Minuteman Road Club

HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT

It was fairly uncomfortable weather to be going fast on Sunday in Greenfield, MA. This being my first real race since the GMSR crit in 2014 also likely contributed to my discomfort, but was very happy to be back in the mix!

Sarah Shipley raced the 3/4 (4th) and 1/2/3 (11th) races, she pretty much crushed it and almost single-handedly ended a 6 woman break halfway through the 123 race. I'll let her tell her stories..

In the Men's P123, Patrick and I were the MRC pb Wachusett Brewing Co. representatives in a surprisingly large field of 68. Some big teams represented, including most of Bikereg.com, Green Line Velo, ENGVT, etc. Course was 1km, essentially flat, four corners, wide, and with the exception of unnecessary braking in turn 1, fast. Started off as pretty much all 60 min crits go, lots of attacks, but a pace > 28MPH for the first 10km kept anyone from getting too far away. Patrick moved up from the back nicely, while I "practiced" my pack riding skills towards the rear. Patrick got caught behind a silly crash about 20 minutes in, and took a free lap to get back to the front. Whenever the pace would slow, I'd move up, but wasn't riding as aggressively as was needed to hold position in the top 20. At some point, 4 guys broke away from the rest of the field and held off the pack by 10 seconds to win, good for them! With 5 laps to go, I found myself 2 riders back from Patrick, and thought I might give him a superpull to the front of things for the end. Then it got fast again, and I reconsidered. Ultimately, Pat was 16/68, and I was 38th with an average speed of 27mph. There were also 28 DNF's, the smart people who stopped when the chills/ wobbly arm heat stroke like symptoms set in I'm sure..

Patrick can likely provide a much better account of what happened in the actual race, but I was very happy to finish with the group, it'll only get easier from here! On to Leominster!

Joe

Thanks for the kudos, Joe.

Yes it was definitely a scorcher out there, and coming from collegiate racing (springtime only), I definitely was not used to racing in the heat. But I found that during the race I didn't mind it too much, as the wind made the temperature significantly more bearable.

The 3/4 race was first, at noon. The race was pretty standard for a 3/4 crit, a few attacks here and there, but nothing stuck. I thought about trying something, but after seeing a few riders get sucked in by the tailwind on the backstretch, I was content to stick in the middle of the pack. Almost accidentally, I won the second prime ($20 and some donuts!) when I accelerated a bit too much down the hill into the last corner and found myself on the wheel of 3 riders sprinting for the line. I glided around them across the line and through the first turn, and I looked back to see that there was a little gap. I pushed for a lap or two but knew that nothing would stick, so I relaxed and focused on maintaining my position.

As the last lap came around, I knew that I had to be in the front going into the final turn. I found myself a bit out of position going into the second turn, so I jumped at halfway through the lap as the downhill started. Unfortunately, the others caught on and passed me just as we rounded the final turn. I hung on to take 4th. A bit disappointed to not be on the podium, but I felt I had a solid race overall and knew that I needed to keep something in the tank for the P/1/2/3 race.

This was not only my first race as a cat. 3, but also my first time doubling up; and with the heat and short rest period, I was very uncertain of how the second race of the day would go. All the big names from cats 1/2 were there, and there were many teams with 3+ riders present, so I knew this was going to be a sufferfest. My goal was simply to finish with the pack.

To begin, I made the grave mistake of starting with only half a bottle of water - I didn't realize I had drunk half of it while warming up and sitting in staging. By the time I realized it there was no time to do anything anyway, so I said screw it and hoped for the best.

The first half of the race went well. I stayed with the pack and didn't allow myself to go after any breaks or for any primes. (I should mention that I had an extra-strong caffeine gel before the race to improve my odds, and I was quite jumpy.) At some point, a break of 7 got away, featuring the entire Green Line team, 2 Sunapee riders, an Errace rider, and a Farm Team rider. They were clearly the strongest girls in the bunch. But once they were free, they never seemed to drop the hammer.

After a few laps, Lauren Leclaire from Pedal Power decided to chase and for some reason I jumped on her wheel (the caffeine must have really kicked in at this point). We tag-teamed for a few laps, and as we entered the finishing straight, I saw that the break was within catching distance if we chased for another lap. I accelerated and then looked back to see Lauren fading behind me. Every bone in my body was yelling at me to step on it and catch up, but then the rays of reason shone through and told me that the race was only half over, that these were fresh 1/2's who hadn't raced already and that I would probably get dropped anyway if I caught up, and that it was 85 degrees and I was almost out of water. Not wanting to die of heat stroke, I erred on the side of caution this time and sat up and waited for the pack. I don't regret this decision, but in future races, I will definitely be going all out and try to take advantage of every opportunity I get.

I have no idea what happened in the next 7 minutes other than I was wishing that the race was almost over. At 37 minutes, I regained some sanity and the laps seemed to start ticking down faster and faster. I realized that there was a good chance that I would finish with the pack, and seeing how much the other 3's were suffering too, that I might even be able to have a decent position.

I don't remember much from the end of the race, but the break lapped us in the last lap, and I managed to move up in the final straight to finish in the middle of the bunch at 11th, almost nicking the Giant rider on the line. Afterwards, I learned that Green Line had tried to make it so the break didn't catch the field so that they could do their own leadout train for the finish. The other girls foiled that plan though by pushing hard in the last laps, and through the confusion of the recombined field, Green Line didn't even manage to make the podium.

Looking at the results afterwards, even though I missed out on the prize money by a fraction of an inch, I came 2nd among the cat 3's, which I am quite proud of considering I was unsure of my fitness and it was my first P/1/2/3 race. This bodes well for Longsjo this weekend, and I am super stoked to go full gas with the big guns starting tomorrow!