the teams were lining up for a sprint finish when all of a sudden an MRC jersey flashes past everyone at the 190 off ramp and blows past the leaders. It's Rich Batten laying down a new set of rules. One guy responds and struggles to bridge to Rich who is 25 meters past us at D&D and really moving fast. I was completely blown, sitting at least 50 places back and couldn't offer much help but I managed to nose myself up a dozen or so places by the merger. Rich's move and the distance he covered in such a short time threw the team plans out the window and it was everyone for themselves. I figured if Rich didn't blow by the climb he could hang on for a top 10. Unfortunately, he blew up before the climb and the pack hit the hill in a group and it was a primal slugfest. I barely crossed the line. All in all, a strange race. With a group off the front team tactics were paramount and the teams with a man in the lead - OA, Corner Cycle, Keltic, CCB - did what they had to do to keep the rest of us a bay. But there was no serious challenge to the group by another team and the Sunapee attack came too late to reel them back. I almost felt like a spectator. Kudos to Rich for digging deep and forcing everyone else to respond.

Russ that's Tim ahearn aka "blackey".

He was wearing a plain blue top with black shorts. I didn't see him in any of Russ's pictures thats why I ask. Peter Voller of KHS also inquired to the officials. The officials did some checking and said it was legit.

BTurner wrote:He was wearing a plain blue top with black shorts. I didn't see him in any of Russ's pictures thats why I ask. Peter Voller of KHS also inquired to the officials. The officials did some checking and said it was legit.

THIS GUY

He's visible here on the first climb up Meetinghouse