Minuteman Road Club

My boys did their first race. Breandán (4 y/o) got fifth behind older kids with gears. Seán (2 y/o) did one lap on his little bike with no pedals but still last.

I did the 45+ and was fifth myself until the bike stopped cooperating. (sometimes my mechanic sucks). Went backwards to finish 13th.
Then got the bike fixed and did the P/1/2/3. And fought through some bio mechanical difficulties to finish 14th.
Meh.

Good workout though, huh? On a super fast course that probably doesn't suit you..after not racing yet this year. I'd say well done!

I was among those stupid enough to "double-down" at Blunt yesterday. In fact, I think I instigated some others to do so. Let me just say this for the record: Doing 2 races in a row with 10 minutes of recovery on a hot late summer day is plain STUPID.

I did the M45+ race first. The predictor had me in 3rd, but I honestly thought I could win. I came off the start hot, and was second wheel into the hole shot. John Tarbox was leading, but wasn't railing the turns fast enough so I passed him going into the woods. I got a good gap and lead the whole first lap. Mid Lap #2, some guy named Bob Campos went by but I couldn't stay on his wheel on the straights. Lap #3, Don Seib went by but I couldn't stay on his wheel on the straights. Lap #4, Matt Domnarski went by and I clung to his wheel pretty well for a while. He gapped me on the straights, but I was railing the turns and handling the bike really well so was able to make up some distance in the twisties. With 1-1/2 to go, he got a gap on me and it was decision time. Do I dig really deep and battle for 3rd, or do I back off and save something for the Elite race. I made the wrong choice. I backed off a smidge and cruised the bell lap to a 4th place finish.

I got a drink, ate a Clif Block and lined up for the Elite race. I was still thirsty when I started. My expectations were modest for this race. I started well and was riding around 15th or so. I was riding within myself, not digging too deep. I turned 2 very good laps and felt decent. I could see Chris Pare a few places in front of me and I considered trying to bridge up to him. On the third lap, my legs started to fade and I could feel the cramps coming on. My skinsuit was soaking wet and I was dehydrating quickly. The wheels fell off on the 4th lap, I cramped up hard and realized that nothing good was going to come from continuing. I went to the car and drank about 2 gallons of water.

It was a great race to shake out the cobwebs, and make some muscles soar that I haven't used since December. The new SuperX handled well, and I am very happy with the disc brakes. I only wish that I had raced harder for 3rd in M45+. I might not have got it, but I would have been good to try.

"It's just $10 more to do a second race!"
I was actually having fun in the Elite race in a group of about 6 with Mike Cole. We were starting to work our way out of it when I pushed things too far on a turn and washed out. I chased for a while, and Cole dropped back out of the group (this was his second race) and paced me back up to them before running out of gas. I thanked him and moved on in pursuit only to have my chain drop off on the barriers and tie itself into a knot. By the time I got it untangled I was WAY back. I tried chasing for a couple laps but the chain was skipping so I backed off and tried to recover a bit for the next race. I'm pretty sure I was DFL, but didn't get lapped.

After finishing I went to the neutral wrench who said: "loose cassette, twisted chain, bent derail hanger".

I pointed to the 3/4 race that was already lining up and hearing about the rabid raccoon on the course. "What are the odds that you can get me going for that race?"

He did some work with a large adjustable and a pair of channel locks, gave it a couple spins, a little twist of a screwdriver, and "this should get you through the race"

The 3/4 race was fun especially starting in the back. There was lots of contact/bumping going on. I was pretty blown from the earlier race, but could fake it by hitting the turns better than the people in the group I was in. I have no idea how far back I finished, but I was completely wiped after it was over.

I'll be a little more skeptical about suggestions from Doug in the future....

I was actually still feeling ok at that point. I dropped back because I was trying to drop the guys around me and went way too hot into "log surprise corner". I temporarily forgot how to drive and went down hard. Lost about 3 spots and then burned a few matches trying to get them back. When Chris went by, I decided that after about 75 minutes of racing I should let you go and save some gas for the last lap. It didn't help much as I proceeded to miss most of the good lines from there on out.

Overall...

race #1 M45+
third row start - bad.
legs - pretty good
railing turns and hopping everything - good
passing 20 people in the first lap to get up to 5th - good
bike ghost shifting all over the place for the last 4 laps - very bad
finishing 13th - Meh

race #2 P/1/2/3
bike now behaving properly - good
legs still behaving properly - good
aaaaaand the rest is detailed above
finished 14th - Meh

So my list of "things related to bike racing that I will never do again" grew over the weekend:

1) Road races with climbs longer than 10 minutes
2) Mountain bike races longer than 2 hours
3) Back to back cyclocross races in 80 degree heat

Total physiological disaster. I, like Chris B, lined up for the Elite race followed by the 3/4. Problem was the Elite race went an extra lap longer than the other races, which meant that there were exactly 11 minutes by the time I circled back to start/finish after my first race. OGD was a lifesaver giving water hand ups in the 3/4 race or I would have died. The racing was pretty straightforward, I gave about 95% in the first race knowing that I had to hold a little back. Then in the second race I gave 100% on lap 1, followed on subsequent laps by 98%, 96%, 94%, 92%, and somewhere around 50% on the last lap. I was in a lead group of 3 working fairly well together and then on start of the last lap I lost contact. I looked back and we had over a minute on 4th so I mailed it in to finish safely in 3rd.

Results are up on crossresults. Looks like 7th in the Elites (although I probably got beat by a couple 35+’s who raced with us but were scored separately) and 3rd in the 3/4.

Never again…….