Lime Rock Cycling Grand Prix

[CalGood]

Yesterday I raced the Cat 4 field at Lime Rock Park along with Brian Haugli. It is an awesome venue, the race track has a lot of history and provides a really fun, engaging course for bike racing. I'll definitely be back next year and highly recommend it to everyone. My field had only around 40 registrants but not everyone showed up due to the weather. I think this race has a lot of potential so it would be great to see it grow in the future.

It was in the 40s and rainy when we started. I sat in for the first few laps. My plan was to wait for the last lap to attack. The course features a short steep hill and early on the peloton was bunching up and slowing down as we crested it. So on about the third lap I moved to the right and rode up it at my own pace. Next thing I knew I had a gap which seemed to continue to grow as I rode through the back half of the course. I was cursing myself for being off the front too early, the lap counter said 11 to go, but I didn't want to sit up. Fortunately after a few laps one rider bridged to me and we started trading pulls. But after only two laps together he cracked on the hill and I was all by myself again. I tried to stay calm and focused and rode at my limit sure I would be caught soon. My lead held around 15-20 seconds. The headwind on the straightaway was brutal but once I could get over the climb I was able to hammer through the descent and though the curves faster than the group. Finally with maybe three laps to go Quinn from B2C2 bridged up to me and we worked together. We knew the peloton was right behind us. Going into the final lap we had only a 6 second lead. We made it over the climb without getting caught, went through the turns and started sprinting for the finish. Quinn got the win but I was caught at the line and had to settle for fourth, just didn't have anything left in the legs at that point.

All in all it was a great weekend of racing for me with both Quabbin and Lime Rock. Looking forward to the rest of the spring calendar.

[Thomas Coleman]

good work! That's a hard weekend!

[Deltabrian]

Raced with Cal yesterday in beautiful New England weather, 42 and raining. Mother nature in America didn't get the memo that the spring classics riding was over with Parix-Roubaix. The pros took the showers damit! Time for warmer racing.

The raced started off well and pretty pedestrian with a junior or 2 going off the first lap only to be caught at the hill. I needed to get in a warm up, as I'd been sitting in my Jeep with the heater full blast for the hour prior to the start and no time on the trainer, so I darted off the front a time or two in the early laps. Lime Rock doesn't allow for pre-rides on the course. Like Cal said, after a few laps, he just sauntered off the front and no one did anything. I proceeded to go to the front every other lap and disrupt as best I could, riding tempo thru the finishing straight and up the hill, forcing people to go around and slow down any chasing. Then it was just sitting on the down hill and recovering for another go. It was great to watch Cal off the front from the pelaton and to hear everyone talking about what to do. And they did nothing. No one was willing to work, except when they'd yell that I was his teammate sitting in the front. The last small group that got away on the last lap was far from me when they went, so I rolled in with the pack to finish.

Good race and it'd be a solid one with a deeper team.

[peterkuhn]

after palmer i love racetrack races. Well done you both!