Minuteman Road Club

Masters 40+ Saturday.

I need a different approach for races that are grass crits vs technical, especially the big races where I"m staged 2/3 of the way back of a 80 person field. I think the key is recognizing it is a grass crit before hand and getting it set in my mind what I have to do before things get going. I had a decent start but probably should have burried myself deeper on the road section going into the runup to be ahead of the fool who crashed on the grass 180 before the turn, then got back up and crashed into people going into the woods causing a gap in the field between where I was and where I needed to be. Instead I wound up in a group of 6 or so chasing another group of about 8. The group of 8 was where I needed to be. I'm pretty sure I could have hung with them if I could get there, but the group I was in was a little weaker and wasn't going to close the gap. In my group was Wade Summers from Horst, Mark Wendolowski from Cyclonauts and number of hangers on. After the first lap, the gap to the group ahead was only 8 seconds, but Wade was on the front and then slowed down on the grass to force someone else through. I attacked and got a gap with only Mark able to go with me, but it wasn't quite enough to bridge the gap, we got close though and had I realized I wasn't going to get another chance maybe I would have completely burried myself to make the bridge instead of letting Mark pull though since he then started slowing down as we went back into the woods. The other group went away and we were eventually caught again by Wade and the others.

If this wasn't a grass crit, I could have made the bridge, since the penalty of being alone wasn't nearly as high. In the end I settled into my group. Wade wasn't really helpful, he'd get on the front, slow things down on the grass, attack at other points only to fall back into our group. On the last lap I tried the line on the right on the run up to get ahead, but lost a couple spots instead and was now on the back of a group of 6 in the woods. At this point I was pretty frustrated with the race and thinking about just mailing it in. But then I started thinking about what it would take to beat these guys. I knew Wade and I were faster on the last dirt section, so I had to attack on the sidewalk before the left turn into the dirt. Just when I was getting ready to launch from the back, Wade launched from 2nd, I charged ahead and managed to get on his wheel just in time to make the left without actually chopping Mark (he later said that my pass was clean and didn't mess him up). I stayed with Wade, drilling it out of every turn.

On the last ball field turn before hitting the grass for the finish I heard a crash behind me as Mark's teammate Dean washed out and took both of them down, so now it was just me and Wade for the sprint. He lead through the last turn onto the finishing straight and got a little gap, but it is a LOOOONGG finishing straight and I kept ramping it up as he started to fade. He saw me coming and made one last effort but I got him at the line with a bike throw. For 53rd! I know, lame, but it made the race worthwhile for me after spending the day battling with him.

cbusick wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2017 10:51 am For 53rd! I know, lame

Well said... just kidding, still a good report.

I was very excited to race in Northampton this past weekend, as it's one of my favorite races and I missed out last year due to injury. I had the lucky race number 13 and was staged 2nd row both days.

Day 1 was very cold and the course conditions were changing rapidly as the sun set. The race started at 3:30 and ended ~4:40, with a sunset time of 4:28… it was dark at the end. I had a decent start and made the splits to get into the group racing for 6th place. The group consisted of Smith, Myerson, Davis, Chabanov, St. John and I. St. John was absolutely drilling it on the power sections, while I held on for dear life on the back of the group. It was very hard to stay in contact, as being on the back meant I had to brake and sprint more out of corners, aka yo-yo-ing. UCI points were on the line, so I knew I had to stay with this group and beat at least 1 person to get 10th. Unfortunately, I crashed on an icy patch around halfway through and lost contact with the group. I tried chasing back but I had breathing issues due to the cold temps and couldn’t push too hard. I was solo for the remainder of the race, in 11th place, feeling like I was breathing through a straw. I was bummed I finished one spot away from points, but knew I had a good shot on Sunday with warmer temps.

I had a similar start on Day 2 and made it into the very large chase group, ~9 of us, with 3 guys ahead 1 lap in. The group consisted of Clark, Smith, Chabanov, St. John, Davis, Myerson, Scott, Powers and I. I was near the back of the group and around a half lap later, gaps started to open in the upper technical sections. I made it into a group with Davis and Chabanov, racing for 8th place. We worked together a bit and closed down the gap to St. John who was solo in 7th. I probably did too much work, as I got gapped through the technical stuff with around 2.5 laps to go and couldn’t chase back on. I was solo for the rest of the race and held off a charging Dylan McNicholas, so I finished 10th, stoked to finish in the points again!

Now that I know I can hang with these guys for most of the race, I now just need to work on figuring out how to stay in these groups until the finish, and battle for higher places and more points. I have a few more UCI races left this season to do it.

Thanks to Busick for helping out with pit duty on Saturday, and for setting up the team tent! Kudos to all the MRC’ers who braved the cold conditions to race and/or volunteer!