Quabbin! (2016)

[djming]

[Webmaster note: the two Quabbin race reports have been combined to one, please don't start multiple threads on the same topic]

I think there just might be a few reports from today. Okay, someone's got to start.
40+ cat4/5. 11 of us lined up among a filled 75 person field. Had the race plan broken down into 4 general parts.

Part 1 - thru 202. I completely sat back. Thru in a couple high spin surges on the hills just to see how the legs felt (good). The idea was for us to patrol the front and no break would go without MRC representation. A couple points where Josh and I felt pace dawdling too much so Cap'n Bernard gave the order to send some guys up front and see how the field reacted. Seemed to work in spots as pace did quicken at times and no breaks developed. Who exactly was doing this from my vantage point I couldn't tell so I'll say thanks and leave it up to them to chime in.

Part 2 - starting with the feedzone it was time to up the pace. Pretty sure it was Mark B who got this party started. Definitely woke the field up as lines quickly developed which made me much more comfortable. I could see Fintan doing a TON of work up front and found Todd J to send him up to help. Mission accomplished as after a spell by Todd and others, Fintan went back into beast mode and did a monster pull before filtering back. KT (of course, what else would you expect ) always mixing it up near the front and keeping people honest. It was so awesome to see I think the full squad still accounted for along 122 and helping out! Things began to bunch back upon the grind up to 32A. Here I decided to start monitoring closer to the front, along with Josh and (of course..) KT.
As we continued along 32A I became a bit concerned as it seemed Kevin doing a bit too much work (my worry on this later would be proven to be completely unwarranted), and it seemed as though only Josh and I were comfortably matching the front pacing (sorry If I'm wrong on this about others, just reporting my thoughts)

Part 3 - from Hardwick Center/Greenwich Rd/into Ware - on the rough rise from the hard right out of the center, things were getting a bit testy near the front. Josh and I quickly discussed and agreed somehow we need to shake things up. Well, as if he read our minds, who appears but (you guessed it) KT. I see an opening but Kevin has the better line so I yell for him to go and get out front on the winding descent. Josh and I follow with just a few others. Josh and I, and then Kevin start taking some strong pulls on the front and try to get some kind of a break together with 3 of us in it. Nobody else would pull thru for a damn however so we shut that down. Thru the upper parts of Greenwich Rd and we're getting closer to the "park" section thru the neighborhood before route 9. I was a bit further back than I wanted to be but more importantly, other than (yup, of course) KT we had nobody else near the front. Find Todd and tell him we need to get closer. He starts going there's John M pretty much in tow on the other side of me. Bernard there also. And now Kevin is going into beast mode and really working the field as we approach Walker Rd. I settle into 4-7th wheel in a more strung out field and once again beginning to feel more comfortable. Josh right there, also as planned. So the plan was for me to assess the field and attack as we hit route 9 with counter plans after that. Well, there was one moment of hesitancy but when I saw all the work Kevin was doing to set this up, no way could I call that off.

Part 4 - Route 9 and in. On the "park/neighborhood" section one guy puts in a dig. Kevin (smartly) lets it go but otherwise keeps a good, manageable gap while keeping us strung out and I'm sitting 5th/6th wheel. We hit route 9 and "blue/white kit guy" still with a slight lead. Maybe 150 yards onto Rt.9 I don't give anyone the chance to act first and fly by KT and the one guy and drill the first hill. Get a gap, up and as we're nearing the crest of 1st hill I see I think one guy trying to bridge. No f'n way. I recover ever so briefly over the crest and then drill the descent. Into the second climb and I see it looks like a smaller pack back together. The mantra was same as the first climb - suffer initially, (slight) recovery on the crest then hammer the descent. Into the park and I'm really liking the look of the gap but of course can't relax. Each little false flat and downhill area I just force myself to hammer the pedals, but at some point I see it's getting harder to get back up to my target power level. Okay, now it's a matter of time. Where's that f'n lookout?? See it, still have a gap but now it's significantly closer and doubts creeping in. Push those aside, back to job at hand. Now I here Josh yelling, one more glance back and I can see him kind of dangling off the front of the quite diminished chase group (toying with them, it seemed..) He's still yelling. Out of the saddle for as much as I can and hold them off. Well, holding off Josh isn't exactly a fair statement, as he was pretty much just blocking the whole way. So we take 1,2 and had I been caught absolutely no question Josh would have countered and taken it.

So despite my moments of doubt, the squad came thru and everyone ended up being where they needed to be when they needed to be there. Blocking, setting the pace, etc, etc. Thank you just doesn't do it justice, but THANK YOU to the team.

[pcollins]

Congrats Dave! Two wins within one week... I think its time for an upgrade!

I lined up for the P123 race with ~ 50 other guys. My goal going in was to get in the decisive breakaway. I made sure to be near the front and follow the good looking moves. 15km in I got in a break with three other guys, including a CCB dude and Sam Rosenholtz. We worked well together, taking quick pulls and got a 1 minute gap. We were off the front for ~25 minutes. I regret going with this move, as it was way too early, and it didn’t really have any of the favorites in it.

When we were caught there was a flurry of attacks that were all covered. On a fast descent, our pace moto dangerously and idiotically came to a complete stop in the left side of our lane probably to stop traffic from pulling out from the left side road. I had to swerve around him and as I did I yelled at him to get out of the way. A few seconds later I hear a loud snap, looked back and saw one rider on the ground after colliding with the moto. I honestly thought he died or was seriously injured (I learned after the race that he fortunately only had road rash and a broken bike). The peloton self-neutralized as everyone was shaken up and worried about the rider.

I dropped one of my MRC water bottles and decided that we were going slow enough to turn back and get it. Unfortunately it was rolling backwards downhill and was run over by a car. At the feed zone I asked a Cannondale soigner if I could have a bottle and he was kind enough to give me one. I swigged half of it and gave it to another rider. The field split into 2 large groups shortly after, with many of the favorites in the first group, while I was in the second group. I worked hard with a few other guys to close down the gap.

I think on the Rt 32 climb around 15 of us went off the front with Ben Wolfe pushing the pace. Wolfe, a CCB guy and another pro attacked our break on Rt 9 and the remaining break broke apart. ~10 of us came back together on the downhill before the final climb with the CCB guy in sight, who we then caught. We did not go up the climb hard, as everyone was waiting for someone to make a move. There were a few small attacks (two by me) to see if the group would break up, but it didn’t and it came down to an uphill sprint for 3rd place. McCormack made a move with 200m to go and I followed, I tried to come around but he held me off by inches, so I finished 4th. I had great legs and I’m super satisfied with making the break and being able to fight for the “podium” at the end.

I’m pumped that the team had an amazing day, with two W’s and several other great results!

[scottc]

Cat 3 Men's race went very, very well. Our protected riders finished in the money. Mark Miller won and Tom Coleman took 4th. (Sorry for any spoilers)

My job was simple, go hard first and try to get an early break going. I was given free reign after the first hill on RT 9, so I went hard on the second hill. A solid 2 minute dig on the front had guys getting shelled within the opening miles.

The first RT 202 climb was steady and fast with some attacks and pack surging, but nothing formed. At some point a lone Cannondale Junior snuck off the front and stayed away for a few minutes until descent. Chase organized and I found myself in the wind pulling hard.

He was caught, then another attack went off. "Go Go Get that" and I continued my effort and bridged with a few others with a small gap. A move did not happened and the eager peloton reeled us back in.

The next up hill had another attack, which I went with but quickly found myself out of legs. I got chewed up and spit out quicker than any group ride I've ever been on. I hit the lap button on my Garmin - normalized power 348W at the 1hr 6min mark 25 miles in - I did my part.

The rest of my race was a steady state workout. I collected another dropped cat 3 on 122 after the feed and found him to be worthless by the time we hit 32A, so I dropped him and persisted alone. From then on it was a steady diet of dropped masters riders until the park entrance.

I rode threshold uphill until I could not. When I saw the 200m sign, I gave it everything I had. Small crowd cheering and cowbells then it was over.

Rolled up to the parking area and quickly learned that we'd won! Stoked is an understatement. The guys who'd finished and were standing cast a vibe of excitement that is hard to describe. We'd executed a calculated plan and WON! Kudos to Coach Cratty and everyone for making it happen!

I'll digress in saying that I had originally planned on riding home from the race (40+ miles), but after managing a 21 mph pace on that course (40 miles solo) and a few post race celebratory Wachusett beers with the squad, commuting back home was swiftly off the table. Awesome day!

[MarkMiller321]

This may be a little long for some. Enjoy.


Quabbin was going to be my day, I could feel for the past couple of weeks. My rides had been going increasingly well and there have been times that I have been absolutely flying. Following the Wednesday Night Ride I was certain that I would have the legs to bring home a result at Quabbin.


The story really does not begin there if I’m going to do it any justice. The story really begins two years ago following my last win on the road as a cat four at the Killington Stage Race. It was my first year of bike racing and I was blowing races up at will and having a great time in the process. Why would I think it would be any different once I upgraded to cat three the following week. Unbeknownst to many I had been dealing with some pretty severe gastrointestinal issues for the previous three years and had been diagnosed with a relatively rare form of colitis. The treatment plan that we were using at the time was ineffective and I was still having diarrhea up to ten times a day. That summer season as a three I got destroyed. Following a shameful last place finish at Hilltowns when I could not hold wheels on the flats the writing was on the wall. It was back to the gastrointestinologist for more testing and a new try at some other forms of treatment. I took some solace in the doctor telling me that I probably had not absorbed an electrolyte all summer which explained my exceedingly poor performances. Following a long stint off the bike I was able to rebuild some form and made my cyclocross debut in the second half of the fall season. My stomach issues were now behind me thanks to a new medication and I was looking forward to coming back in 2015.


Training thought the winter and gearing up for 2015 went well and I was poised to have a great spring. I did the first critt in Plainville and nabbed a solid fourth place finish in the 1/2/3 out of a break that I drove nearly the whole way. I was feeling good heading toward Battenkill but I hastily committed to doing Rasputitsa the week before. On a forty plus mile descent a mud rut blew out on me and I went airborn. I unclipped my right leg as I flailed through the air desperate not to crash. I managed to hold off the worst of it but my right leg dug into the ground at forty mph totally torquing my hip. The pain increased every week and despite some fairly solid results at MSR and Sunapee I could barely walk without pain let alone ride a bike. Thankfully a friend of mine is an orthopedic Physician Assistant and was able to look at my x-rays and determine that a cortisone shot would do the trick. In the world of quick fixes I literally drove to Portland, Maine to my friends house and she gave me a cortisone shot in my right hip while we all laughed about the absurdity. Fortunately the shot worked but I ended up being off the bike for around twenty-five days total.


Fast forward to summer and again I was on the comeback trail gunning to have the form and legs to win the cat three race at Concord last weekend of July. As always form built and confidence grew as July slowly passed. I was optimistic given my strong three race series at the NCC summer practice critts where my worst finish was fourth behind the likes of Hyde, Durrin, and Clark. I didn’t know it at the time but I also clashed sabers with future teammate Tom C. a few times at the series. Hilltowns was semi successful but I left pissed with fifth place knowing that I had the legs for the win had I been more aggressive. Things were lining up nicely and I was ready for Concord when disaster struck. In a freak accident on the bike path in Keene at a random blind, spot I collided head on with another cyclist. This was by far the worst and scariest crash of my life which resulted in three separate fractures of my right orbital bone and a fractured and displaced nasal bone and septum. On top of the fractures I had a severe concussion that left me not at 100% until January. Following my brief hospitalization and meeting with several surgeons cyclocross was in doubt. The admitting doctor was sure that I would be off the bike for six months given the severity of the fractures and concussion. Even as I sit and write this I still have problems breathing and need to schedule surgery for after this coming cross season. What the doctor did not know is that I basically have mutant healing power on par with Wolverine and I was back on the bike within fifteen days. Cross was semi successful with the exception of some ill timed flats and rolled tubulars when poised to pick up some massive points at West Hill and Midnight Ride of Cross.


Training through the winter went well again and I was buoyed with the knowledge that I would be racing on an awesome team in 2016. As I said above it was a long road to get to the race which is what made Saturday so rewarding.


Saturday morning I was up before the alarm and downing dark roast shortly thereafter. I had packed the Volvo V50 the night before and just needed to get coffee and my body out the door. On the drive the grey weather hung over me like a dark force. My old friend self-doubt came back and I wondered if I would be able to deliver the goods. I reminded myself that given Jeremy’s race plan that I had fifty miles to figure out how I was feeling so it was senseless to worry about it during the car ride. Upon arrival check in was pretty straight forward given that it was Mike Norton race and I had time to mingle and relax before the race.


Despite the cloudy cool conditions I was certain that it would clear and committed to only wearing my skinsuit. I read a silly VeloNews article earlier this spring about Tom Boonen and arm and leg warmers and wanted to honor the Tornado with bare arms and legs. At the line I was over the moon with excitement. Teammates everywhere with different strengths all ready to animate the race with their talents. Hearing Tom tell another rider that I was the guy to watch brought my confidence to another level because I thought he was the guy that could win the race!


Off the line and down the hill I chilled (literally and figuratively) with PJ. We had a few good laughs about how long it took him to shave his legs Friday night given a winter of beastdom. Our fifteen mph descent was more like a thirty mile descent and we were out of the park within minutes. Initially on the road I was way back in the bunch. There was a lot of energy being expended by some of the other riders establishing position in the bunch. I was in the second half of the group and kept an eye on all the red Lazer helmets. I got excited as I saw Scott take a dig off the front as planned and started working my way through the bunch. I found Jeremy and John and figured that my best plan was to settle in with the two of them as long as possible. Throughout the first half of the race I was hyper vigilant about fueling. Given the prescribed “big move” from ten to fifteen miles out I knew that I would need all the fuel I could stomach throughout the race.


My excitement continued to grow as more and more teammates took flyers off the front. We even lined up a pretty awesome dig for PJ at one point and managed to block the whole front row of the race. Despite none of these moves sticking they were having a palpable impact on the race. Teams were growing frustrated with our control and were constantly wasting matches chasing down our moves. All the while my confidence was growing knowing that I would be ready when the time came.


Between forty and fifty miles the race really started to heat up. Jeremy had told me to shadow the CycleOps kid and that resulted in me being in the first five to ten riders which really set me up to make a strong move. The pace and duration of the race was apparent on the faces of the riders around me as I continued to feel relaxed. I’m not sure what mile it was but the guy I will refer to as Red Dude made a huge attack off the front. Jeremey being the ultimate badass of the day countered to try and close the gap. The pace on the front dawdled as some of the riders complained that the race was over. Up the road I could see that Jeremy was struggling to bridge when it happened. This wicked lanky kid Will exploded out of the group looking like a million bucks. I could tell that that was the move so I pushed all my chips on the table and attacked at full power to bridge across to his wheel. I made contact and we got down to business. First we picked up Jeremy and for a moment I thought the two of us would go to the line together. Unfortunately Jeremy’s massive efforts throughout the day finally caught up and he exploded after a mile. Will and I kept digging and swept up Red Dude and and we formed a solid paceline.


The first twenty minutes of an attack are all sunshine and rainbows. My digs on the flats were hurting Red Dude which I thought was a good plan. My pulls on the flats were around thirty to forty-five seconds at thirty to thirty one miles per hour. Once my heartrate would get to 177 or 178 I would pull off knowing that I would need the big guns on Route 9 and in the park. Through that weird park stretch and onto Route 9 the moto told us that we had forty-six seconds on the bunch. It seemed plausible that the move could work but our chances took a huge hit as we hit the unrelenting headwind on Route 9. Red Dude did his best to hang but he dropped on the first climb and it was down to Will and I to make this move stick. The last half of this break was pure hell on earth. Every muscle fiber was screaming in agony and my heart felt like it was going to explode under the weight of the effort. Snot, sweat, and tears blew off my face with each desperate pedal stroke. Whatever was going to happen would surely happen but I was giving my max to make this move work. With each hill and each gust of wind the gap dropped. Our best bet was to make it to the park which would hopefully demoralize the chase. At the entrance the gap was down to thirty-two seconds and I was totally gassed. I had struggled to hold Will’s wheel the last two miles and was starting to doubt it we would make it all the way to the line. Those thoughts were confirmed when I looked back and saw the group just down the road. Each turn of the pedal was an effort now as we climbed toward the finish. On the flatter sections of the climb I did my best to hurt Will by ramping up the pace to twenty-five mph. I committed to staying on the big ring the whole climb and just started laying down the power. At 2k to go Will started making audible breathing and grunting noises. I thought this was a head game so I started making noises too. I wanted him to think that I was hurting worse than he was in order to bait him into attacking too soon. The reality was that I could not hurt anymore than I was already hurting so I kept the pace high. I pulled even with Will at fifteen hundred to go and much to my surprise a small gap started to form. A quick glance and I saw Will looking at his feet seemingly trying to drudge up the last of his energy. That visual was all I needed and I found one more gear and attacked. The gap stretched and I could not see the chase coming so I went all out for as long as I could. Seeing the two hundred to go sign I knew I had it in the bag and the excitement started to grow. The last fifty I dropped it to the small ring and did my best to pose across the line. (Hopefully someone got a shot for the sponsors) I was beyond thrilled and could not wait to share the victory with the team. Initially we thought that Tom had nabbed third when in fact he was forth. Everyone met up at the tower and shared in the victory. As excited as I was to pick up the win I was even more thrilled to be able to deliver for the team. In years past at races I would simply ride back to the car pack up and head home. There was a camaraderie in the parking lot and nobody wanted to let the moment pass. It was so fun to hang out and reflect on the days work and share the experiences of everyone else. I am so excited to be on this team and I am beyond excited that I was able to deliver the result that we have been looking for. It has been a very long road the last two years to get back to the top of the podium but that struggle made Quabbin that much sweeter.


Mark

[JBurgel]

Fantastic Race reports all! To add to the Mingori post of 4/5 40+:

After Mingori decided to rip off the front, I got to play block monster, actually quite fun especially when it seemed like nobody on any of the teams had legs or team mates left, AND since we had collaborated with two other teams (GHCC and BSBL) and they were represented in the top few on Rte 9. One or two efforts by the two man Down Cycles' team cut into his lead, but nobody else seemed to want to pull through, and when they did, it seemed they'd throw out an anchor. Dave's effort looked like it was going to stick when he had about a 30 second gap going into the Park, and everyone was just riding tempo, filling up the road with Mark, Kevin, Todd, and I all patrolling the front. Looking back, the group was pretty large and all the strong contenders were there. Just when I thought "massive bunch sprint". Todd took off and everyone followed his wheel, but he didn't close down Dave too much and nobody went when he shut down ...and again the road bunched up perhaps with a smaller group? I knew I was marked when I faked exhaustion and someone behind me said "yeah right, we don't buy that for a minute." I was fired up for Dave when he hit the end of the long flat with a huge gap -- and so I followed plan A to just sit on any surge. About 900 meters to go, the climber from Down Cycles took off hard - I was a little boxed in, but bumped through one guys bars (didn't make any friends there) and was clear to glue onto DC's wheel. Looking around, we had a gap, and only one other, GHCC rider, was with us, and we were closing on Dave. DC started to waver then asked me to pull through, not wanting to chance getting caught from behind I pulled alongside but didn't help ... 200 meters to go it was clear Dave was going to win, so I just stepped on it to secure 2nd.

A great day's work with lots of us represented at the top end of the field, when it mattered.

[jraguin]

Awesome races guys! Josh, I think you have enough points to upgrade to Cat 3! I think they count the last 12 months and Quabbin was later last year, so between this 2nd, your 1st at Chris Hinds, a 5th at Ken Harrod, and a 1st at last year's Quabbin, that sounds like enough! (Unless you are gunning for sandbagger of the year).

I will only say that I enjoyed the Cat 3 race. It was pretty fast but staying up front helped me reduce my effort. I knew I didn't have the legs from the hard training week. I didn't do much to help the team besides a couple of chases to keep an MRC guy on Alex Grabeau's wheel. I had planned to help Mark down the stretch but Alex G took off so fast that I missed it, and then when Jeremy went and then Mark, all we had to do was block which I did a bit. Was in the lead pack until the final bit, but just didn't have the legs to go with Tom and the lead 10 guys. Fun times gents!

[pace21]

Pretty sure the 12 months are only for force upgrades. Points for voluntary upgrades don't expire.

Really enjoying reading these reports and definitely having pangs of regret

[pace21]

This is awesome Mark. Great report.

Tactically you picked the right time to attack. It was Miller time. Sorry, sorry.

[pcollins]

Here are some pics. Lots of MRC'ers!
http://petethetalbot.photoshelter.com/g ... 2AykaPBIcE

[ravenjason13]

Congrats to all who won and battled hard. MRC was well represented.

[MarkMiller321]

Sweet pictures Pat!

[JeremyC]

When you caught me in the break I could tell you were going to win. I could barely hold your wheel going downhill. Congrats, it makes all the work worth while. The backstory makes it even better (minus the diarrhea, TMI)

[cbusick]

Sorry this is also long, but we had a lot going on in the race. And I still want to figure out how we can communicate better in races.

I love racing with numbers and strategy. Communication is important though. I worked on some special hand gestures for Jeremy but he didn’t approve since they weren’t family friendly.

Orders were not to do anything for the first 25 miles so I sat near the front but out of the wind. The same 3 or 4 guys kept trying to get things going, but they’d get a small gap then come back. One guy got a good sized break and a chase of about 8 went after him that I jumped on for the ride. The chase got behind one of the Hells Angles Motos (HAM) and the HAM moto paced us up to the break. Then we all sat up and let the pack catch us. I’m not sure where these HAM guys got their instructions from. I hope we aren’t hiring them for our race.

Anyway we took turns getting in breaks with Jeremy sending, me, Scott, himself or whoever else was available. I was instructed to get in a group of 4 or 5 that was going away, and jumped across, moved through the rotation, got to the front and held at 400w for a while. When nobody would pull through I eased off and we got swallowed again. When I fought my way back to the front I could see another break was off. “We got someone in this one?” I asked Jeremy. “Yup, PJ.” At that point we had 4 of us on the front. Some guy 3 or 4 rows back started complaining “Hey guys, don’t just sit on the front like that!” The guy behind me yelled back “Notice that they are all wearing the same kit? Hey Minutemen, you got someone in the Break?” This was enough to clue in the rest of the pack that they’d have to do something about it. Took them a while, but eventually they did and brought PJ back

At one point Jeremy and I were in the second row. Jeremy started talking about feeling pretty good and wondering if he should go in a break about now. As we chatted about it the guy ahead of us was bobble heading trying to figure out what side the attack would be on. Jeremy went and he jumped on along with 2 others. They were off for a bit and as soon as they came back I countered, right into the feed zone. Ooops. The HAM was being annoying again I could have easily drafted off of him, and when I instead started to go around him he started drifting over into me. As soon as the pack caught me things settled down to a coffee shop ride pace. They didn’t even swallow me up, but left me sitting on the front doing 150W, chatting about the pro’s and cons of motorcycles in the peloton, etc.

There were a couple attempts to start something at mile 45. Jeremy got away for a bit but then hit the headwind and was brought back. We were going pretty hard at that point since most of the pack was aware that it was a good place to get away.

Later in a quiet part of the course, the guy in red just slipped off the front and started to pull away. Nobody seemed to care, until someone started whining “You guys going to let him get away? Do you know who that is? He’s a U23 champion of something or other” So I started trying to get unboxed on the right side to go after him, when Jeremy took off on the left. He closed the gap for a while, but then started fading back so I moved to the front to start a chase when Mark and some lanky kid took off at a serious pace. This let me transition from chasing to blocking which is way more fun. I don’t know why they let me do it, but every time someone would start ramping up the chase I’d get into the rotation and then sit up when the lead rider flicked his elbow for me to come through. The chase would fall apart and we’d go at an easy pace for a couple minutes until the next surge. I almost started to feel bad when the same guy would kill himself on the front then flick his elbow, and pull over, only to have me shrug and say “Sorry, I really can’t help you.” and we’d start all over. Eventually Jeremy came back and the break was out of site. Then a larger surge came up the right with Tom followed by PJ. At this point I should have yelled over to Tom that Mark was in the break, since I hadn’t seen Tom near the front for a while. I didn’t though and he went right off the front dragging another rider with him. This spiced up things in the Peloton since now they had 2 people they could see to chase. They eventually caught Tom on route 9, and I burned my last match on one of the climbs to get to the front and explain to Tom in non UCI approved language that Mark was in the break and it would be appreciated if he’d stop chasing. He apologized and agreed that this was a good idea and we sat on the front. Then Rich took off on the right in what normally would have been a good counter move after Tom getting caught, if Mark wasn’t in the winning move. A quick “RICH NO!” from me and he settled back down and the life went out of the pack. Tom and I lead the pack through the turn into the park and I couldn’t believe that they were letting us block the whole group this close to the finish. Then the whole pack went flying by, my legs said “shut up brain” and I got dropped, pacing in at threshold.

I finally rolled through the finish (that road takes for ever) to learn that we'd won. Again. People are definitely starting to take notice.

[JBurgel]

Great Post Mark! And, to all the long-time-team members out there, the feeling of camaraderie on this time is a very real thing. You've built a nice team!

[Bradford]

MRC is killing it. Great job boys - well done.

[Smudger]

Guess I should make a presidential statement here:

You guys, all off you cause we know it is a team effort, are feckin amazing

Congrats to all that raced. Sorry I couldn't be there.

[mfwestbe]

Congrats to everyone on such a great day! Seems reading reports like these will be a weekly affair

Cat 4 - We were 5 in numbers going in and planning to work for Tyler and Dave. I rolled up late and started at the very back, but in a typical Quabbin 4 scenario, the front seemed content to go hard on hills and then sitting up. I had no data devices on me, but the first hour at least we might as well been on a Saturday morning coffee ride.

Skip to feed zone - just after this, big attack is made that thins the field down majorly; Hang on or get dropped. Unfortunately, just after this selection, Tyler has wheel trouble, and will be out for points contention. I know Tyler was bummed, however the 'selection' that was made here seemed almost wasted after the front sat up and allowed many others to catch up.

On to working for Dave D. Finally made my way up to the front and let him know Tyler was out. Around this point, it really felt like everyone was trying to conserve with a 'win on the final climb' mentality. A few moments later I see Dave pulling on the front and gun up to take the pull instead. But still, no one else seemed to want to work... I'm not exactly sure where we are (I didn't even have a watch to know how long we'd been riding)

Once I realized we were, and nearing route 9, I was surprised at how good my legs were feeling. I decided to make things more interesting and made an attack. It was being covered, but it started to string things out into a paceline. But... moments later we were back to riding with 3-4 abreast... so... hit it hard again the moment they sat up. Perhaps they knew I wouldn't be able to hold it, but I thought at least Dave won't be expected to work on the front. I was out front by myself for much longer than I expected to be and gave it all I could all the way to route 9 and was caught on the climb, but still managed to hang in with the group through both climbing sections by hiding from the wind.

Entered the park with quite a crowd, even bumping elbows. I thought surely I'd get spit out the back now. But, still managed to hang on until the climb to the lookout section. Somewhere in here I apparently ended up passing Dave, as I thought he was at the front of the lead group and I had my head buried. Chris also came in ahead of me, who I think might be the 'unknown rider' in the results just posted.

[PJ McQuade]

Finally getting caught up here. The Cat 3 reports are like reliving the glory all over again and it's awesome to get an inside look at the victoious 4/5 squad. Mark, that's a Wikipedia worthy backstory!

[pcollins]

The results are (finally) up: http://www.road-results.com/race/7301

Besides having some mistakes and inaccurate times, did anybody else notice that it omits DNFs, showing only finishers? My race had at least 50 racers, but it only shows 40. The number of starters of the same category or higher (not just finishers) are used to determine upgrade points, therefore some people are likely getting short-changed.

For my race, I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter because I think we were just shy of 50+ Cat 1/2s (there was a handful of Cat 3's), but for other races it might matter.

Question is... does anyone who thinks they've been gypped feel compelled enough to email Mike and open this potential can of worms...

[djming]

I did send an email, and got this very prompt response back from Mike, so it appears he wasn't aware of that (and he's also working to correct the times):

"I contacted the chief judge and having her get the times. the DNF I will look into that"

[KTeves]

Sweet pictures Pat!

Yeah, especially yours and Dave's!

[KTeves]

The results are (finally) up: http://www.road-results.com/race/7301

Besides having some mistakes and inaccurate times, did anybody else notice that it omits DNFs, showing only finishers? My race had at least 50 racers, but it only shows 40. The number of starters of the same category or higher (not just finishers) are used to determine upgrade points, therefore some people are likely getting short-changed.

For my race, I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter because I think we were just shy of 50+ Cat 1/2s (there was a handful of Cat 3's), but for other races it might matter.

Question is... does anyone who thinks they've been gypped feel compelled enough to email Mike and open this potential can of worms...

I hope the outfit that was scoring this race is put on USAC's "never use again" list.

[Thomas Coleman]

So im glad this race turned out the way it did, My wife and I thought it would be fun to climb monadnok on Thursday.....little did i know its a pretty descent hike so i woke up on friday bearliy being able to walk. And then the same on Saturday morning, i was thourghly bumed pissed and disapontined in myself. For me this was the race i had been wanting to win, and when i woke up wil shitty legs i knew i had no chance... But i knew that there was alot of people behind this race and that i couldnt bag out. So that morning after smashing it on the WNR with Mark i knew it was his race. My plan in my head was just to get back to the park. Chill at the back and stay out of trouble, and i felt like i was bearly surviving... As when we turned on to 122 i said in my head if i just pulled off now id be home in 7miles and this would be over. But i just kept trucking and to my surprise we were getting close to rt 9. But sitting on the back i missed the fact that Mark went away, so i made my way up and pulled a flyer. But i didnt have those legs with me so we got caught. Then i was corrected lol and did my best at bringing the tempo down. But coming in the park was a different story... Guys were attacking and the group was shredding, AJ and Rich did a fantastic job at keeping me in the action then they both pulled away, i kept responding to the attacks and watching guys drift then i was 3rd wheel at the 200m to go, and just reponded to Zanders attack. For 4th place. My best ever finsh at that race. It was a very memorable day. I couldnt have been happier for Mark winning it was a cool feeling to be apart of such a well oiled machine.

[jmorrissey]

KT (of course, what else would you expect ) always mixing it up

I think this is on KT's mind???

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[KTeves]

Yup. Or to coin a phrase from another flick: http://imgur.com/EgJAfE8