Minuteman Road Club

OK, now I have seen it all...a total screw up in the lap count by the race officials that robbed me of a good finish.

In the Master 40+ field. 10 laps of a 4.3 mile course. Lincoln, NH. Goes from Loon Mtn main entrance down to the South Entrance on the Loon Mtn road, then back up the main road (Kanc) back up to Loon. Great course. It had hills, fast turns on a descent, open road, bridge crossings, etc. I don't know why I haven't done this race before. In the race with 25-30 guys. Only MRC guy, Brett Rutledge is in the field with me, but no other guys that I know. I am feeling spunky and decide I am going to find a place to attack and not leave it to a sprint.

Race goes off. Lots of attacks as usual in a Masters field. Sunapee Racing & Riverside have the numbers. I don't feel great the first few laps, but as the race goes on, I feel stronger and stronger. 4 laps in, a Momentum Barracuda guy goes off the front. No one goes. I think about it, but decide to let him go. (It was the winning move... the guy won by over a minute). There are other attacks / breaks, but they get reeled in.

Here is the key moment: We shed a few guys, but the pack is mostly intact when we cross the finish line with 2 laps to go. The lap counter says 1, and I hear a guy yell at the official that we have two to go. The woman yells back, Yes, 2 laps to go. No bell is rung, so I am going with 2 laps to go. A bunch of guys start yelling that the counter said 1 lap to go, with a few of us yelling that there are 2 laps to go and that is clear on our Garmins. This goes on for a couple of minutes. I am at the front at this point, but I believe I hear a guy saying really loudly "OK guys, agreement is that there is 2 laps to go".

We go around the lap again and with about 400m from the finish with still 1 lap to go, I can see a bunch of guys amping up the pace, including Brett. I think to myself, that is OK. The guys who think this is the finish will gas themselves here, and then on the hill upcoming I will drill it, and gap the field there and on the twisty descent. The people who think this is the finish sprint around the turn and I can hear the official ringing the 1 lap to go bell. Maybe 10 guys sprint for the line (including Brett) and then slow up as they cross the line. Myself and a number of guys go right by them. They start yelling "that was the finish", and we start yelling "no there is one more lap". Those who sprinted start yelling for those that didn't to turn around. I keep riding with a number of other guys, but at a much slower pace, not sure what to do. The sprinters are really are yelling at us to turn around, and we are yelling back that there is 1 more lap. However, it seems like the people yelling that the race was finished outnumbered the group that thought we had 1 more lap. I had half the mind to drill it right there, finish the lap, cross the line 2nd and then say that result should stick. I honestly don't think anyone could have argued with that. However, I finally give in to the sprinters, and say OK, I will just accept that was it. I had a ton left in the tank but never got to use it.

I have never been so mad at a race (running, triathlon, or cycling). I gave Brett a mouthful as he was arguing the race was over ... my mouthful was really directed at all the guys who sprinted. I apologized to Brett later which I owed him as I definitely overreacted. But it was my last race this season and it definitely was not how I wanted it to end. I talked the race organizers and they agreed that it was that it was the paid USA Cycling race officials that screwed it up. The race organizers agreed with me that someone should have called ahead to the pace car to come talk to us and tell us that it was 2 laps to go. However, there really was nothing the organizers could do to fix it after the race was over. Ugh is all I have to say. I will just wallow in beer tonight.

John, sorry to hear your good form was wasted by the screw-up. I was the victim of something similar which probably cost me (along with my own inexperience) the only win of my pack fodder racing career. It happened in my rookie year, or near the beginning of my second year, in an industrial park cat 5 crit. Venue was similar to Wells, but with a 15-20 foot "hill" just before the finishing corner. I was still very wet behind the ears, but did know that I was no match for the fast-twitch boys in a group sprint, so I had decided that I would attempt my very first solo attack. Along with lap cards we had an announcer for the race that every once in a while would announce "X laps to go." About halfway through I made the decision that I needed to attack with 2 to go thinking I could go all out for 2 laps based on how I felt and the venue. So when I heard the announcement for 2 to go I attacked after the first corner and to my surprise I was 100 meters off the front by the middle of the backstretch and no one had reacted. When I got around to the start/finish was when the "2 to go" announcement came again (this time I checked the lap cards) and I immediately thought "there's no way I can make it to the finish" which was EXACTLY when I lost the race. Had I been a smarter racer and known more about my physical limits, I would have kept pushing and almost certainly would have held off the peloton. Anyway, I eased up and let them catch me (which took 3/4 of a lap), then participated in the group sprint for the big bucks, which (of course!) did not go well for me. Lessons learned: After you commit to an attack don't stop until you get caught or you blow up spectacularly. Always keep your own lap count.

Wow, that is bad. The issue for me is that I DID keep my own lap count and my lap count was the correct one. However, 1/2 the field and the officials collaborated to change the number of laps we did AFTER we passed with 1 lap to go. Ridiculous. I am still steamed.

Yup that pretty much stinks.

Not that it would have mattered, but you should have continued for a few reasons:

1) According to you the solo winner apparently completed the last lap
2) USAC has a pretty specific protest process. considering you were right it may have worked
3) Never trust or listen to another racer on whether or not the race is over. Guess what, its not up to them...

With that said, its a pretty ridiculous cluster-f#ck.

BTW wallowing in beer is still a good outcome.