Minuteman Road Club

Tom Coleman, myself, and 35 other dudes lined up for the men's 3 race. It was 42F and windy, but a hell of a lot warmer than the first wave of races and the sun was shining, so I'm not complaining. The race flyer said 7 8ish mile laps for a 63 mile race. The course is a flat and fast rectangle with a few small rollers on right and top edges with a long straight away wide open finish straight.

The pace started off very easy. I used the stiff tail wind to ride the yellow line and slot into third wheel. A few very large potholes emerged and then I recalled my earlier discussion with Jacob, who'd just completed the men's 40+, about his specific mention of rough roads on the south side of the course. So I went to the front of the peloton and scouted out the best lines for subsequent laps. There was one large unavoidable puddle that spanned the entire road on this section.

After a few easy minutes on the front, Zev Myerowitz of Down East attacked hard. It got countered quickly and gave the group some giddy up. The first right turn was a cluster f@$k because the course marshal was sleeping and two Cannonade juniors were attacking straight when they should have made a right. Luckily a few guys took the right and yelled RIGHT.

The pace picked up on the 2nd lap and Zev attacked again in about the same spot, this time getting a 30 second gap. Nobody tried to bridge and figured that this guy couldn't stay away for another 56 miles in this wind.

ON the 3rd lap, Tom said, "Zev being off the front worries me. Zee solo'd off the front of the Killington Stage Race circuit race last year only a few miles in and was never seen again." Nobody gave chase.

GLV TT guy attacked and successfully bridged up to Zev on the 4th lap. GLV then proceeded to get on the front and block. GLV had the biggest squad and did no work with their TT man in the break.

I put in one good dig at the front on the 4th and 5th laps hoping to stir the pot, but no chase formed. Other than passing a bunch of women who fell off pace of the W/1/2/3 field, the race played out this format until lap 6.

A 5-6 man P1/2/3 break forced us to neutralize and then there was a few guys tangled up in a crash that happened in front of me. I went off road and around to avoid.

As we rounded out the 6th lap, the bell rang. Wait, bell lap? I thought we had one more? Yes, the bell lap came on 7 - they did short our race. And those two guys are still way off the front.

The pace picked up and those with tired legs popped off the back. The momentum was stopped again 2 miles from the finish when we got neutralized AGAIN because the rest of the P1/2 field was passing us.

Very frustrating because this is where the pace is really supposed to heat up but didn't. Maybe some thought the official was wrong and we had one more lap? I don't know, but it was mellow and didn't feel like a race. I was very close to passing the bunched field on the sidewalk to the right, but didn't. A Cannonade junior attacked into the last turn and the race was back on.

Remember, this stretch is stiff tailwind. I was mid pack and easily surfed wheels passing a dozen or so guys until 500m to go where I started my sprint. The hamstrings weren't game, so I danced that fine line of riding a cramp hard and managed to eek out 3 more places to cross the line in 11th. In retrospect, I wished I took to the sidewalk and surprise attacked from the side!

After the race I learned the GLV guy who bridged came back to the group and also met and congratulated Zev on a bad-ass win. He had an aero bike, wheels, helmet, and skin suit but is a total bad ass.

Total bummer that Tom flatted 17 miles in with no neutral wheel, but he's eager to redeem himself at Mystic Velo next weekend.

Excellent result for Stefan's jersey's second race of the day. Sorry to say, his shorts didn't fare so well.

JBurgel wrote:Excellent result for Stefan's jersey's second race of the day. Sorry to say, his shorts didn't fare so well.

No worries on the shorts, but I at least want to hear the story!

Who gets to wear it next?

#stefansjersey

I thought it needs to be said for all to see that we had a great team effort in the Masters 40+. We kept guys near the front, we chased down some breaks, Chris P and Jason in a promising 3 man break, and we had a solid leadout train led by Chris B for the last 3.5 miles of the race. But this is bike racing and things don't always go your way so it didn't work out this time.

I will say for my part that I was happy to part of that leadout train and bury myself for the team in that final 3.5 miles. I would do it again in a heartbeat for all involved.

John

Nice race report and result Scott.

The P/1/2 race was very fast for the first couple laps. I was near or on the front quite a bit and regret it because it put me in a bad place for the middle of the race, where I had to recover on the back, while all the heavy hitters were making their moves. I ate/drank and my energy started to come back to me with about 3 to go, but by then there were 15 guys off the front.

The field blew apart with 2 to go and I found myself making several solo bridge attempts to small groups, working my way up. I settled in a group of ~12 guys featuring McNicholas, Sallee, Myerson and a 62 year old guy who I later learned was Kent Bostick (multiple time national TT champ, masters world champ, and Olympian). We were pace lining most of the time but we weren't moving fast enough to quell multiple attacks, mostly by Myerson and myself. Adam and I got a small gap on the tailwind section on the last lap. He made me do almost all of the work and we were caught after ~5 minutes.

Going into the last corner I was in 3rd position. McNicholas was leading it out and got a small gap but imploded. I waited to start my sprint at ~200m and won it ahead of Sallee and Myerson. Finished 16th/55. This was my longest (and fastest) race yet, 140km, ~3.25 hours. It was pretty hard, but the kermesse style of racing was definitely fun.

Women’s Cat 4 Race:

The women’s 4 race was very tame, even by cat 4 standards. About a dozen riders lined up at the start of the 4-lap, 32-mile race.

It appeared that many of the ladies had not gotten a proper warmup in before the chilly start, as we took the first lap of the race slowly. It was clear that nerves were also high after the pace car led us to take a wrong turn at the first corner, leaving the pack scattered all over the road and tempers flaring.

I hung towards the front half of the pack just in case one of the strong girls decided to make a break for it, but after the first lap it became apparent that everyone was intent on staying together for the duration of the race.

The low pace, high wind, and cagey riding of some riders towards the front led me to stay comfortably toward the back for most of the remainder of the race. I stayed out of the wind and scoped out a game plan for the last lap. The few riders who had done most of the work during the race seemed to be tiring out. I knew that it was too late in the game for anything big to happen, so I took it easy and looked to see who was climbing the hills a little too easily on the last lap. I spotted a target and knew that it was her wheel I needed to get on for the final sprint.

I moved from the back to the middle of the pack just before rounding the second-to-last corner and descending to the beachside. I took the last corner on the outside, but my target wheel was on the inside, so I wormed my way across to her as we sped down the last straight, aided by the tailwind. Fatigued riders were dropping like flies at this point, but sure enough, my target wheel was plummeting along behind the leader. The leader opened up her sprint a little earlier than I had expected, and my target jumped at that moment too, taking me a bit by surprise. I was not able to catch either of them, and ended up in a solid 3rd place.

Not the most exciting race ever, but the excellent scenery, fine farm/ocean odors, and bright sunshine made it all worth it. A podium ain’t half bad, either!

Nice work everyone!

pcollins wrote: . . . but the kermesse style of racing was definitely fun.

Sorry if I missed the flavor of the (Kermesse) race it in your report, but what was different about it?

And great job! Sounds like a hard effort for that result. Especially given it was such a long race.


Kudos to all that raced! Sounds like some good, hard racing by all.

Not sure if it's the "Kermesse" style but this race was fun because it was basically flat so climbing was nil, corners weren't an issue so it wasn't as chaotic or dangerous as a crit, but with the wind it was a strategic factor because it went from tail to cross to head every few minutes. I thought it was fun.

pace21 wrote:Not sure if it's the "Kermesse" style but this race was fun because it was basically flat so climbing was nil, corners weren't an issue so it wasn't as chaotic or dangerous as a crit, but with the wind it was a strategic factor because it went from tail to cross to head every few minutes. I thought it was fun.

That does sound like fun.

KTeves wrote:Sorry if I missed the flavor of the (Kermesse) race it in your report, but what was different about it?

It was basically a 3+ hour long crit. 11 laps, flat 140km, rolling enclosure (that failed multiple times). One narrow road. One technical-ish corner, where it would get strung out sometimes. The strong wind broke up the field into several small echelons. I found myself riding in the gutter several times to try to catch a draft. If the course was more technical it would have been more Kermesse-y, but I think this race was probably the closest you can get to Belgian racing in NE.

I should have done this beforehand, but for the rest of you all, in case you're interested or didn't already know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermesse_(cycling)

I tried to leave out the farm fumes because I didn't want to discourage anyone from doing this race next year. The marshaling on turn 1 was horrible and Amos has insured that it won't be a problem next year. Oh, the cat 3 race will be 8 laps next year.

No worries on the shorts, but I at least want to hear the story! And #stefansjersey...

Sorry to miss these queries.

I was amped to bring home some points, and so opted to take on the cat 4 race sans team and so strategy was to make friends and get away early. 4 miles in, break goes and I'm not with it. A 23 year old, Evan, bridges and I stick on his wheel. We hit the back of the break, and as we do Evan looks back, twice. Touches wheels and in going down takes me with him. I take a Green line guy down and the 3 of us are left behind. I'm bleeding out my elbow, hand, hip, and knee, but it numbs up quick and I get my bike sorted and roll out. Green line finally gets to my wheel and we start trading. He pops off at the start finish line, and I solo chase the last 3 laps, looking for help but not finding any. Turned out I was in sight of the pack near the start finish but never quite bridged back.
Finished the race, checked into the ambulance, then handed my #stefansjersey off to Scott, as he had forgotten his. . .. 3 weeks later, all wounds except one are healed. And Scott still has the Jersey .

JBurgel wrote:And Scott still has the Jersey

The #stefansjersey handoff will take place on Wednesday at the club meeting. Glad you're mostly all healed up Josh