(CMJ)
Everyone likes to know SOMETHING about a race they are about to do. Is it hilly? Flat? Hill finish? Bunch sprint? No one knew anything about this race…it was A-W-E-S-O-M-E. A friendly rider in Spooky Bike kit said the course was like Tour of the Hilltowns without East Hawley Road…he was spot on. It was the most functional description of the course I had heard. What that meant to me was that the last 5 miles were going to be really hard…

Matt M. (Organic [Threshold] Athlete) and I arrived bright and early, meeting Big Bird, El Train and The Vic in the parking lot. Had a nice chat with Bruce (the juice) and Sean from Placid Planet, said hello to Neil H and Stephen S (BRC), and flirted with the 50+ year-old female volunteers running registration (nice!). Eat, drink, potty and we rolled out on time to a blazing fast downhill neutral start on newly paved, traffic free roads through the park. This place was amazing…past the reservoir, waterfall, stone bridge (punctuated by an exploding tire). Giro? Not quite, but really nice.

(VB3)
After talking with Matty D by his truck before the race, it was evident he was poised to ride aggressive, which got me a little jazzed because I have been waiting for a race where we might be able to make a break. I know I’m new to bike racing, but I figured due to the elevation of this race that it would start out slow and build throughout with some aggressive break attempts. My fitness has been a question mark for me to this point in the year and was wondering if I’d done enough or the right things to prepare for some back to back races. Some good weeks, some bad weeks. But I really believe if every session is a good one, then you’ve probably not been pushing your “Threshold” to get better.

(BB)
As Vic said, plan was to push hard over the tops of the first few hills to establish a more select group to race with. We tried and tried again, but the hills were not long enough or steep enough to really leave guys on the wrong side of the incline without a prayer. Plus the field was a more region-wide battenkill-esk group. The organization and individual strength was there in teams like Colvita and Westwood. But we were working hard and it was fast and it was fun, and every time I looked up or to the side I saw red, yellow and black looking smooth and aero next to me. awesome work guys.

(CMJ)
Once we made the right onto the main route, the plan was simple. Peter S, Big Bird, me (Bake), Vic, Jesse P. and a few other gents whose name I missed were going to stay up front and keep the pace up without killing ourselves. Shane from Westwood Velo was up front helping drive the pace and looking strong. We were hoping to string it out until the first ‘climb’ around mile 5….we hit 10 miles still looking for the hill! Wha? Exactly. We found out that MapMyRide is a crap means of profiling a road race (check out the GPS version here for a useful profile)

(VB3)
The pace started out hotter than I had expected, but I was ready to test where my fitness was. All it took was a couple looks back from Big Bird and I figured I’d better get my @ss up front with the team. They were ready to go and it was game on. The pace stayed high and at about mile 20-25 a climb that seemed a little longer than the previous started to thin the group out of bit and I thought this might be the first real chance for a true separation and all Thresholders were on board. Awesome! But to no avail. The climb probably needed to extend out another 0.5-1 mile or so. We make a right hand turn and continue to press a bit, but with success.

(CMJ)
We all drove the pace for the first 25 miles or so, with small breaks getting gaps every now and again. Ultimately we realized that we had overestimated the size of the hills…they were not big enough to gap things out and we were wasting energy. Somewhere around mile 40 or so, the road temporarily turned to a rough section for about 4 miles, ultimately winding back down to smoother roads. We made a decision to sit in, keep things moving when necessary, but be conservative.

(BB)
One thing that was kinda comical was at some point I was on the inside and heard “Matt D come back”. At that point I looked down and realized I was teetering on the edge of the pavement. I threw my body towards the woods to get my tires back on safe ground, and was back on track. THANKS Cory! I’m not sure what would have happened if you hadn’t said anything.

(VB3)
At about mile 30-35, I talk with Big Bird and we decide, hey it’s time to let others do some work for a while. I have no hesitation at this point in agreeing. I choke down a bar at mile 35 and soon after the next set of real climbs are upon us with the heat picking up somewhere around 40. I think to myself, if it’s gonna happen, the break is gonna be now! The group thins out and there is a separation of about maybe 10 riders and I dig deep to stay in it thinking this is gonna happen and we’ve done too much work to this point to fall out of contention, but just as little gap maybe was occurring we shoot down a small hill have to make what is about a 135-degree turn uphill which probably brought most of the group back together.

Uneventful, other than I notice a couple guys making their way near the front that hadn’t been there all day (probably been buying their time, but there was no way Threshold was gonna get left behind if a break occurred) until the final climb back into the reservoir.

(BB)
Then at about mile 40?? I’m not sure as I was sitting in pretty deep at this point….a solo break took off for the eventual win. Then a small chase group went out that we weren’t a part of. Cory, Vic, do you know more details of this? My first realization that something was up was the lack of the pace motorcycle. So, I moved to the front to establish a 2nd chase group. Only 4-5 guys were working, so basically we just ended pulling the whole pack back on our own to the chase group. The solo break won by a minute and we caught the chase group pretty easily so this was more wasted energy. But at that point you don’t really know what’s going on. Disaster Avoided:

(BB)
Then during one of the bumpy sections while going pretty damn fast I was taking a drink and hit a speed bump-like ridge in the pave and my front wheel lost contact with the ground while I had only my left hand on the bars. Sketchy. kept it together though.

(VB3)
Miles 50-55 were all downhill, with the same cast of characters up front, keeping things moving, but not too hard. A few smaller hills punctuated the ride, definitely heating things up for me, with the sun blasting down. Vic was riding like a seasoned pro, keeping up front and riding strong. Matt D and Matt M were pushing the pace, with Matt D going down hills like Bode Miller. Jesse P and Peter S were also trying to keep things moving without pushing too hard.

Final climb to the reservoir. Pace picks up, a few guys fall off. A little “breather” on a false flat, then a longer climb, and the pace picks up again. More guys fall off. At this point, my goal is to stay in contact with the group of ~20 riders to the Overlook point and see what happens. I tell myself to finish the race hard, try to accelerate as the group does (nothing there) blow a gasket about 50-100 m to the Overlook. Cory zipps by me – felt like I was standing still. Strong ride bro! Don’t know where you got the extra acceleration after all the work we did. Pass a couple riders on the final 100 m to the finish as they fall off the back too.

(BB)
On the second to last climb when we turned on to route 9 I felt fine. But I think it was my last match to get over that hill with the wind and the fresher guys who had been sitting in now running the pace. But once the false flat turned into the final climb to the finish I then felt my gas tank empty. I put all my might into the pedals but there was no response. HR sky rocketed and I was forced to shift into my lowest gear and limp to the finish.

(CMJ)
The pain set in at mile 58. We were all scorching hot, there was a killer headwind, and we had just made the right turn onto route 9, just West of Ware, MA. That was the beginning of the ~4 mile, gradual climb to the finish. Basically, as our Spooky pal suggested, it was very similar to the final rise at the Tour of the Hilltowns. Slow, wide open, windy, hot. After 2 miles of dodging popped riders, there was a brief downhill to rest, which I used to move up to the front. Another little riser and the park entrance was on the right–2 miles to the top.

The pace was high, but manageable. Bruce, Vic, Matt D, Matt M, Peter S, Jesse P were all there. My visual was the ’scenic lookout’, which I knew was less than 1k from the finish and included a near-flat section leading up to the final 250 m to the finish. As we got closer and closer, the pack picked up the pace, with more riders falling off the pace. As soon as I saw the sign for the lookout, I stood up to move up in the group…unfortunately, so did everyone else, and I stayed in exactly the same spot. Suffice to say, that was the last surge, and I had waited too long before jumping. Matt M and I were in the same boat, finishing up in the same place, with Jesse P one spot ahead. Bruce, always strong, came in 5th (upgrade Bruce).

(VB3)
Legit race. Bird Bird, you rode like a mad man! I think we had few choices in this race (but I could be wrong as I’m still learning about tactics): (1) take chances and hope a break occurs, (2) sit in, hope a break doesn’t occur, finish with a strong climb to the finish or make a break somewhere with 30-60 minutes left of racing. I’d rather take those chances and see if it works out. Only thing is if we could have had a few guys sit and block on one of those climbs…

(CMJ)
A few dry heaves later, and we were back to the car. Not sure where we finished, but Matt M and I were hoping to be in the top 20, with Matt D and Vic just back.
A strong day of racing…we’ll be back next year for sure!

(BB)
Whatever, though, I was much happier with this race than my performance at TP. There I was not aggressive and lost. Here I was aggressive and lost. I’ll take the latter any day. I’ll be back next year.