Welcome to another edition of the Killington Stage Race blog. Not as many as last year, but a solid crew nonetheless.
At least this year will not be start in 90 degree heat/nearly pass out after the finish temps Saturday afternoon.
Oh, and for those who have done the race before, no "sprint of death" this year for Saturday's finish as the circuit course now continues thru the old finish area and is a nice 1 mile somewhat uphill finish back to where we start at the Skyship.
The MRC start list, based on BikeReg pre-reg and in order of start time Saturday:
Men 50+ - Rich Batten & Dave Mingori (9:10, 3 laps)
Men 4/5 "Masters" - Chris Cugini (9:20, 2 laps)
Women 3/4/5 - Lisa Holt (9:25, 2 laps)
Men 3 - Tyler Riegel (12:35, 4 laps!)
Men 4/5 "Open" - Rees Madsen, Robbie Raymond & Tucker Wetmore (12:45, 2 laps)
Unfortunately Ken Chadwick is out due to work travel projects and Mike Westberry is recovering after going, in his words, "diving on asphalt".
No live updates, but reports and daily results as soon as available.
KSR 2017
Re: KSR 2017
Let's go guys & woman!!! Good luck! I look forward to reading the updates and re-living last year.
Re: KSR 2017
I was begging for this finish for 5 yrs. Of course now they do it...Ugh
Re: KSR 2017
And - Rt. 4 from 100 all the way past the brewery is repaved on both sides. So smooth!
Dave Mingori
Re: KSR 2017
COME BACK CRATTY!!!
Re: KSR 2017
Stage 1 in the books.
50+ (cat 1-4). Small field of 20. Rich and I lining up.
Nothing eventful, just some good steady racing. Laps 1 and 2 I grabbed 5th on the KOM. Nobody was allowed any kind of lease but we just kept whittling the field down. Suddenly after the intermediate sprint on lap 2 my hamstring cramps despite otherwise feeling really good. WTF?
Back off, sit in. Hit the KOM on final climb and towards the back of the (now) 10 person field instead of pushing things to be at the front. Okay, things not getting worse. Take more water, more of my pickle juice mixture and an extra gu.
Thru the old finish and into the final 1 mile back to the SkyShip. Just before the end of the first uphill grind Rich goes hard and creates separation. But it ends up being too early as guys pull him back. Then I got beat to the punch with another surge that momentarily gapped me. Dug deep to move back up on the wheels of the top 2. Struggling to hold the top 2 wheels when one more comes by me and I roll across in 4th. Damn, wanted that podium.
In hindsight with the gap Rich was able to get perhaps I should have been right on his wheel to follow him. If we both had the gap then I came around just before he tired maybe...
An awesome "Al Capone" sandwich from the Phat Italian. Ready to rehydrate (I don't think I took enough early)and do some foam rolling. Onto day 2!
50+ (cat 1-4). Small field of 20. Rich and I lining up.
Nothing eventful, just some good steady racing. Laps 1 and 2 I grabbed 5th on the KOM. Nobody was allowed any kind of lease but we just kept whittling the field down. Suddenly after the intermediate sprint on lap 2 my hamstring cramps despite otherwise feeling really good. WTF?
Back off, sit in. Hit the KOM on final climb and towards the back of the (now) 10 person field instead of pushing things to be at the front. Okay, things not getting worse. Take more water, more of my pickle juice mixture and an extra gu.
Thru the old finish and into the final 1 mile back to the SkyShip. Just before the end of the first uphill grind Rich goes hard and creates separation. But it ends up being too early as guys pull him back. Then I got beat to the punch with another surge that momentarily gapped me. Dug deep to move back up on the wheels of the top 2. Struggling to hold the top 2 wheels when one more comes by me and I roll across in 4th. Damn, wanted that podium.
In hindsight with the gap Rich was able to get perhaps I should have been right on his wheel to follow him. If we both had the gap then I came around just before he tired maybe...
An awesome "Al Capone" sandwich from the Phat Italian. Ready to rehydrate (I don't think I took enough early)and do some foam rolling. Onto day 2!
Dave Mingori
Re: KSR 2017
Congrats Dave with 4th! I saw the final sprint of your race.
Survived the Cat 4/5 race. Saw way too many people overlapping wheels. About 20 minutes in someone went down in the middle of the pack bringing down Rees. I was towards the back and nearly avoided it but someone fell into me just before I got clear. Hit the pavement as gently as you can in a crash. Bike was fine and I don't have any road race but my water bottle cage was knocked off. Rees didn't fare so well. His front wheel was totaled and he has some scrapes. I chased back up to the group on the climb and Rees joined soon after. Don't know who got the KOM but Tucker got 2nd on the intermediate sprint. Looked like Tucker was trying to split the group up the first climb and after the sprint. Back on route 4, all of us are at the front with honorary MRC teammate Cal Goodhouse so Rees and I attack while the other two block. Get a gap with another rider but pack chases us down. A couple of minutes later Cal rolls off the front and keeps going. Tucker sends me up while he and Rees block. I bridge with another rider and we get a gap again going into the first climb but again the pack chases us down.
No breaks got away and the rest of the race was uneventful. Turning left to the finish, I was pretty far back so I went hard trying to get to the front to try to lead Tucker out. He got boxed in as some rider crossed the yellow line early and the moto forced him back into the group. Started my sprint too early and I couldn't find anyone to draft off of. Got passed at the line by several riders. Ended up in 8th which I'm happy with although I should've been more patient. Looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully a less twitchy pack.
Survived the Cat 4/5 race. Saw way too many people overlapping wheels. About 20 minutes in someone went down in the middle of the pack bringing down Rees. I was towards the back and nearly avoided it but someone fell into me just before I got clear. Hit the pavement as gently as you can in a crash. Bike was fine and I don't have any road race but my water bottle cage was knocked off. Rees didn't fare so well. His front wheel was totaled and he has some scrapes. I chased back up to the group on the climb and Rees joined soon after. Don't know who got the KOM but Tucker got 2nd on the intermediate sprint. Looked like Tucker was trying to split the group up the first climb and after the sprint. Back on route 4, all of us are at the front with honorary MRC teammate Cal Goodhouse so Rees and I attack while the other two block. Get a gap with another rider but pack chases us down. A couple of minutes later Cal rolls off the front and keeps going. Tucker sends me up while he and Rees block. I bridge with another rider and we get a gap again going into the first climb but again the pack chases us down.
No breaks got away and the rest of the race was uneventful. Turning left to the finish, I was pretty far back so I went hard trying to get to the front to try to lead Tucker out. He got boxed in as some rider crossed the yellow line early and the moto forced him back into the group. Started my sprint too early and I couldn't find anyone to draft off of. Got passed at the line by several riders. Ended up in 8th which I'm happy with although I should've been more patient. Looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully a less twitchy pack.
Re: KSR 2017
Day 2?
Re: KSR 2017
I'm uncharacteristically slacking. Full report tomorrow.
Executive summary of GC:
4/5 open: Robbie 4th, Tucker 6th, Rees 11th (this does not coincide with current roadresults, but was verified with officials this morning)
Masters 50+: I got a surprise to nab 3rd, Rich 6th
Executive summary of GC:
4/5 open: Robbie 4th, Tucker 6th, Rees 11th (this does not coincide with current roadresults, but was verified with officials this morning)
Masters 50+: I got a surprise to nab 3rd, Rich 6th
Dave Mingori
Re: KSR 2017
4/5 Stage 2:
Started very slow, the support car actually pulled up next to us and told us that we can start racing anytime because we were going so slow (averaged 17mph until the first climb). Only a few attacks in the first 25 miles but nothing stuck. Rees toughed out his injuries from Saturday and got to wear his aero helmet since his normal one was broken. He hung out at the back most of the race taking it easy but still managed to finish 15th. Effort picked up significantly up and over the middle climb. Over the top Tucker put in a big attack and increased his gap. I sat at the front blocking and waiting to cover any bridging efforts (none came). Tucker was out of sight pretty quickly and built up the gap to 2:20. On the dirt road I lost my second water bottle to a pot hole just right after I had finished the first. Around mile 50 people started trying to bring him back and were getting pissed at me for not pulling through.
But part way up the final climb we caught and passed Tucker who had put in a huge solo effort. I had been dropped from the small front group on the hill but was passing others who fell off the back. Joined up with 2 other riders in the flat section. One guy was trying to get me to pull through suddenly swerved right before the left turn with less than a mile to go and I found myself on the wrong side of the curb separating the two lanes. Coming out of that turn the rider hit my back wheel and went down. (he had already touched wheels with another rider earlier on the climb but managed to stay up). I stopped to make sure he was okay and when a volunteer was there to get him out of the way I kept going and reported the incident to the official at the finish. I was told by the official that we would get the same time as the 3rd rider with us who had kept going and that they would adjust the order based on the order we were in at the time of the crash. The results posted online had me listed as 7th instead of the 6th I was told I'd receive and 15 secs back from the time I was expecting.
Stage 3: I get the start of the TT early to talk to the official and he said that he would have a meeting after to go over what happened. I also got to practice the start a few times which was nice. It was my first TT other than a few triathlons but I loved it! Plus the rain managed to hold off until right after I finished. Tucker crushed field coming in second and making up a lot of time (no surprise there). I came in 4th in the TT. Rees also came in 9th so 3 riders in the top 10!
Afterwards I talked to the other officials at the finish about the stage 2 results because I would move up from 7th to 4th in the GC with the correction in the results. After an hour of waiting they told me that they made the switch so I headed over to the Library for the awards and picked up the winnings for 4th place in GC. When I checked the results online when I got home they still hadn't made the correction to the GC or stage 2 so I emailed Velocity Results and the race director. John Frey from Velocity told me that the officals made a mistake by granting us the 3k rule since it was an uphill finish so he changed the results back, although by that logic, I should still be 6th in the road race instead of 7th.
Kinda sick of the protest stuff but enjoyed 3 straight days of racing and the TT was very fun! Also glad to get a few upgrade points from Saturday and Sunday. Glad I did the Berkshire Boondoggle because none of the climbs at Killington were as long or as steep so mentally KSR seemed easier.
Started very slow, the support car actually pulled up next to us and told us that we can start racing anytime because we were going so slow (averaged 17mph until the first climb). Only a few attacks in the first 25 miles but nothing stuck. Rees toughed out his injuries from Saturday and got to wear his aero helmet since his normal one was broken. He hung out at the back most of the race taking it easy but still managed to finish 15th. Effort picked up significantly up and over the middle climb. Over the top Tucker put in a big attack and increased his gap. I sat at the front blocking and waiting to cover any bridging efforts (none came). Tucker was out of sight pretty quickly and built up the gap to 2:20. On the dirt road I lost my second water bottle to a pot hole just right after I had finished the first. Around mile 50 people started trying to bring him back and were getting pissed at me for not pulling through.
But part way up the final climb we caught and passed Tucker who had put in a huge solo effort. I had been dropped from the small front group on the hill but was passing others who fell off the back. Joined up with 2 other riders in the flat section. One guy was trying to get me to pull through suddenly swerved right before the left turn with less than a mile to go and I found myself on the wrong side of the curb separating the two lanes. Coming out of that turn the rider hit my back wheel and went down. (he had already touched wheels with another rider earlier on the climb but managed to stay up). I stopped to make sure he was okay and when a volunteer was there to get him out of the way I kept going and reported the incident to the official at the finish. I was told by the official that we would get the same time as the 3rd rider with us who had kept going and that they would adjust the order based on the order we were in at the time of the crash. The results posted online had me listed as 7th instead of the 6th I was told I'd receive and 15 secs back from the time I was expecting.
Stage 3: I get the start of the TT early to talk to the official and he said that he would have a meeting after to go over what happened. I also got to practice the start a few times which was nice. It was my first TT other than a few triathlons but I loved it! Plus the rain managed to hold off until right after I finished. Tucker crushed field coming in second and making up a lot of time (no surprise there). I came in 4th in the TT. Rees also came in 9th so 3 riders in the top 10!
Afterwards I talked to the other officials at the finish about the stage 2 results because I would move up from 7th to 4th in the GC with the correction in the results. After an hour of waiting they told me that they made the switch so I headed over to the Library for the awards and picked up the winnings for 4th place in GC. When I checked the results online when I got home they still hadn't made the correction to the GC or stage 2 so I emailed Velocity Results and the race director. John Frey from Velocity told me that the officals made a mistake by granting us the 3k rule since it was an uphill finish so he changed the results back, although by that logic, I should still be 6th in the road race instead of 7th.
Kinda sick of the protest stuff but enjoyed 3 straight days of racing and the TT was very fun! Also glad to get a few upgrade points from Saturday and Sunday. Glad I did the Berkshire Boondoggle because none of the climbs at Killington were as long or as steep so mentally KSR seemed easier.
Re: KSR 2017
So many new names with great results. Thanks for posting!
Re: KSR 2017
Great results. Great way to tough it out Rees!
I have to admit that reading it gave me a "grrrr" moment that the results guy changing what the officials say. IMHO The officials are responsible for ruling, not the guy who records the results. In USA Cycling, as I remember, the results guy has no official capacity and should not be deciding what he thinks the rules are.
I have to admit that reading it gave me a "grrrr" moment that the results guy changing what the officials say. IMHO The officials are responsible for ruling, not the guy who records the results. In USA Cycling, as I remember, the results guy has no official capacity and should not be deciding what he thinks the rules are.
Last edited by jraguin on Tue May 30, 2017 8:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: KSR 2017
Exactly! Just do your job! The final say is with the officials, whether we agree with it or not. Sometime it works in your favor, sometimes not.jraguin wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2017 8:04 am I have to admit that reading it gave me a "grrrr" moment that the results guy changing what the officials say. IMHO The officials are responsible for ruling, not the guy who records the results. In USA Cycling, as I remember, the results guy just records the results. He has no official capacity and should not be deciding what he thinks the rules are.
Dave Mingori
Re: KSR 2017
Here's my final wrap up covering days 2 and 3.
My objective for day 2 was simple - a podium spot. I really didn't expect anyone to be allowed to get away before the start of North Rd and was (mostly) correct. At mile 23.5 Ron Amos (who as I found out later is shortly headed to worlds) just started TT'ng away. Nobody gave chase. Spoiler - not only did he stay away solo, he extended his lead despite a solid 7 man chase group.
On the North Rd climb there were some hard surges, and I did have a couple brief moments where I was separated from the main group (which is now a chase group), but was quickly able to regroup each time. I saw one guy (Andre Lamarche from Trek-GPL) put in a hard surge and rather than go with him paced myself off the other 6 at a more reasonable effort, especially with Rich also making our selection. I didn't contend for any KOM points and after the KOM we had 7 guys with nobody else really in sight. 2 key guys (Pascal who won the overall 2 years ago and Marc who was 3rd Saturday) were dropped.
We started working well together and even Rich was hammering the descents! But the time gap to Ron never shrank. Over Pinnacle Rd and onto Rt.4. Rich and I were tailgunning the Pinnacle descent (those other guys much better descenders) so we had to do a bit of teamwork to catch back on but no big deal. For quite awhile we had a good rotation going when Rich gave the signal he was beginning to cramp. I told him to sit a few out and I took a few extra. Then we heard that the gap was up to 2 minutes and it was as if everyone decided to just start conserving. I felt good and spent a nice stretch on the front with nobody coming around to bring the pace back up. Then I got a bee sting on the lip. No, I'm not allergic!
With maybe 4 miles to go before the E.Mtn Rd we started things back up again but the same impetus seemed lacking.
Onto E.Mtn and Andre immediately goes hard. John Gee follows. I go to follow him but decide to limit my top end efforts and get into a rhythm. Also, I have memories of pushing E.Mtn last 2 years only to have hammies sieze by the the rollers after so that's in the back of my mind. Ramp the effort slightly on the steep pushes, with just a bit of sub-threshold recovery on the, umm, "less steep" section. I can hear Eric Sutherland right behind me. The last couple steep hits I'm able to gain each time on John. Over the KOM and into the rollers and feeling some twitching but much better than last year. Try to get Eric to come around and help with the pulling back but he continues to sit (I think he may have grunted something at some point but whatever). Keep closing, trying to pull back 3rd (John) by the final left turn onto the access road but not quite. They adjusted the finish this year as .3 after heading on the access road you turn right onto Vale Rd (all brand new pavement) for a gradually getting steeper finish. I catch John at maybe 600 to go and decide to attack, hoping to drop Eric at same time. I do manage to drop both momentarily but John says he found a recovery, and he caught me back. Eric then came around me literally with 1 meter to go, so 5th on the day. At least I got same time as Eric. Oh well, but managed to put good time on everyone else.
Rich held the cramps at bay to roll in 2 minutes later in 7th, so same placing as Saturday.
Day 3(TT):
I felt okay on the warmup. I decided to forego my older TT bike and stick with the much more comfortable Madone. It just feels better and with tired legs and the tougher 1st half thought that would help.
Had 6 seconds to make up on 3rd but knew John was a good TT'r. Had 2 seconds on Eric behind me to hold onto 4th (thanks to time bonus for 4th on Saturday). Went out fine, and for the first 2 miles thought this was gonna be a good one. Then fatigue set in and consistent power was lagging. HR not getting up to where I wanted. Just hold a steady pace and keep the cadence up. I caught Eric (my 30sec guy) 5K in so that was good, just make sure he doesn't come back. Maybe mile 6/6.5 John catches me. Initially I let myself just think "you've got 4th all set" but once he got a 3-4 second gap I snapped out of it and upped the effort and maintained the gap. Somewhere along that stretch Ron Amos came by both of us like a freight train. Yup, he won all 3 day! Then just before the final right turn onto River Rd John abruptly pulls over with what was a pedal issue. Kind of a lousy way to pass someone, but I really have no choice now but to suck it up and drill that final 1.5K. I need 37 seconds. Wait for the results and yup, I got the GC podium!
So that's that. On the podium and in da money when it counted most! Rich moved up one as well to nab a GC 6th. He gets the consistency award (7th, 7th, 6th (6th)), but then what else is new?
Chat with our cat 4/5 crew and get the rundown on Robbie's issues (he collects his 4th place GC cash, so they make the results official despite what the timing guy says).
My objective for day 2 was simple - a podium spot. I really didn't expect anyone to be allowed to get away before the start of North Rd and was (mostly) correct. At mile 23.5 Ron Amos (who as I found out later is shortly headed to worlds) just started TT'ng away. Nobody gave chase. Spoiler - not only did he stay away solo, he extended his lead despite a solid 7 man chase group.
On the North Rd climb there were some hard surges, and I did have a couple brief moments where I was separated from the main group (which is now a chase group), but was quickly able to regroup each time. I saw one guy (Andre Lamarche from Trek-GPL) put in a hard surge and rather than go with him paced myself off the other 6 at a more reasonable effort, especially with Rich also making our selection. I didn't contend for any KOM points and after the KOM we had 7 guys with nobody else really in sight. 2 key guys (Pascal who won the overall 2 years ago and Marc who was 3rd Saturday) were dropped.
We started working well together and even Rich was hammering the descents! But the time gap to Ron never shrank. Over Pinnacle Rd and onto Rt.4. Rich and I were tailgunning the Pinnacle descent (those other guys much better descenders) so we had to do a bit of teamwork to catch back on but no big deal. For quite awhile we had a good rotation going when Rich gave the signal he was beginning to cramp. I told him to sit a few out and I took a few extra. Then we heard that the gap was up to 2 minutes and it was as if everyone decided to just start conserving. I felt good and spent a nice stretch on the front with nobody coming around to bring the pace back up. Then I got a bee sting on the lip. No, I'm not allergic!
With maybe 4 miles to go before the E.Mtn Rd we started things back up again but the same impetus seemed lacking.
Onto E.Mtn and Andre immediately goes hard. John Gee follows. I go to follow him but decide to limit my top end efforts and get into a rhythm. Also, I have memories of pushing E.Mtn last 2 years only to have hammies sieze by the the rollers after so that's in the back of my mind. Ramp the effort slightly on the steep pushes, with just a bit of sub-threshold recovery on the, umm, "less steep" section. I can hear Eric Sutherland right behind me. The last couple steep hits I'm able to gain each time on John. Over the KOM and into the rollers and feeling some twitching but much better than last year. Try to get Eric to come around and help with the pulling back but he continues to sit (I think he may have grunted something at some point but whatever). Keep closing, trying to pull back 3rd (John) by the final left turn onto the access road but not quite. They adjusted the finish this year as .3 after heading on the access road you turn right onto Vale Rd (all brand new pavement) for a gradually getting steeper finish. I catch John at maybe 600 to go and decide to attack, hoping to drop Eric at same time. I do manage to drop both momentarily but John says he found a recovery, and he caught me back. Eric then came around me literally with 1 meter to go, so 5th on the day. At least I got same time as Eric. Oh well, but managed to put good time on everyone else.
Rich held the cramps at bay to roll in 2 minutes later in 7th, so same placing as Saturday.
Day 3(TT):
I felt okay on the warmup. I decided to forego my older TT bike and stick with the much more comfortable Madone. It just feels better and with tired legs and the tougher 1st half thought that would help.
Had 6 seconds to make up on 3rd but knew John was a good TT'r. Had 2 seconds on Eric behind me to hold onto 4th (thanks to time bonus for 4th on Saturday). Went out fine, and for the first 2 miles thought this was gonna be a good one. Then fatigue set in and consistent power was lagging. HR not getting up to where I wanted. Just hold a steady pace and keep the cadence up. I caught Eric (my 30sec guy) 5K in so that was good, just make sure he doesn't come back. Maybe mile 6/6.5 John catches me. Initially I let myself just think "you've got 4th all set" but once he got a 3-4 second gap I snapped out of it and upped the effort and maintained the gap. Somewhere along that stretch Ron Amos came by both of us like a freight train. Yup, he won all 3 day! Then just before the final right turn onto River Rd John abruptly pulls over with what was a pedal issue. Kind of a lousy way to pass someone, but I really have no choice now but to suck it up and drill that final 1.5K. I need 37 seconds. Wait for the results and yup, I got the GC podium!
So that's that. On the podium and in da money when it counted most! Rich moved up one as well to nab a GC 6th. He gets the consistency award (7th, 7th, 6th (6th)), but then what else is new?
Chat with our cat 4/5 crew and get the rundown on Robbie's issues (he collects his 4th place GC cash, so they make the results official despite what the timing guy says).
Last edited by djming on Tue May 30, 2017 11:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
Dave Mingori
Re: KSR 2017
Awesome attempt to get 3rd in Stage 2. Too bad Eric didn't help.
Re: KSR 2017
Nice work all, reading these is a hoot.
Re: KSR 2017
Video of the cat 4/5 where Rees went down. Jump to 19:20'sh. Rees didn't have an MRC kit just yet. He's dead center in the blue/green and white helmet. Watch left of screen. I had to replay it a few times. Still no idea what that kid did that took Rees out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtKSWUiVFkc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtKSWUiVFkc
Dave Mingori
Re: KSR 2017
OMG
Re: KSR 2017
Wow! and HOLY SHIT is right! He raises his hand and adjusts his glasses then completely loses control of his bike. Freaking ridiculous. And took down Rees HARD!! I'm surprised he doesn't have significant injuries. Pretty similar to how I got taken down at our race last year!
KT
Re: KSR 2017
Great reports and results.
That guy really sucked at riding a bike in general. Nothing about him was smooth. Even with both hands on the bars he was squirrelly as hell. When I started watching at about 19:00 I noticed that guy right away and would have been surprised if he wasn't the cause of the crash. Rees proved he doesn't have to HTFU by finishing well after that kind of crash.
That guy really sucked at riding a bike in general. Nothing about him was smooth. Even with both hands on the bars he was squirrelly as hell. When I started watching at about 19:00 I noticed that guy right away and would have been surprised if he wasn't the cause of the crash. Rees proved he doesn't have to HTFU by finishing well after that kind of crash.
Re: KSR 2017
Not just finished this day, but the next two as well and placed 11th on GC (out of 65).
And to top it off, his helmet cracked so he rode the road race stage Sunday, in warm temps, with a TT helmet.
Hard Man effort of the weekend for sure!
Dave Mingori
Re: KSR 2017
It looks like he touched wheels or was afraid that he was going to touch wheels and then had a seizure.
Nice racing team!
Nice racing team!