Minuteman Road Club

I had high expectations for this race, and what I thought was a pretty good game plan. Stay near the front, don’t spend any time in the wind, attack on Stage Rd and solo to victory. Things didn’t quite go according to plan, but the result was the same.

I toed the line with Bill, Stefan, and virtual MRC member Joe Butler in the Cat 4 40+. We pedaled at a parade pace down the road, across the bridge and toward Perry Hill. Over the top of Perry Hill flying down the descent, the guy in about 10th locked up his rear wheel, went down HARD and took 6-8 racers with him. I had a front row seat and it all seemed to happen in slow motion. I drifted farther and farther left, avoiding the carnage, and eventually off the road and into the dirt. Riders were hitting the deck at speed and bikes were flying. Literally, one bike somersaulted forward and at least 20 feet off the ground. It was amazing. I put a foot down, heard the moans and cries of the guys on the ground…,pushed out of the dirt, clipped in and sprinted like hell to make sure I wasn't left behind.

For the next 40 miles, I road in the front 10-15 riders and had a bird’s eye view of a very boring race. Sadly, no one wanted to work. Every time someone took a pull and then moved off, the second rider would stay on his wheel and no one would pull through. There were 2 or 3 of us that would go to the front and do a little work, but then nothing. I found myself on the front way more than I wanted to be, just to try to get things going, but to no avail. Several times, after taking a not very hard pull, I’d pull off and soft pedal but couldn’t even get off the front. I literally had to stop pedaling and coast until the next few guys came through. It was pathetic. I guess everyone thought they were going to win and didn’t need to burn any matches.

Of course, I had to pee almost as soon as we rolled off the line. By the time we got to Joe Beane, I was ready to pop. The race was going nowhere fast, and I was sitting 2nd or 3rd wheel, so I decided to just stop and piss. Relieved, I pedaled quickly up the hill and made contact with the back of the 30+ lead group before the summit. Stefan came back for me about that time, but the peloton was sufficiently slow that I had no problem getting back on.

Despite the lack of effort at the front, we still managed to shed tons of riders. Me and a guy named Noah (who finished 2nd) were at the front applying pressure on every climb, but then the group would soft pedal in between. By the time we got to Meeting House Rd, we were down to 30 or 40 riders, with the MRC contingent was intact. My legs were getting tired now and I was on the verge of cramping, but we continued to apply pressure on the front over the Meeting House rollers only to regroup after the top. I decided to drink everything left in my bottles now, hoping to avoid a Stage Rd melt down.

About 3 miles from Stage Rd, Stefan decided to go to the front and toughen up the race. It was actually bad timing for my near-cramps, but I loved the idea and effort. He drilled it for almost 2 miles. We hit Stage Rd a group of 30 that included all of the MRC guys, but we were immediately neutralized while a soloist from group 4C (started 20 minutes after us) came through. We started racing again and I was feeling okay, so I immediately applied pressure at the front. By the summit, I had a gap of a few seconds and stretched that a bit on the descent. 3 guys were just behind me, and probably another 10 seconds back was a second group and then a bigger group on their heels. I didn’t have it in me to solo for 4 miles, so I let the threesome catch on. I immediately became vocal and made it clear that we could be the podium, if we all worked. It took near constant “encouragement” from me for our foursome to continue to work hard. They tried to quit a few times, but I didn’t let them. I’m pretty sure that they think I’m a total A-hole, but I’m absolutely sure that my “encouragement” was completely responsible for us successfully staying away.

The chase got closer, but then the gap got bigger. At 1Km to go, I yelled “One more pull each, and we’ve got it.” At 400m to go, I attacked from 3rd , treating the final turn at 250m as the finish line (strategy borrowed from Chris Pare!) As soon as I stood up, both legs cramped, but I continued my attack. I railed the turn with a head of steam and a 20-30m gap. I put my head down, sprinted as hard as could and looked up just in time to see the finish line…and the entire MRC cat 3 contingent screaming at me. I pumped my fist and screamed in agony and ecstasy. Second and third went to 2 very worthy guys who had worked hard in our break, and had worked at the front of each climb in an attempt to make the race interesting with me. The guy who was least interested in working in our break, who I hadn’t even seen before Stage Rd, got 4th. They all thanked me for making them work, knowing that things would have surely been different if the chasers had caught us.

Sorry for the long winded report, but this is clearly the best result of my cycling career…and maybe I’m little too proud of it.

AWESOME Doug, congratulations!

Doug rocked out there as did some others but I won't give any more away.

Will try and keep my report a little shorter but it wont be as sweet. The summary is Unlucky, Lucky, feels good to be back

Cat 3A with Chris, John, Jeremy, PJ, and Richard (how great is it for MRC to have such a strong team out there)

As some of you know Battenkill is my Nemesis. Raced it 4 times now and have flatted progressively closer to the start each time. After today's exploits I will likely flat in the warm up next year. This was my 1st race in almost 2 years and it showed. Pre race nerves, apprehension, knee warmers on, knee warmers off followed by squeezing into a gap that wasn't really there in the neutral and almost taking John out. I started to calm down a bit after a couple of miles and was moving up on the right when I heard the bang/phsssst. Thought that's some unlucky guys race over then I heard someone say 675 I think that's you...No Way!!!....and sure enough I started to rumble along the road. Stuck my hand up pulled over to the right hoping for a quick change, just about to get off the bike and someone ploughs into my back wheel then his team mate ploughs into him and goes full faceplant over the bars. Untangle them make sure the guy is OK. Wheel van arrives and gives me a neutral wheel. Easily 5 min before 3 of us are able to start riding. the other 2 guys start out hard but as soon as we got over the covered bridge and started up Perry road they faded. There was no way I was going to catch on solo but it did not look like they were going to be able to help. I let them catch and said our best option was to ride tempo let the other field catch us and then ride at the back and get a tow round the course. As we turned on to Juniper Swamp the marshal shouted "crash at the top". This is where my luck improved. Got to the top and found our race stopped due to a bad crash in the earlier race so I was back

From here the race was a very stop start affair including a netralization when the Cat 3B leaders passed us!!! Joe Beane was uneventful and I was relatively comfortable until Carney Cassidy but was still sitting mid pack. Got to Meetinghouse and it was game on. Worked hard on the 1st dirt pitch to keep in touch with the main group but got gapped on the 2nd. Over the top I picked a couple of good wheels and timed my efforts well to bridge back (was happy how I rode here) to the main group with about 1/2 a mile to go to Stage Road. Race strung out and gaps grew and I was in totally the wrong place. Picked my way through a lot of guys but the race was pulling away all the time. Got over the top and spurred a couple of guys on to catch what I thought was a small group from our race. We caught them with 2K to go but they were a bunch of stragglers from other races. Pulled past them and accelerated through to the finish. 65th out of 150 so top 50%. Nothing special but happy to be back racing again.

I was Debbie Downer after the race cause the wheel van guys lost my flat race wheel. I was convinced someone had walked off with it but got good news tonight that they have found it.

Smudger wrote:As some of you know Battenkill is my Nemesis. Raced it 4 times now and have flatted progressively closer to the start each time. After today's exploits I will likely flat in the warm up next year.

I was convinced someone had walked off with it but got good news tonight that they have found it.

Maybe next year, you can flat back home in Stow during preparations, then show up at the race and do well.

So happy that they found your wheel!

Very very well done Doug. A result like that at a race the caliber of Bkill is truely a great accomplishment. I'll write up my own details when things quite down over here.

John, what's wheels and tires did you run? I love talking about gear. : )

Kudos to all who raced, and especially to Doug and Chris P.

My race was a case of still not being good enough at staying near the front when I need to. I did a decent job being in the right position for Joe Bean and Carney-Cassidy, but neither mattered that much as the pace wasn't hot up Joe Bean or C-C. The place where my big mistake happened was on the paved road between Meetinghouse and Stage Road. I did a good job holding on over the Meetinghouse Hills, but it was definitely a very hard effort. Being a bit gassed, I was thinking that I was with the lead pack heading toward Stage Road. But all the way along that road to Stage Road, guys were passing me. If I had to guess, I was probably 75th by the time I got to Stage Road. That is just too far back when it gets strung out. I felt OK going up, but had to go around a lot of people not only from our field but others from other fields. The lead groups had separated in the carnage and I reached the top alone in No Man's Land. I tried to catch a group in front of me, but they were working. I looked back and a group of guys in my field was catching up. So I waited for them and jumped on. No one wanted to work so it was just a mess and more guys caught on the group. We were about 20 when we got down near the finish. We got down to 400m to go and I was 3rd wheel and in a good position, I went to sprint as we came around the turn, and my right leg totally locked up. I couldn't pedal at all and just rolled to the finish so I came in last of the sprint group.

I don't think I would have done fantastic regardless because I would have leg locked just like I did. However, I think I would have at least been with Jeremy's group or maybe even PJ & Chris'. I have to find a way to be more aggressive and get closer to the front before we hit a hill like Stage Road.

Great job to all the guys, obviously Doug for the victory. Don't forget old man Ike Turner for 18th!

The Cat 3 race was a cluster of neutralization and Cat5 sketchiness. Halfway thru the race I knew 2 things, Chris would be in for the winning move, and I felt like dog poo just looking to survive Meetinghouse and Stage. Checked off number one, moved to the front and literally hit Stage Rd in first position. Got to the top of the steep parts with the leaders but no one let off the gas (WTF). Started to get gapped on the rollers, threw up in my mouth a little, jumped on some wheels but to no avail, 20 secs off the leaders at the top. I took some risks on the decent riding my top tube at about 53mph, got in a group of 10 guys. If any of them had balls we would have caught the lead group who was tantalizingly close. Only 4 of us did any work, never caught on and I happily out sprinted most of them for 37th. Somewhat happy with the result but I'll need 10more watts (or 5 less lbs) on Stage to contend next year.

Kudos to Cat3 legend PJ who downplayed his chances and then finished with the leaders on a flat tire.

I'm SO happy for Doug and Chris because A.) they've worked really hard and very much deserve to have done well and B.) it's good to know that the guys who've been kicking my ass up every hill in Metrowest Boston (and some in San Diego) are not just some schlubs...

A few things I took away from yesterday -

1. A rising tide lifts all boats: For the last year, we've all been consistently beating the crap out of each other on rides. It shows. As a group, MRC did really well.

2. Doug has a small bladder: Bill and I had a WTF moment as we saw Doug pull off to pee on Joe Beane. It should also be noted that while I sag climbed the rest of the hill to help pace Doug back on, Bill went to the front and set a steady but sane pace, making life much easier for me and Doug.

3. Don't give up: I was cramping badly on Meetinghouse and the climbs leading into it. At one point, I seriously contemplated getting off my bike, possibly forever. But I kept turning the pedals as best I could, and once I hit the downhill, managed to get my calf to un-knot. I caught back on when the group (surprisingly) sat up on the flats between Meetinghouse and Stage. Had I not gone at my limit, as pathetic as it was, for the prior 10-15 minutes, I would not have been able to do that. Along these same lines, a special HTFU Award should go to Carl, who manned up and raced in spite of some sort of flu-ey bronchitis.

4. "If you've got anything left, now'd be a good time to use it:" This was actually a comment Jeremy made to me at Blue Hills last year as he sent me up the road to chase down a breakaway rider, but it was in my head when I attacked going into Stage. I knew I was going to be in cramp city on that climb and figured I'd at least try to make some guys other than Doug do some extra work. It probably had no impact on the final outcome, but let me have the illusion that I contributed.

5. Ian Palmer and John Jackson are douchebags: Actually, talking to them after the race, they're both very nice guys, but that wasn't the thought I had as we crossed the finish. You see, I caught Palmer on the descent of Stage and told him "lets work together." We were well off the back of the lead pack, and I just wanted to finish strong. He took shorter pulls than me, and told me several times that he was dying, so I told him to do what he could and stay on my wheel. We caught Jackson soon thereafter, and it was the same story. So I did 80% of the work in the last 5K, encouraging them to hold the wheel the whole time. Though in hindsight, "encouragement" may not be the right word when, while I was pushing 320 watts on the front, my response to whoever was second wheel's cry of "Oh god, I'm cramping really badly," was "Yeah, me too." Anyway, when we made the final turn, I really didn't care about exact placing, but when both guys came around me to sprint after I'd done all the work, it pissed me off. I sprinted too, and was forced to look like an ass making a bike throw for 27th place, but at least I beat them.

All irritation with my final groupetto-mates was gone when I saw Doug and he said he'd won. What a great day!

ps. Smudger, I'm really glad they found your wheel.

Pressed on time so I'll keep it brief. Came down with an ill-timed spring cold at the start of the week so I had the conservative goal of sit in and survive. The race started to "get real" on the Carney/Cassidy climb and I moved up thinking guys would be gapped. The pace got really aggressive on Meetinghouse and it started to hurt. The field seemed to get reduced to 1/2. We hit Stage Road with a large group of maybe around 50. I was feeling pretty good on Stage, passed riders all the way up, and made the selection over the top with about 30 guys. Onto the pavement I noticed my rear tire was dangerously soft. With 5k to go it was too late to stop for a wheel so I pushed on, hoping it would hold enough air to finish. I moved up alongside Chris (first time all day!), told him of my dilemma with a lead-out now out of the question. He looked comfortable, gave me the thumbs up and warned me to take it slow on the final corner. Chris DIDN'T take it slow on the final corner, I can tell you that! I rolled in at the back of the field sprint on like 35 psi. This was not a climber's sprint as some big engines made the group this year so my chances weren't good anyway. I may have moved closer to top 20 without the flat, but it was a good day nonetheless, and "highlight reel' day for MRC!

Well, here goes. My expectations coming in were high, I love this course with the short(ish) steep climbs. The game plan was to do everything I could to hang with the front group over Stage Rd, and hope for a smallish group to go clear for the flat run in and then duke it out in a sprint finish. I'm sure I can't outclimb the climbers or outsprint the sprinters, but I was hopeful that I could outsprint some climbers. On to the race....

We rolled out for the first 5 flat miles, and the sketch factor was at 9.5, with at least 3 near misses that I saw and another 3 or so that I heard behind me. If everyone just remembered the road really widens out well before the first turn then everyone could be a little more settled and not so worried about moving up through gridlock on the narrower part. But I digress, back to the race. Totally uneventful first 15 miles (if your name isn't Smudger), even up Juniper Swamp was not too painful, and then the big surprise waiting at the top -- a 5 minute wait to clear a bad crash and maintain reasonable spacing between the fields. Rolling again, on to Joe Bean and the second test of the day. My moment of panic came on a short little kicker before Joe Bean where a dude in front of me decided to touch wheels and go down. I tried to bunnyhop his front wheel but came up short and had to unclip. I summoned my inner Stybar, and fortunately for me we weren't on cobbles and Cancellara wasn't drilling it on the front so I was able to quickly get back in the fold. I figured Joe Bean to be the selection so I moved up to the front and settled in. 2 guys went off the front but no one panicked. In fact the pace up Joe Bean seemed very pedestrian, and the whole affair seemed to be over before it even started. The climb seemed way longer and harder in the car the previous evening then it did on the bike during the race. I guess that's a good sign. We caught the ill-fated duo near the top and got back into the business of soft-pedaling the flats as we did for most of the day. Hammer, soft pedal, hammer, soft pedal. No one was really willing to work again until we got to Carney. Carney was similar to Joe Bean, the pace certainly picked up, but I was near the front and just followed wheels. The guys around me were starting to become familiar so I had a good sense of who to look out for towards the end. Fast forward to Meetinghouse, more of the same -- stay in the first 5-10 wheels as it strung out. It hurt but not overly so, and over the top it was a fairly large group together for the run-in to Stage. A few failed attacks on the approach to Stage, which I was happy for because it made it easier to maintain position near the front in a strung out line rather than a slower swarm.

Enter Stage Rd. I promised myself I wouldn't make the same mistake as last year and go too hard on the steep lower part. I settled in to about 400W for the first minute (it was 500+ last year -- oops) and thankfully that pace was sufficient to maintain my spot in about 10th wheel. Through the middle part I started feeling better and guys around me started fading, so quickly I was in 3rd or 4th wheel and actually backing off the effort to stay in line. A mini-attack came actually on the small downhill towards the end of the climb. I jumped to get on it, and when it came steep again that guy popped. I carried the speed through the top of the climb and crested in front. On the mini false flat before the ripping descent some guy came flying by me. OK, that's good, just get on the wheel and let him do all the work. A group of 4 of us went clear on the downhill, I never pulled through and by the bottom it became a group of about 30. From there we just hammered it home, with the pace in the last 2-3k being 30+ mph. Now the fun part. Approaching the right turn on to the finish straight, I had plan to have a go there anyway, but I noticed a group of 3 with a 20-30 meter gap. I attacked all in to bridge and caught them right at the turn. I swung around the turn and on to Dave Warner's wheel. I thought "gee, this is a good place to be". He looked super strong all day, I know he can sprint like the Dickens, and he was just ramping it up -- but just as soon as a I got there he got halfwheeled and switched out by the guy in second. He got a little sideways and saved it but if forced me off my line and I had to hesitate for half a second. That was enough for 1 and 2 to open a 10 bike length lead with 150 to go. I put my head down and managed to close it some, but more importantly I held off any chasers, crossing the line in 3rd. A short fist pump later and I was turning around to get lots of teammate congratulations and not one but two big ol' Scottish hugs. What a great team we have, seriously.... (and at least one more joining us in the 3's pretty soon it would seem

Congrats to all, including the Godfather for his flat tire heroics. It's so cool to see us all going so well. I can't wait for Blue Hills and Sterling.....

swawersik wrote:Doug has a small bladder

I actually get really nervous before races and generally have to pee about 3 or 4 times in the 60 minutes before a race. Combine that with the fact that I try really hard to stay uber-hydrated so as not to cramp, it's just a bad recipe and I haven't found the "sweet spot" yet. After the race, I felt like Austin Powers when he came out of cryo-storage.

Great to read all the reports and hat's off to everyone.
A great day for all even with the few mishaps.
I'd like to see Smudger race on his Flying Scott

Super impressive!!! Congrats to everyone on the team. Looking forward the the post-FMR coffee clatch this week.

http://velocityresults.com/images/3129.jpg
Place Bib Time Gap First Name Last Name Team City State
1 1062 3:17:44 00:00 DOUG KENNEDY MINUTEMAN ROAD CLUB MARLBOROUGH MA
2 1038 3:17:46 00:02 NOAH GELLNER CRCA/FOUNDATION NEW YORK NY
3 1061 3:17:47 00:03 STEVE KANG CRCA/BREAKAWAY COURIER GLEN ROCK NJ

http://velocityresults.com/images/3126.jpg
Place Bib Time Gap First Name Last Name Team City State
1 679 3:05:14 00:00 CHRIS STRUMOLO CRCA/DAVE JORDAN RACING STATEN ISLAND NY
2 575 3:05:14 00:00 PRESTON BUEHRER B2C2 P/B BOLOCO BOSTON MA
3 654 3:05:14 00:00 CHRIS PARE MINUTEMAN ROAD CLUB FRANKLIN MA

Sorry about the late report guys. As this was my first BKill I didn’t know what to expect. All I can say is What a race! Overall I had a pretty good day, legs were feeling ok but somewhat zapped as I had kept up a pretty high training load right through last week. Rolled out with the Cat4E group, the pace of my field was fairly quick for most of the race. It was interesting to see the pace really crank up on the flatter dirt sections, very Paris–Roubaix like.

After the 8th dirt section we were down to about 20 guys and the pace slowed. This is where I made my one mistake that probably cost me a top 10 or even better. After a few hours of riding defensively up towards the front I drifted towards the back to have a snack and figure out where we were, big thanks to Stefan for the cheat sheet. All of a sudden the pace cranks way up as we turn onto meetinghouse? road. A split in the field had occurred on that first steep dirt section. I should have known that people were resting up for this one. I forced my way through some of the gapped riders slipping and sliding up the first roller. That slick dirt climb just wasn’t a good match for my low weight high torque engine : ) If that was pavement I would have been back on no problem. I soloed most of meetinghouse trying to catch on but just could not close it down through that slick dirt.

Eventually I teamed up with another dropped rider from my field and we chased together over Stage. I did take him down at the line for 12th : ) I couldn’t resist the sprint opportunity.

It’s never good when you let a few places slip away like that but overall I’m happy with the result as I feel I’m still building up towards my first block of target races the end of this month and into early May.

On Sunday I went down to Myles Standish for a little speed work. My real goal was to empty the tank and stay safe as this was going to end in a big downhill sprint, not my strong suit. I kept the attacks going in an attempt to get a break rolling but nothing stuck and ended up with a safe pack finish.

Congrats Doug! And Smudger, you have horrible luck at Battenkill!

Wow. Doug - ride of the year. Already! Stopping to pee and with the help of Stefan back in the pack with enough left in the tank for the W. Awesome. And Chris this is the longest cross-course in the country and you showed your power. The season is looking good. Rob, a hell of a good ride and 12th is a damn good finish for this beast of a course. Smudger, your consistency in this race is breathtaking. It's great having you back in the pack.
Great stuff, team.

FINALLY got the race report up on the front page, thanks to everyone for posting their experiences! : http://www.minutemanroadclub.com/2013/0 ... c-members/