Longsjo Classic "Stage Race" Cat 3/4
Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:46 pm
I was holding up posting this race report, waiting for the top finishers (ahem Patrick and Chris) from the first 2 stages to post up, but since they failed to do so, and I earned today's report, here goes:
First let me post this video from Stage 2 Worcester, good times:
https://youtu.be/oUiRUXiBBaE
Stage 1 - Leominster - We had a good crew in this one, Patrick, Chris P, Smudger, Scott C., Nolan, and yours truly. I'll keep this one brief, as I was pretty bummed out about this race. Chris and I rode at the front pretty much the whole race, we covered some breaks but not much action to be found. The 3rd corner proved to be the undoing for much of the 3/4 field and the race deteriorated to some sketchy riding. About 9 laps to go and I got caught in a HUGE crash at that corner, and by some miracle I didn't go down but I dropped my chain in the scrap and it bent my RD hanger and I had to pit to fix it. The bike never rode the same but I can deal with that. With 2 to go I moved back to the front where Chris was a fixture and it was lining out for a fast finish. Last lap I was 3rd wheel up the hill but it slowed down and swarmed, then sped up going into the "turn of death". Guys were 10 wide going 30MPH into that turn. Normally my motto is kill or be killed, but this was a rare instance where I just didn't want to stick my nose into that turn after so much carnage had occurred. Chris may have been in the same boat. Luckily for MRC, Patrick had moved up nicely and was willing to risk it, and he had a solid sprint for 11th. Chris 16th, me 21, Smudger 29, Scott C. 53 on same time.
Stage 2 - Worcester - The crew grew even larger for this one as PJ and Dave Dzikiewicz showed up. The course was a sh!t show of potholes, but ended up being quite fun. Patrick was more prevalent at the front of this one which was nice to see. Chris again a prominent figure at the front, and Smudger was more aggressive. Fast forward to 10 laps to go and Patrick was in a promising move. Chris and I went to the front to block for a bit but too many people chasing. Patrick's group got caught but a few more guys were still dangling out front. Smudger moves up to build a chase but flatted in a pot hole a the worst possible moment as we hit the downhill with 2 sharp turns. I thought he was doomed as he lost control of his rear end (not the first time) in the 1st of 2 corners and had to ride it our while everyone was going 40MPH. He made it though and got a change but that certainly didn't help his race. We get to 3 to go and I move up into the top 5. Patrick was there and so I decided to go into Domestique mode. The video says most of the rest. I rode in the top 5 for the next lap and a half and then went to the front on the penultimate lap. I went basically as hard as I could for a little over a lap on the front and even sprinted for about 100 yards knowing it was the end of my rope. Explosions occurred and the field passed me with 1/2 a lap to go, with Chris in great position for the sprint. Unfortunately there were still 4 guys off the front, so when he sprinted for 3rd it resulted in a 7th overall. Still a great result. Dave got 27th in his first 3/4 race, Patrick 28th and Smudger squeaked by me with 3 turns to go and I briefly considered sprinting past him but decided that would be a DB move so I slid in one spot back at 43. PJ Scott and Nolan all finished same time. Fun race. Watch the VIDEO!
Stage 3 - Fitchburg - RAIN. A lot of rain. Chris and Scott bailed (boo family stuff yeah right). Smudger, Patrick, Dave D, Nolan and I braved the elements, which were pretty bad. The course was great, 2 long straight-aways, one slight down, the other slightly up. Rain, wind and cold on June 28th? Whatever. We set up the tent and warmed up in Pro fashion. We did a warm up lap and we were already soaked. I was more determined than ever to ride at the front, because one of the corners was sketchy as hell in the wet with the cross-walk paint-of-doom. Three laps in and I jump in a break of 3 guys but it didn't last long. Fine by me I was just warming up. About 5 laps in and Smudger and I barely escape a crash in the paint-of-doom section. I had to tri-pod around the corner but no harm no foul. Smudger did a nice job pacing me back into the pack. Nine laps to go and the pace slowed on the downhill section so I attacked and got a pretty big solo gap. I probably had 150 meters coming around to the start/finish line but they were chasing and the uphill was interminable all alone. Hey I did get a shout out from Richard Fries and/or Dick Ring (and Nolan's dad Ron, thanks!). Cool. I was eventually caught and sat in for a while. Patrick did the right thing and went to the front aggressively, and Dave helped pull me back up to the front (thanks for that!). I heard a couple of big crashes behind in the straight-away of all places and it turned out Smudger was in one, slid 40 feet on his ass and has some "awkward" road rash that I wish I didn't see. He did get back in the race, and also got his shout out from Fries. Cool, but in an unfortunate way. 3 to go and I marked an attack by Harvard winner Dawry Cabrera. He is strong and I got on his wheel "hoping" he could drag me onto the podium. This was way harder than I wanted and I burned a match (trust me I was running low) for no reason as we got caught at the finish line with 2 to go. I didn't have much time to recover so I just kept drilling it to hold my position as the race was getting super aggressive. Coming down the back stretch on the last lap I was on FUMES but had a quality talk with myself (in my brain, you know) to suck it up and get a result. I moved up into 8th position on the wheel of Alexander Grabeau who won Friday night, hoping he would unleash a sprint of fury that I could ride to glory. We hit the paint-of-doom corner and he kind of wimped out so I had to go around him, hit the last corner in 7th and sprinted my face off. Unfortunately that didn't get me any higher as I finished exactly 7th. I was shattered, I've never laid it down that hard at the end of a crit. I'm pretty satisfied after 3 days of racing, and the beer tasted really good with Smudger and Dave afterwards (and Josh Merchant who raced the 4/5). Dave grabbed a top 20 but I didn't see where the other guys finished. I think Patrick may have crashed as well and boogied right after the race.
All in all it was a pretty successful weekend. Now it's time for some MTB races.
First let me post this video from Stage 2 Worcester, good times:
https://youtu.be/oUiRUXiBBaE
Stage 1 - Leominster - We had a good crew in this one, Patrick, Chris P, Smudger, Scott C., Nolan, and yours truly. I'll keep this one brief, as I was pretty bummed out about this race. Chris and I rode at the front pretty much the whole race, we covered some breaks but not much action to be found. The 3rd corner proved to be the undoing for much of the 3/4 field and the race deteriorated to some sketchy riding. About 9 laps to go and I got caught in a HUGE crash at that corner, and by some miracle I didn't go down but I dropped my chain in the scrap and it bent my RD hanger and I had to pit to fix it. The bike never rode the same but I can deal with that. With 2 to go I moved back to the front where Chris was a fixture and it was lining out for a fast finish. Last lap I was 3rd wheel up the hill but it slowed down and swarmed, then sped up going into the "turn of death". Guys were 10 wide going 30MPH into that turn. Normally my motto is kill or be killed, but this was a rare instance where I just didn't want to stick my nose into that turn after so much carnage had occurred. Chris may have been in the same boat. Luckily for MRC, Patrick had moved up nicely and was willing to risk it, and he had a solid sprint for 11th. Chris 16th, me 21, Smudger 29, Scott C. 53 on same time.
Stage 2 - Worcester - The crew grew even larger for this one as PJ and Dave Dzikiewicz showed up. The course was a sh!t show of potholes, but ended up being quite fun. Patrick was more prevalent at the front of this one which was nice to see. Chris again a prominent figure at the front, and Smudger was more aggressive. Fast forward to 10 laps to go and Patrick was in a promising move. Chris and I went to the front to block for a bit but too many people chasing. Patrick's group got caught but a few more guys were still dangling out front. Smudger moves up to build a chase but flatted in a pot hole a the worst possible moment as we hit the downhill with 2 sharp turns. I thought he was doomed as he lost control of his rear end (not the first time) in the 1st of 2 corners and had to ride it our while everyone was going 40MPH. He made it though and got a change but that certainly didn't help his race. We get to 3 to go and I move up into the top 5. Patrick was there and so I decided to go into Domestique mode. The video says most of the rest. I rode in the top 5 for the next lap and a half and then went to the front on the penultimate lap. I went basically as hard as I could for a little over a lap on the front and even sprinted for about 100 yards knowing it was the end of my rope. Explosions occurred and the field passed me with 1/2 a lap to go, with Chris in great position for the sprint. Unfortunately there were still 4 guys off the front, so when he sprinted for 3rd it resulted in a 7th overall. Still a great result. Dave got 27th in his first 3/4 race, Patrick 28th and Smudger squeaked by me with 3 turns to go and I briefly considered sprinting past him but decided that would be a DB move so I slid in one spot back at 43. PJ Scott and Nolan all finished same time. Fun race. Watch the VIDEO!
Stage 3 - Fitchburg - RAIN. A lot of rain. Chris and Scott bailed (boo family stuff yeah right). Smudger, Patrick, Dave D, Nolan and I braved the elements, which were pretty bad. The course was great, 2 long straight-aways, one slight down, the other slightly up. Rain, wind and cold on June 28th? Whatever. We set up the tent and warmed up in Pro fashion. We did a warm up lap and we were already soaked. I was more determined than ever to ride at the front, because one of the corners was sketchy as hell in the wet with the cross-walk paint-of-doom. Three laps in and I jump in a break of 3 guys but it didn't last long. Fine by me I was just warming up. About 5 laps in and Smudger and I barely escape a crash in the paint-of-doom section. I had to tri-pod around the corner but no harm no foul. Smudger did a nice job pacing me back into the pack. Nine laps to go and the pace slowed on the downhill section so I attacked and got a pretty big solo gap. I probably had 150 meters coming around to the start/finish line but they were chasing and the uphill was interminable all alone. Hey I did get a shout out from Richard Fries and/or Dick Ring (and Nolan's dad Ron, thanks!). Cool. I was eventually caught and sat in for a while. Patrick did the right thing and went to the front aggressively, and Dave helped pull me back up to the front (thanks for that!). I heard a couple of big crashes behind in the straight-away of all places and it turned out Smudger was in one, slid 40 feet on his ass and has some "awkward" road rash that I wish I didn't see. He did get back in the race, and also got his shout out from Fries. Cool, but in an unfortunate way. 3 to go and I marked an attack by Harvard winner Dawry Cabrera. He is strong and I got on his wheel "hoping" he could drag me onto the podium. This was way harder than I wanted and I burned a match (trust me I was running low) for no reason as we got caught at the finish line with 2 to go. I didn't have much time to recover so I just kept drilling it to hold my position as the race was getting super aggressive. Coming down the back stretch on the last lap I was on FUMES but had a quality talk with myself (in my brain, you know) to suck it up and get a result. I moved up into 8th position on the wheel of Alexander Grabeau who won Friday night, hoping he would unleash a sprint of fury that I could ride to glory. We hit the paint-of-doom corner and he kind of wimped out so I had to go around him, hit the last corner in 7th and sprinted my face off. Unfortunately that didn't get me any higher as I finished exactly 7th. I was shattered, I've never laid it down that hard at the end of a crit. I'm pretty satisfied after 3 days of racing, and the beer tasted really good with Smudger and Dave afterwards (and Josh Merchant who raced the 4/5). Dave grabbed a top 20 but I didn't see where the other guys finished. I think Patrick may have crashed as well and boogied right after the race.
All in all it was a pretty successful weekend. Now it's time for some MTB races.