Etsu’s Report

Solid racing weekend for the women's squad!!! Congratulations to Peta-Speta for place in 6th in Sturbridge, and Stephanie for placing 4th, Peta for 6th in Palmer race. Tell us more! Also to Annemarie and Lisa for braving the weather and aggressively racing. One the men's side, Adam almost made top 10 in Palmer after patiently saving his strength for the sprint.

Sturbridge

Only two racers from CRCA in 4 field. Myself and a Jr. There was an OA

rider from Boston.

The course was changed from a slight downhill sprint to a 3 mile up

hill finish. We went up the finish line 3 times. First time up was

neutral and the field split the second time up, lots of dead weight

was unloaded. I was pretty comfortably sitting in. There were some

attacks here and there but nothing to speak of, I think everyone was

saving for the last hill.

The hill was lead by a short an quick descent and going into the last

one, people did not really fight for position coming down, perhaps it

was because by then leading group was some selected 35 riders and

there was plenty of room for battle in the last miles.

By the 1st mile, the selection was down to 20-30 riders, my legs were

still feeling good. Half way up the hill, as the road flattened out a

little, I decided to shift to the big ring and got ready to go hard.

While there was a guy who went off earlier, we knew we were getting

him back. I felt confident, and though I knew the other guys were also

looking good, I wanted to give it a shot. "Could this be my day to

bring the bacon home?"...My heart rate was still just in my threshold,

but my heart felt like it was beating at 200 bpm! "I could do this,

now as soon as we make that last right turn, I am going..."

Then...."psheeeeeeew"....flat....front wheel.

For a split moment I thought I still give it a go but given the

distance(about 1 mile left), gradient and the competition(we were

still together), I knew my chances were slim at this point. And I had

another race..so I let up and rolled up trying to to minimize pressure

on my front wheel.

I think I came in around 25th, some 40 sec or so behind the leaders.

Oh well.

Palmer

Pre-race  talk was to help out Adam. Sit with him in the pack and do

nothing.

Perhaps sensing that I had missed a good opportunity to do well the

day before, Adam was generous enough to tell me before the race to

"race for my own win". The general tactic was the same, sit in the

pack and do nothing until the last lap. There were 3 other Metro guys,

2 BlueRibbon guys and 2 AARF from CRCA. And 17 Boston Racing Club(BRC)

guys who impacted and controlled the race ---- they were everywhere

like NYVC guys in CRCA races.

The course was the same, 3 x 20 mile or so loop with a slight incline

finish. The race started out faster than usual but nothing too

difficult. However, some tim after the 1st lap, a break was formed and

eventually it grew to be  5-6 men break. There was a BRC guy in the

break so the rest of them were executing a good race, trying to block,

slow down the pace or break any effort to chase. And besides none of

the chase effort did not look too determined.

Me being me, my legs started to take over my head, I wanted to go

faster. I had written down on my stem in Japanese "Patience", to

remind myself of that. With a lap to go the break had about 1:30 min

on us. I reached out to Adam, and he said he was going to stick to the

original plan, I saw Craig(Metro) getting involved with the chase

effort, and one of the guys with Apple(on their kit) asked me if I

wanted to chase...So long as Adam is there with the pack, I can use my

legs to help pull the break back, he can still go for the sprint.

Given that my HR was low end of endurance most of the race, I thought

I maybe able to work a little and still have something left...so with

that, I moved up. Craig, the Apple dude and a couple of us worked

hard, starting around the long-down hill section, by the time we got

to the open windy section, we had taken back some 45 seconds back, and

the break was in site. The BRC guys were actively blocking, but more

guys got involved in the chase effort. Now it was just a matter of

WHEN we would catch the break. Personally, I was hoping that the break

will get caught at least few miles before the finish, so that I can

rest up right before the peloton catches the break and launch a

counter attack as one last effort. Unfortunately, when we made that

last right turn, about 1 mile from the finish, the break was just 50

yards a head and there were 4-5 of us just ahead of the peloton.

The guy in front of me jumped - he ended up catching and then passing

the break(not sure how he finished), a solid and brave effort, but I

could not react, did not have the kick left. Next 50 yards or so, I

was in no-man'sland...just waiting for the peloton to suck me up, and

they did!!! I saw Adam fly by in a decent position. My race was

done....then...2 guys collided right in front of me. One guy in a nice

Cervelo...It felt like forever, but I remember thinking, "Ok, if they

throw themselves towards me, I am REALLY fxxked...". Luckily, they got

thrown to the right taking down another guy and I narrowly escaped. As

I continued to pedal, I saw crashes here and there...the first set of

riders that contained Adam had already passed the finish line, what

are these riders doing? They kept crashing. After we crossed the

finish line, I went up to catch up with Craig, and "voila!" two more

guys collided as they were trying to turn...after the race!!! OY.

I think our team could have had a good impact on this kind of

race...Though, the finish line is so sketchy, it may be worth the

consideration for the future.

Thanks for the good words, Reed and Niko.

Again, congratulations to Peta-Speta and Steph!

Adam’s Palmer Report

It was 45 degrees and drizzling at the start. No warm up. Just sitting in the truck trying

to decide what to wear. We were off without much fanfare and I tucked in to the front middle

of the pack for what I hoped would be an easy 60 mile ride. My expectations going into the race were for several mundane crashes over the 3 circuits, a long hard run-in from the bridge to the finishing climb, a finishing straight crash, and a debris filled up-hill sprint to cap things off.  And that's exactly what the race delivered.

But, having said all that, there were some heroics prior to the finish line. I was sitting in doing absolutely no work and I wasn't changing my tactic for anything. A break-away of 4 riders went

up the road during the first lap and over the course of the next lap or so had put 1:20 into the field. At the start of the last lap the gap remained and the break was comfortably out of sight.

Having ridden the entire race right next to me, Etsu decided that racing for 5th place wasn't good enough. He went to the front of the race with Craig Goodstein and the 2 of them single handedly took 30 seconds out of the break. In fact, their 'super pull' brought the break back into sight! Once the pack could see them, the chase was on and other teams came up to join in. The neutral support car had to pull out and drop back after Etsu and Goodie's pulls!

Sure enough, we came around the right hander that starts the finishing straight and the break was just up the road. We started the final acceleartions and you could see the guys in the break working their machines to try to survive to the line. With 250 yds to go, we swallowed the break and the sprint was on!

Then the requisite finishing straight crash came. Guys started pinballing all over the place. I was searching for daylight and found it. My only problem was that I ended up behind a little guy who never really stood up to sprint! I yelled at him to 'open it up!', but he didn't. By the time I could come around him, I had lost a step on the other guys who also made it throught the debris.  I was nipped at the line and had to settle for a disappointing 11th palce.

The race dynamics were very 'pro', catching the break just before the line. I saw 2 riders come up and personally thank Etsu for the incredible effort at the front to shut down the break. That was super cool.

Peta’s Report

Etsu pretty much summed up the racing weekend. I won't bore you with too many details as possibly no-one reads these things anyway. We were all happy with our results in the Cat 3/4 womens races!! Sturbridge was a hard race with that 3 mile climb at the end of each loop - the course was very different to last years!!!!. Our experiences were all very different as the pack split up some - I managed to counter attack an attack on the 2nd climb and then there were 12 of us;  2 girls then attacked on the 3rd climb and thank the lord I managed to hang on.....snot and ponytail were flying (Patrick - sorry couldnt get another photo). I lost touch with the 6 of them (the climbers) for a split second and then I refocused and sprinted up the hill to rejoin them....and managed to overtake someone to get 6th in the final sprint......so I was stoked..

 

Steph had a different experience she sat on like a monster for the first lap in Sturbridge and tired herself out some and then got directed the wrong way so that was annoying... I told her off on Saturday and told her to save her energy (we are like coke bottles and only have so much fizz) so the next day she tucked in nice the whole race and I saw this flash of lightning out of my right eye as she sprinted and came in 4th. We are very happy for her. :)

 

Anna and Lisa rode hard and were dominant in the pack and are saving themselves for this Sundays - womens Tour of Colts Neck - Cat 4 only race.

 

Steph is $85 bucks richer and me $130.00 so we both quit our jobs today and are ready to pursue the life of a professional bike racer..........not!!!! Very valuable weekend of racing under our belts and very proud to wear the team kit.

 

I brought pizza for the A team on Saturday and Steph kindly brought us lunch on Sunday. Adam we owe you a slice!!!!

 

I think this is only the beginning of our womens team causing some HAVOC!!!!!

 

Spot ya

 

Peta / Steph / Anna and the one and only LANYC!!!!