Cory, Shane and I headed up to New Gloucester, Maine last weekend for rounds 3 and 4 of the Verge series. Cory was going in with points from Green Mountain, Shane was racing DECX for the first time, and I was hoping to have a soli

d race both days after somewhat lousy performances in the past at this race. Though it has always been a fun weekend — Pineland Farms is a beautiful venue and at just 2.5 hours from Boston it is an easy trip. The course is always challenging with muddy fields (perhaps with a little too much running last year) and some fun sections in the woods. This year’s courses spent less time in the fields than in the past two years and included sections of the woods I hadn’t raced on before, though I understand it hearkened back to the course layout from 2009.

We arrived early on Saturday morning to mist over the fields and sporadic light rain. Set up our tent in a primo spot close to registration and kitted up to preview the course. Turned out Friday’s rain had a heavy impact on several sections, with a few deep troughs of mud, many slippery sections, and a pretty deep mud bog in the field. On the bright side all these sections were completely rideable, though it was going to take a lot of power to get through the bog and up the longish climb in the woods (quickly). We lost some time waiting for the bike wash and didn’t get in the most thorough warm-up pre-race but it was warm and dry when we went to the line and I knew I would warm up pretty quickly when we hit that climb for the first time.

Cory had a front row start, I was in the fourth row, with Shane one row behind me. Conveniently there were only 7 guys in the row in front of me so I had space to move up and got a pretty good start off the line. Like most races this one is a bit of a blur to me – multiple crashes on greasy off cambers, though nothing that led to a big time loss. There were significant gaps in the field, and I really had no idea where I was within the race. On the last lap I finally caught up to a racer I know who I had raced with/against at Green Mountain, and I tried to work out where I might make a pass before we hit the pavement the final time. I left it too late and tried to make a pass on the 180 degree off camber turn that led back to the pavement. He wisely protected the inside line and I tried to take the long way around, only to slide out down the hill slightly as he rode off to the finish. Minor crash but no damage to me or the bike, and we had enough of a gap on the racer behind that it was worth the risk. Even better was the realization that I had finished in 20th, securing some highly coveted Verge points. Cory was a stellar 7th, moving him up in the Verge standings. Shane had a solid race finishing in 28th. It was certainly a hard race but Cory and I agreed that it was the most fun we have had on a muddy course, and I’m sure much of that was due to the lack of running required and our results. We washed up the bikes, watched the elite races, and then headed down to our hotel in South Portland. Beers at Novare Res and dinner in the Old Port capped a great day one.

Woke up to sunny skies on day two, always a pleasant sight. We were looking at warm temps for our midday race time and were curious about the course changes for day two. The woods section was nearly unchanged from day one, and the course was rerouted slightly in the fields to add some trick turns and to cut out a few muddy spots from day one. The big mud bog remained and during our pre-ride we discussed the possibility of running both the section in the field that linked the two woods sections and the mud bog. We didn’t ride these in the pre-ride (to preserve the bikes) so it was unclear how difficult it might be. Fortunately we saw in the 45+ race that guys were riding both sections cleanly, and we also got a tip from a friend of mine in the 35+ field on a good line through the mud bog. We had a solid warm-up and hit the line. Got my first call-up to the third row, and then we were off. The course had dried considerably since our warm-up and several sections were easy to ride compared to day one, and a section of the woods heading back to the field was slippery but fast which was really fun. Much faster course compared to the prior day and we did 5 laps compared to 4 on day one. I had a decent start but lost some ground the first time up the climb and the elastic snapped a bit as we raced through the woods. Tried to just go hard and minimize mistakes, which worked for the most part until the second to last lap where I made the mistake of glancing at a tree and getting pulled into it like a magnet. Followed that up with a bobble in the mud bog and lost two spots as a result of both mistakes. Got it back together in the hopes of getting those spots back but just couldn’t make up the ground. Luckily I finished in 24th, just inside the points.

Overall another awesome weekend at Downeast. Thanks to everyone at the Maine Cycling Club for putting on such a great event. We’ll be back again next year for sure.

First off I really like this course a lot. It was great last year and they made a few modifications this year that really raised the level of the course. The changes really kept me on my toes, const

antly thinking about what gear I needed to be in for the tight turn or climb right around the next bend.

I don’t know why they decided to split the 35+ and 35u division this year. That caused some fun later in the race. Rather than a field of 100 we ended up with a field of 35 in the 35u and 65 in the 35+ that started 1 minute behind us. I was seeded 15th and expected a 2nd row start but a couple people weren’t there for call-ups and I squeezed into an outside spot in the front row. This was just the second time I have been in the front row and I was a little nervous. After waiting patiently for all our instructions I wasn’t really paying attention when the ref said “on my mark,” which woke me back up but I wasn’t in my normal starting stance and I didn’t get a great start. Since I was on the front row I still got out in the top 15.

The course has a descent on a gravel road into a 90 degree right-hander, then an immediate 180 to the left around a tree, and then a right-hander back onto the fire road descent to another 90 degree right-hander into the woods. I was having a little trouble in the pre-ride picking the correct line and gearing to negotiate this section of the course and asked Dan to ride it with me and give me some pointers. He found a great line all the way off the road on the right-hand side that was free of gravel and allowed for some really late hard breaking. We also discussed when to down shift so that I was ready to accelerate back onto the road.

This worked out great for me throughout the race. On two separate occasions I had 2 riders pass me on the descent on the outside line. I knew they were carrying too much speed into the turn. The first time I was able to brake later than them and get inside of them on the turn and take back the position before getting back on the fire road. The other time I got passed by two more guys and the lead one slid out and fell in the turn. I was able to ride around his outside and take my two spots back again.

On what I think was the third lap I could feel Nick’s friend Matt closing in on my right side. We had just gone through the start and the course gradually curves to the left. I could feel Matt starting to pass me so I allowed myself to drift out towards the tape on the right and pinched him off. After that I was able to hold him off for about another half a lap. Afterwards we were talking and having a laugh about our battle and he told me he came in 2nd in the 35+ field. At that point I had to apologize for my “rubbin’ is racing” style when he wasn’t even in my field. Whoops.

The next bit of excitement came on the 4th lap once again between the start and the finish. A racer and I were jockeying for position as he was trying to get around me. As I approached the finish line I saw the lap card read “1″ and heard the guy behind me huff out “crap, I thought I was done”. By the way, I think he was in the other race also. The rest of the race was just me reminding myself to keep pedaling. I couldn’t see anyone ahead of me to chase and just didn’t want to give up any spots on the last lap.

It was a good start to the cross season and I can’t wait for the next race.

From Ken (cat 3 race):

For those in the know, yesterday was the traditional season opener, the Quad cyclocross race (until the “Roll in Hay” race jumped the shark). This race has been going on for years and moved to a new venue last year, the Maynard Rod & Gun Club. Which believe me makes things interesting when shots are going off at the firing range during your warm-up laps. On the plus side they have a food stand and a full bar with beer on tap. Course was the same as last year with a few minor tweaks, mostly slowing things down on the downhill fire road in the woods which was probably a good thing.

Brief course description: Start in a grass field with a wide left hand turn and then up a short hill (they had the course to the right of the railroad tie where I flatted last year – thanks!), back and forth across this shallow hill before entering a sandbox with two new turns (rideable in the later laps), then head down a gravel fire road into the woods to climb a stiff hill, descend and a sharp right turn back into the woods for a shorter hill climb, few more turns then a fast fire road that takes you back to the grass (you pop over a lip to get back on the grass and Shane did a cool, unintentional rear wheelie here), a few turns and then over the barriers and uphill to make a downhill off camber left, then an uphill, off camber right, back down to the grass with a few wider, fast turns to the start. A really fun course that is kind of mountain-bikey in parts, could use some more power sections – though there really isn’t enough real estate. Laps were short at around 6 minutes — I think we only did 6 laps and we were all kind of surprised when they rung the bell for one to go — I expected to see 2 to go at that point. Race was 40 minutes but the winner (ECV junior) finished in roughly 34 minutes. Tech note: I ran the Challenge Fango tubulars at 25/27.

Drove out with Shane and got there before the first races went off. We had plenty of time to ride the course before we raced at 11, with the added bonus of watching Tucker race in the 4s. He can give you the blow by blow but he had a great race, finishing 15th. Shane, Dan, Drew, and I lined up for the cat 3 race with just under 70 guys in the field.
We had a typical cat 3 start – read: shitshow. Crashes everywhere, bikes exploding, etc. I narrowly escaped an early crash entering the sandbox, and was still on the backfoot as the race entered the fire road and the woods. Felt like a blistering first lap as I tried to make up ground. Not much to report in the way of specifics — couple bobbles and no crashes, though I was behind Billy from Newbury Comics when he crashed into the barriers, seriously injuring his foot and pinned underneath his bike. I was racing with or near several guys who finished a few spots ahead of me last year, and managed to put together a decent race and finish in 25th. Shane and Dan were close behind in 36th and 37th, Drew just back from them. I think we were all pretty pleased to get through race #1 unscathed.
Next weekend Cory and I head to Vermont for the Green Mountain CX weekend. And so it begins!

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From Tucker (cat 4 race):
First off I really like this course a lot. It was great last year and they made a few modifications this year that really raised the level of the course. The changes really kept me on my toes, constantly thinking about what gear I needed to be in for the tight turn or climb right around the next bend.
I don’t know why they decided to split the 35+ and 35u division this year. That caused some fun later in the race. Rather than a field of 100 we ended up with a field of 35 in the 35u and 65 in the 35+ that started 1 minute behind us. I was seeded 15th and expected a 2nd row start but a couple people weren’t there for call-ups and I squeezed into an outside spot in the front row. This was just the second time I have been in the front row and I was a little nervous. After waiting patiently for all our instructions I wasn’t really paying attention when the ref said “on my mark,” which woke me back up but I wasn’t in my normal starting stance and I didn’t get a great start. Since I was on the front row I still got out in the top 15.
The course has a descent on a gravel road into a 90 degree right-hander, then an immediate 180 to the left around a tree, and then a right-hander back onto the fire road descent to another 90 degree right-hander into the woods. I was having a little trouble in the pre-ride picking the correct line and gearing to negotiate this section of the course and asked Dan to ride it with me and give me some pointers. He found a great line all the way off the road on the right-hand side that was free of gravel and allowed for some really late hard breaking. We also discussed when to down shift so that I was ready to accelerate back onto the road.
This worked out great for me throughout the race. On two separate occasions I had 2 riders pass me on the descent on the outside line. I knew they were carrying too much speed into the turn. The first time I was able to brake later than them and get inside of them on the turn and take back the position before getting back on the fire road. The other time I got passed by two more guys and the lead one slid out and fell in the turn. I was able to ride around his outside and take my two spots back again.
On what I think was the third lap I could feel Nick’s friend Matt closing in on my right side. We had just gone through the start and the course gradually curves to the left. I could feel Matt starting to pass me so I allowed myself to drift out towards the tape on the right and pinched him off. After that I was able to hold him off for about another half a lap. Afterwards we were talking and having a laugh about our battle and he told me he came in 2nd in the 35+ field. At that point I had to apologize for my “rubbin’ is racing” style when he wasn’t even in my field. Whoops.
The next bit of excitement came on the 4th lap once again between the start and the finish. A racer and I were jockeying for position as he was trying to get around me. As I approached the finish line I saw the lap card read “1″ and heard the guy behind me huff out “crap, I thought I was done”. By the way, I think he was in the other race also. The rest of the race was just me reminding myself to keep pedaling. I couldn’t see anyone ahead of me to chase and just didn’t want to give up any spots on the last lap.
It was a good start to the cross season and I can’t wait for the next race.
From Ken (cat 3 race):

For those in the know, yesterday was the traditional season opener, the Quad cyclocross race (until the “Roll in Hay” race jumped the shark). This race has been going on for years and moved to a new venue last year, the Maynard Rod & Gun Club. Which believe me makes things interesting when shots are going off at the firing range during your warm-up laps. On the plus side they have a food stand and a full bar with beer on tap. Course was the same as last year with a few minor tweaks, mostly slowing things down on the downhill fire road in the woods which was probably a good thing.
Brief course description: Start in a grass field with a wide left hand turn and then up a short hill (they had the course to the right of the railroad tie where I flatted last year – thanks!), back and forth across this shallow hill before entering a sandbox with two new turns (rideable in the later laps), then head down a gravel fire road into the woods to climb a stiff hill, descend and a sharp right turn back into the woods for a shorter hill climb, few more turns then a fast fire road that takes you back to the grass (you pop over a lip to get back on the grass and Shane did a cool, unintentional rear wheelie here), a few turns and then over the barriers and uphill to make a downhill off camber left, then an uphill, off camber right, back down to the grass with a few wider, fast turns to the start. A really fun course that is kind of mountain-bikey in parts, could use some more power sections – though there really isn’t enough real estate. Laps were short at around 6 minutes — I think we only did 6 laps and we were all kind of surprised when they rung the bell for one to go — I expected to see 2 to go at that point. Race was 40 minutes but the winner (ECV junior) finished in roughly 34 minutes. Tech note: I ran the Challenge Fango tubulars at 25/27.
Drove out with Shane and got there before the first races went off. We had plenty of time to ride the course before we raced at 11, with the added bonus of watching Tucker race in the 4s. He can give you the blow by blow but he had a great race, finishing 15th. Shane, Dan, Drew, and I lined up for the cat 3 race with just under 70 guys in the field.
We had a typical cat 3 start – read: shitshow. Crashes everywhere, bikes exploding, etc. I narrowly escaped an early crash entering the sandbox, and was still on the backfoot as the race entered the fire road and the woods. Felt like a blistering first lap as I tried to make up ground. Not much to report in the way of specifics — couple bobbles and no crashes, though I was behind Billy from Newbury Comics when he crashed into the barriers, seriously injuring his foot and pinned underneath his bike. I was racing with or near several guys who finished a few spots ahead of me last year, and managed to put together a decent race and finish in 25th. Shane and Dan were close behind in 36th and 37th, Drew just back from them. I think we were all pretty pleased to get through race #1 unscathed.
Next weekend Cory and I head to Vermont for the Green Mountain CX weekend. And so it begins!
Path:

I was hoping to race well at Portsmouth this year. I had a handful of family members and friends in attendance and it was probably the last race of the season for me. My form has been good and I really wanted to nail it. I was psyched to roll up on the line and grab a spot right behind Nick and then see the friendly faces of the UK all around (Aaron and Douglass close by).

Day 1: Time trial

Last Thursday, Jason and I travelled to Windham, NY for the Catskills stage race. My personal goal was to try to get a good GC via the time trial and defend it in the subsequent sta

ges.

We drove the TT course by car and on the road bike to see if there was anything special. There wasn’t. Straight course starting with a slight downhill, a 180-degree turn and back up again. After a brief warm-up routine (with 90°F, it was hot as hell anyway), I was ready to test the long-sleeve aero suit that Jeff had kindly loaned to me.

There was a strong headwind on the downhill section, which made it almost impossible to keep 30 mph. I was fighting with some voices in my head to keep going, but I reached the halfway turn rather quickly and by this time I had already passed 2 guys starting in front of me. Just after the turn I caught the 3^rd guy, but from there on everything started to hurt. It was warm and the rear wind did not prove to be a big relief on the uphill stretches. I was struggling and forcing myself not to switch to lower gearing. I passed another guy. Where was the 5km sign? Did I miss it; would the next indicator be the 2 km sign? No there it was, still 5km to go. Keep going Homp, keep going, keep going. Finally, the outskirts of the village; sip some Gatorade and hammer those legs for 2 more km you sissy. By this time there were multiple voices in my head and I lost track of all the BS that came to mind. The 5^th guy I had passed managed to pass me at the finish. I had nothing left.

I barely remembered to go back to the car and I fell on the ground when I got there. I tried to talk to Jason, but I could not separate English and Dutch in one sentence anymore. After Jason had left (I managed to pin his number on), I had to throw up for about 15 minutes while experiencing “black snow”. I had never dug this deep in a time trial, so if anyone beat me, he was just the better cyclist.

After half an hour of recovery (still black snow), I went to the finish to see how Jason was doing. Although the speaker mentioned “The Iceberg” crossing the finish, Jason was disappointed by his performance (Icebergs don’t do well in 90°F). Looking at the posted results disappointed me too. I was 0.5 seconds short of first place…

Day 2: The devil is waiting

While driving the course the night before, Jason and I had discussed some tactics that could help me beat those pesky little climbers. According to Jason, I should pressure those guys by maintaining tempo whenever we were not climbing.

I did not really think it would work, but what the hell. Right from the start, I was at the front of the pack. After some up and down stretches, I managed to stay with the group on the first KOM climb, which was very encouraging. Maybe these tactics made some sense!?! Thus, I went back to the front to continue my routine to string out the peloton. By the time we approached the 2^nd KOM climb, I must have been on the front of the pack for at least 75% of the time and I was worried this would have been too much. No time to think about this, because there it was: Devil’s Kitchen. Possibly one of the worst climbs I have ever seen and we had to do it with 90°F. As expected, the pack exploded on this climb. This also happened to me at Hilltowns, and from that race I knew that I would stand a chance if I kept the same strong pace without accelerating. The kind of climbing style Jan Ullrich used to have. As with Hilltowns, I was in the back of the peloton before I knew it, and the official race car passed me. However, this was a 5km climb with averages approaching 17%, so I would have time to get back into position. This climb was incredible, I had to fight not to stop moving, but the further I got, the more guys I passed. Within the last 2 km to the top, more and more guys were standing next to their bike, being completely out of gas! At this moment, I saw the Canadian in the yellow jersey and I was gaining on him quickly. I will not forget the mental boost I got when I passed him! At the top, I found myself within a group of good climbers that could not be far away from the leading group. These guys meant business! The last 5 miles were brutally fast! With 5 guys doing serious turns, I barely managed to stay with them. Although 2 guys broke away with a couple of miles to go, I managed to finish within 1 minute of the race leaders. Again, I was completely fatigued and I had to lie down for some 20 minutes, before I felt strong enough to walk to the car (20 feet away) without cramping up. However, I felt very proud of myself making it up that climb and staying in front of my 0.5-second nemesis. Was it enough? YES IT WAS! I managed to get the yellow jersey! Not after the TT, but after the first stage! I just could not believe it. Unfortunately, The Iceberg had melted. His legs did not allow him to cross the finish before the time limit.

Day 3: Tactics

As we did before, we had driven the course on the night before the race. This time the intention was to maintain the yellow jersey. However, we both agreed that the same aggressive tactics should apply. After being staged as the race leader, we went off for another brutal 60+ miles. I intended to force a breakaway within the first 10 miles, because the terrain was mainly downhill until 20 miles. With these plans and being on the front again, I was very much surprised by a strong attack after just 2 miles of racing. Five guys took off, including Moritz Steiner, who was within 30 seconds in the GC. This guy had won Battenkill and I could not let him go. It took me miles of very, very strong pulls to get them back and we weren’t even 15 miles out. These guys were doing something I had not anticipated after the slow start the day before. A mile went by and again there were 3 guys attacking hard. They were screwing me up completely! Or were they? All of a sudden it had become a very hard race and even though I had intended this, I seemed to be the biggest victim. Again I found myself doing a lot of work to get these guys back, this time with some more help from others, including a guy that was helping out his teammate like an ox. He did a strong pull, went back in the pack to get some air and then did it again. If only I had a teammate like that. These efforts paid off, so the complete pack managed to start the first KOM at 30 miles of racing. Yet, it also started raining.

Even though this climb was less steep, I got dropped. But I was not alone. Some serious GC guys were with me and with the 5 of us we started doing turns to get back to the pack. By now it was pouring rain and I was completely demoralized. There was no way 5 guys (including the race leader) would get back to the pack. I had lost the jersey for sure and I was only still pulling to reach the feed zone fast. Here, I would get off my bike, eat crap from Barella and drive home. When we hit the feed zone, I saw Jason holding a water bottle and a bag. I had no clue what was in that bag, but the sight of him being there to help me out made it impossible for me to stop. I grabbed the bottle and we continued the head-over-heads. We took a left to a main road and there appeared to be a group in front of us. Were these the masters? There was no way in hell we could have made it back to the group?!? But we did! We passed the cars and all of a sudden, I was back in the race for the GC! Happy like a child, I immediately got back to the front while making a “pie-de-lie-delie” sound like a Tour de France car. The look on some of those faces was priceless! Yet, the second and biggest climb of the day was approaching and I knew I had to give it more than everything once more. My legs told me this was impossible, so I was about to get dropped again. However, instead of getting dropped, I dropped. After a loud bang I could not maintain pressure on my wheel and I fell down thinking I broke my chain. I got up and before I knew it there was a mechanic helping me figure out what happened. It was Barella! He had followed the race after the feed zone. When on top of this, I heard the “Rocky” theme coming from the speakers in the car behind me, I had to laugh! This was crazy! But I would finish the job! On the top of the climb, I heard I had lost 7 minutes to the first guys and I finally finished the race 10 minutes behind the leaders. I ended up being 30^th overall, but who cares. It was fantastic! We had so much fun! It was totally worth it. I hope that next time, we can start with more Threshers, so we will be a force to be reckoned with!

Cory and Drew and I met up with Zach out to do Purgatory in the 3s. We got there with an unusual amount of time ahead of the race. It was a foreign sensation not having to scramble getting my number pinned on i

n time. 5 laps x 11 mi. The field was about 60 dudes.

For those of you who haven’t done the race. It’s hard. There’s a decent amount of undulation and the climb to the start/finish area is nothing to take lightly. It’s a solid 3-5 minutes of climbing before you get a chance to recover on a short downhill. If you know Sterling, it’s similar but the hill is 2x as hard and the rest of the course has a lot more ups and downs.

First lap: I was sitting comfortably near the front. There were a few(one or two?) dudes up the road. Zach took a flyer to bridge up so I did a short stint at the front to block and cover any attempts to bridge to him. It turns out that there was only one guy and once I got swarmed at the front a few other guys were able to sneak away and bridge up. Once they got organized, they had about 8-9 guys that managed to stay away for nearly the entirety of the race. It was pretty impressive. Zach definitely got a harder workout than most of the people there.

2nd lap: Peter Sullivan was stringing things out on the climb. It hurt . . . really, badly. Recovering on the downhill felt really good. A nap would have felt better. Every uphill segment was full of ache. I took that as a sign that I needed a little GU love. I was not feeling very confident that I could do that 3 more times at that pace.
3rd lap: More hurtiness. Really looking forward to the recovery segments. About 1/2 the pack was dropped. We were down to about 25 in the pack and about 8-9 up the road. I have conversations
with myself about how & why I should drop out. Mentally, I was just focused on getting my HR down as low as possible during the downhills.

4th lap: More Gu and more liquids seemed to help. The pace up the hill was slightly more manageable. The long, fast, decent is awesome. I’m pretty sure I was up over 45mph and really enjoyed it. HR was low and the stimulation factor of a fast decent was really high.

5th and final lap: the pace went ballistic. attacks, chases, hard tempo. Guys drilling it to bring back the break. Once we got them in sight everyone got even more motivated. Cory and I were floating to the back, tailgunning. Not a smart place to be so I used the Paul Sherwin’s “he’s taking all sorts of risks on this descent” approach to get better pack placement.
Final Climb: I came into the corner about 10 wheels back. Really good positioning but didn’t have the freshness in the legs to follow the faster guys. It was incredibly fast as the break was only 100m ahead. I was pretty well gassed by the crest of the hill and with no one else around me I just kept a hard tempo to the finish line. I Finished in 25th.

From Zach:

It was an early morning for me, since I had volunteered to work at the race (marshaling and later at the reg table) before my race (which was in the last wave). The GLV guys helped out a lot at Beanpot a year ago, and I wanted to return the favor. If you’ve not done Purgatory before, it is worthwhile. It’s an excellent venue, a great course, and everything about how the race is put together (down to how they handle, prepare and take care of their volunteers) smacks of the word “pro”.

Oh, and there was a bike race. Yes. I got myself pulled together about half an hour before the race, and didn’t know what to do with myself. I mean, warm up? Really? On such a hot day with such a long race when I was already tired? So, I did what any self-respecting bike racer does: I found my teammates and talked smack for a bit. The race is neutral for a few miles after leaving the parking lot, before emerging onto the course and then turns onto a small climb past the feed zone. I had situated myself squarely at the back and just felt my legs aching as we rode up the climb. I was fairly convinced that no one else felt this, and that I was totally screwed. While this was happening, the first break of the day went up the road with at least three riders (from what I could tell). We’d only been racing about a quarter of a mile. I kept an eye on it, and while I wanted to be patient, it looked slightly threatening, and so I worked my way up the field (I thought I’d be able to do this in a relaxed manner… oops). I finally worked my way up to the front a couple miles in, using a long fast descent, and looking around, decided it would be worth it to try to bridge to the break that was out of sight by this point. I opened up a nice gap, and when I got around the next corner in the course, I saw, to my dismay that the break was down to a single rider. With over 50 miles of racing left, this didn’t seem like a good bet. I started to sit up, but noticed that the field was not closing particularly fast (thanks Rand!), so I opted to slowly real in the lone rider (a Farm Team junior), but not to bury myself too badly this early in the race. I caught him, asked him how he felt (“Good! Strong!”), and traded a pull or two with him, then saw the small group that had detached from the field closing. I was happy to have that much company, and the “strong” junior was dropped the first time through the start/finish climb.

Much of the next several laps played out the same. The concept of a rotating paceline escaped all but about three of us in the group (“you don’t have to take a pull, but please pull through!”), so it wasn’t the most efficient break one can imagine (this will be important later). With two laps to go, one fellow (a junior I think) took off up the hill and never looked back. I didn’t try to stay with him; our group naturally splintered a bit on that hill, but we reformed around the finish line… there was still a long way to go, and I would’ve had to dig really deep to even think about staying on that wheel. Anyhow, he kept going, and that proved to be the winning move. Still, I was about the second fastest climber in the group, and I could stay with the other guy (FGX fellow from NY), so I figured I could fight it out in the sprint. The two of us were trying to keep pressure on the group; we suspected that the field might try really hard to reel us in on the last lap, and figured that there would be folks who were a lot fresher than we were. With about 3km to go (a bit before the hill), the moto came up and informed us that we had 30 seconds (we had had 2:30 a lap before!). We gave it everything we had left into the bottom of the hill, and up. My top end was fairly blunted. I dug deep to hold onto a McCormack’s wheel, and gave it everything in the sprint, finishing with that group, but certainly well off the podium I’d hoped for.

Anyhow, if I had to do it again, I’d play it no differently. Just the slightest bit more efficiency in the break would have gone long way. After two and a half hours, we’d been reeled in within about 35 seconds of the line. It was the move that almost made it, but easily could have been the one that did. It was a good race, and a hell of a workout, and it was great to see and ride with some teammates out there.

From Drew:

This race was no joke. Guys were out for blood. Zach rode an amazing race getting in the break early, which was quite impressive given the finishing hill. It was significantly harder than Sterling as the pitch was 13% to 12% to false flat.

First lap up was painfully ok. My strategy was to just conserve for the 1km hill each lap. There was a great descent on the back stretch where you could recover hitting 40+mph.
Second lap up – I was in the hurt locker. Off the back with a handful of guys and we bridged back on the false flat drilling the pace to grab wheels.
Third lap – Holy Eff! I am EXPLODING. In the words of Paul Sherwin “Bridge to engine room more power!!….There is none!!”
I pulled the plug with 2 laps to go. All in all it was a fun day even though things ended short. I’ll be back next year.

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Jason Barella (The Iceberg) – Category – Road: 4

Matt Doremus (The Other Matt D.) – Category – Road: 4

Johan Gibcus (Homp/Dutch Time Machine) – Category – Road: 3

John Rhoden (The Toilet from Canton!) – Category – Road: 2 CX: 3

Yesterday the MTB squad journeyed to the North Shore for the 2nd annual Weeping Willow race at Willowdale State Forest. It was Cory, Devo, Leo, and I – the only one missing was BB who had raced Sunapee on Sa

turday

. Cory and I raced the Weeping Willow last year and we had a blast, despite having our butts kicked by the challenging course. Though not overly technical, the race was predominantly twisty, turny, singletrack that required you to be on your game at all times. We rode the course again in the snow before winter’s end, though we were not aware that they were changing things up this year. It didn’t really matter as its great fun to ride in Willowdale and it is only about an hour from Boston.

Warming up (all photos courtesy of Toro Loco)

This year’s course ran in the opposite direction and was slightly shorter than last year, with most of the difficulty coming in the first half of the race. The recent rains made for some greasy corners, accompanied by slippery roots. But once you hit the first long section of fire road the toughest part was behind you (except for the narrow bridge, more on that later). We did 2 laps in the Sport category for a 17 mile race. Devo was in the 19-29, Cory was in the 30-39, and as the old man of the group I was in 40-49. A slight shame that we don’t get to race together but since those two are faster than me I really don’t mind.

Settling in on the singletrack

The race began on a long section of double track before we hit the woods. I had moved up several spots on the long run into the singletrack and felt like I was in a good position for the first lap. Unfortunately I was still ahead of some racers with far superior tech skills and it took a little while to reach a section of the course where they could blow by me never to be seen again. Things settled down and I was at the front of a smaller group of maybe four or five riders and I was able to switch off my brain and just ride since people seemed content with the pace and weren’t upset about the amount of time I spent riding my brakes into the tricky corners. I had to make a few cyclocross style dabs here and there but for the most part had no major bobbles riding the roots or gaps in the rock walls we crossed as we made our way through lap one.

Eventually we hit the first section of fire road and I gave it some gas.payday loans I’m sure I’m not remembering this clearly but I think it was on the second longer section of fire road where I looked back and realized I was alone. I kept pushing on, trying to drink and slurp some GU on the fire road since it was impossible to grab the bottle on the singletrack. I rode through several huge puddles even trying to leap across one that was so deep that when I came down I was worried I had bashed my front tire enough to burp it. Luckily that was not the case (sidenote: I was running tubeless at about 22/25 and probably should have gone lower).

Off the bridge, into the bog

At some point I re-entered singletrack, back on more fire road and then came to the narrow bridge where I had my only real crash of the race. I don’t think I had ever been in this part of Willowdale so I was seeing the bridge for the first time. It ran over a bog and was pretty narrow at the entry but widened out in the middle. Of course I hit the bridge thinking about nothing but falling off of it and promptly did so, right into the bog on the right. It was pretty ridiculous and earned some good hoots from the crowd watching the race at the bridge. I hopped back on the bike and when I grabbed my grip I noticed my glove was covered in thick black mud, along with most of my leg. Thank god for the new black kit!

I finished the first lap feeling pretty strong, unlike last year where I had already cracked and never truly recovered. The course seemed even more slippery on lap 2, though things always seem tougher as fatigue sets in. I started to pass riders from other fields, and had to pull over a few times to let riders from the elite field pass. It was all cordial and much appreciated by me, and I was seriously impressed by the skills of other riders from both the women’s field and the elite men. I think two or three guys came back and passed me from my field, and I had one more tiny crash where my rear wheel slid out in a turn (likely from me leaning over instead of just leaning the bike). I ran the bridge on lap two to avoid falling off again and finished off the lap unbroken and pleased with my race. I ended up 16th out of 42 starters.

Devo getting it done!

Cory finished a strong tenth in a pretty stacked field, and Devo absolutely crushed it for a big win. I am always impressed with his combination of speed and skill in the woods — he beat my time by nearly 23 minutes. With my late finish I missed the start of Leo’s race but was psyched to learn he came in 2nd place. A great day out in the woods for the team.

Eulexin

So after arriving at Canton at 8:30am and watching some CX races in perfect weather for 5 hours, it started to rain. This rain, unlike the rain during the 3/4 race, was ungodly

cold. By the time the 3/4s were finished I completely regretted my decision to do the 1/2/3s with CMJ. After the 3/4s Cory and I headed out and did 2 laps to get a feel for the course. As you all know, Canton is generally a very firm, fast course. Even after 2 hours of steady rain, the course could be described the same, only now there was the addition of the slickest, wettest mud possible to deal with. After the pre-ride, I spent the remaining time (as did all the other guys) sitting in a parked car, watching the 1/2/3 women miserably finish, and warming up via car heaters, rather than trainers.

This is not of Devo (though he might be the guy approaching in the distance).

Quad Cross marked the start of the cyclocross season this past weekend at a new venue in Maynard, MA. The Threshold guys enjoyed working with Ted, the

Quad Cycles team and the Newbury Comics team – thanks for all of your efforts and for putting on a great event.

Velo Photos By Joe

(click above image for full Quad Cross album)

One of this year’s features, the ]]> http://www.thresholdcycling.blogspot.com/index.php/2011/09/quad-cross-11-photos/feed/ 0 http://www.thresholdcycling.blogspot.com/index.php/2011/09/quad-cross-2011-presenting-sponsor-threshold-cyclingfour-burgers/ http://www.thresholdcycling.blogspot.com/index.php/2011/09/quad-cross-2011-presenting-sponsor-threshold-cyclingfour-burgers/#comments Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:12:29 +0000 matt http://www.thresholdcycling.com/?p=2579 (updated after Saturday’s course setup) Along with Newbury Comics/High and Mighty Beer Co., Threshold Cycling/Four Burgers is proud to be a presenting sponsor of Quad Cross 2011.  Before racing for the beer (or Newbury Comics gift card) in the barrier section, scramble up the Four Burgers Run-up (unless you can hop this bad boy):

Winners of each* field will receive a $15 Four Burgers gift card in addition to any other winnings!

Did you hear that Four Burgers now makes their own pickles in house!

*Details: gift cards will be awarded to the first place finisher of the following fields: mens 4, masters 4- 35, masters 4- 45, masters 4- 55, womens 34, womens 34- 40, cubs, mens 3, U19, masters 123- 35, masters 123- 45, masters 123- 55, mens SS, womens SS.  (sorry, elites)

Which burger are you?!