Killington Stage Race
Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 2:26 pm
My first foray into anything like this. Great experience!
In the cat4/5 masters (33+) field. Guess that was the age cut to roughly balance the 4/5 fields (52 in my field, 59 in the "open" 4/5)
Day 1 (37 mile circuit race): Nothing crazy, avoid the crashes (there were 2), stay safely with the bunch, let the sprinters do their thing and get same time as the winner. Did move towards the front for the 2nd lap KOM and took 5th or 6th.
Day 2 (60 mile road race with 5-6 mile finish climb to Killington ski area base lodge); oh, and that other nasty 4-5 mile grind in the middle..
Was pretty certain of who a few guys were that I felt would be contending for the win here, including a couple who had placed high last year, so I decided to watch them and move with them. Spent the first 25 miles or so near back of pack. Began the moving up as approaching the North Rd climb but, unfortunately, not quite enough and I did miss the initial surge on the real steep first section. Group of 8 got a gap. Started to try to bridge on my own but a glance back showed 2 guys from same team close behind, then a decent gap back of them. Stopped my surging, and the 3 of us worked to get back on the lead 8 shortly after the KOM. After some discussions, the 11 of us worked real well and continued to increase the gap to any chasers. While I did not back off (except 1) any of my turns to pull, it was apparent in a couple spots that I may be the weak link of this group. Sure enough, as we hit the start of the climb I was first to go. Okay, get into my own rhythm on the real steep sections of Bear Notch and just use the guys from the prior field as targets. I could see guys from my field beginning to slowly drop off so thought I could work my way back and pick off a couple. After the middle KOM of Bear Notch, with 5K still to go, the legs had other ideas as both hammies, especially the left, started badly cramping. Power dropping on each subsequent rise and the final 1K up to the lodge was pure torture. Finished 11th (last of the lead group) but conceded way to much time to 8-9-10. But at least held the gap to the chasers and had a nice 5min cushion to next guy behind me.
Day 3: 10.6 mile ITT, net uphill. All TT equipment in play for this one, but I don't have a TT bike. Gotta make do with the clip on bars and aero helmet. Got in a reasonable warmup but could still feel the effects of yesterday's cramps. Had a real tough time getting going, but finally by 5K or so starting feeling a bit more like normal and was gaining on my 30sec guy. Progressively upped the effort and stopped the clock with a solid, if not spectacular, effort that got me 8th on the day and faster than 4 guys ahead of me from the road race. But, too much time conceded yesterday to move up on GC.
So final result was 11th on GC, 8:50 down (1st and 2nd were really in a class of their own both on the RR and ITT), and 1:10 out of 10th. Either 1st or 2nd cat5 rider. In looking at other rider ages, 2nd 45+ (same age as the one who beat me)
In the cat4/5 masters (33+) field. Guess that was the age cut to roughly balance the 4/5 fields (52 in my field, 59 in the "open" 4/5)
Day 1 (37 mile circuit race): Nothing crazy, avoid the crashes (there were 2), stay safely with the bunch, let the sprinters do their thing and get same time as the winner. Did move towards the front for the 2nd lap KOM and took 5th or 6th.
Day 2 (60 mile road race with 5-6 mile finish climb to Killington ski area base lodge); oh, and that other nasty 4-5 mile grind in the middle..
Was pretty certain of who a few guys were that I felt would be contending for the win here, including a couple who had placed high last year, so I decided to watch them and move with them. Spent the first 25 miles or so near back of pack. Began the moving up as approaching the North Rd climb but, unfortunately, not quite enough and I did miss the initial surge on the real steep first section. Group of 8 got a gap. Started to try to bridge on my own but a glance back showed 2 guys from same team close behind, then a decent gap back of them. Stopped my surging, and the 3 of us worked to get back on the lead 8 shortly after the KOM. After some discussions, the 11 of us worked real well and continued to increase the gap to any chasers. While I did not back off (except 1) any of my turns to pull, it was apparent in a couple spots that I may be the weak link of this group. Sure enough, as we hit the start of the climb I was first to go. Okay, get into my own rhythm on the real steep sections of Bear Notch and just use the guys from the prior field as targets. I could see guys from my field beginning to slowly drop off so thought I could work my way back and pick off a couple. After the middle KOM of Bear Notch, with 5K still to go, the legs had other ideas as both hammies, especially the left, started badly cramping. Power dropping on each subsequent rise and the final 1K up to the lodge was pure torture. Finished 11th (last of the lead group) but conceded way to much time to 8-9-10. But at least held the gap to the chasers and had a nice 5min cushion to next guy behind me.
Day 3: 10.6 mile ITT, net uphill. All TT equipment in play for this one, but I don't have a TT bike. Gotta make do with the clip on bars and aero helmet. Got in a reasonable warmup but could still feel the effects of yesterday's cramps. Had a real tough time getting going, but finally by 5K or so starting feeling a bit more like normal and was gaining on my 30sec guy. Progressively upped the effort and stopped the clock with a solid, if not spectacular, effort that got me 8th on the day and faster than 4 guys ahead of me from the road race. But, too much time conceded yesterday to move up on GC.
So final result was 11th on GC, 8:50 down (1st and 2nd were really in a class of their own both on the RR and ITT), and 1:10 out of 10th. Either 1st or 2nd cat5 rider. In looking at other rider ages, 2nd 45+ (same age as the one who beat me)
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