Riding wild on a paisley dragon

Friday KL and I got out for a nice, leisurely 4+ hour tour of the swamp yankee villages. We did a counter-clockwise loop from Easton, passing through Norton, Attleboro, Taunton, Rehoboth, Dighton, Berkeley, Assonet, Freetown, Rochester, Lakeville, and Raynham. I was reminded of how nice riding during the middle of the workday can be -- no traffic anywhere. The 120K course profile was about as flat as you'll find anywhere. Well, almost anywhere...

Saturday, after deciding Friday night that driving all the way to New York for a time trial would be foolish, we headed down to Stafford Motor Speedway, in Stafford, Connecticut for the Cyclonauts Criterium. Originally, I wasn't too psyched about a sprint fest on a half-mile speedway, but KL was game to ride a crit, and it also turned out that the course would go the opposite way the cars race, using some of the infield roads to make an "S" turn chicane to spice things up. Just as some of your best rides end up being the ones where you almost don't go, this race turned out to be a lot of fun. The forecast was for scorching hot weather, but an overcast with a nice breeze greeted us when we pulled in to the pit area.

KL raced first in a combined Master men 50+, women 30+ event. All categories except the 1,2,3 race did 40 laps. The lap times were only about one minute, as the lap distance was a few hundred feet shorter than a half mile due to the shortcut we took through the infield. This section made it interesting, and a bit dicey in some of the lower categories. The main speedway was over four lanes wide, but the pit road was as narrow as Wompatuck. KL raced hard and was one of only three women in the group to avoid getting dropped and lapped (although some of the lappers managed to find their way into the results. I guess the zebras were not paying attention). She was out there closing gaps and chasing breaks to riders like Curley and Hagen. She always has fun racing with the master men, and this was no exception. Plus, as this was 30+ for the women, the cat is out of the bag and now everyone knows she is not a teenager. Big Johnnie won the overall in a photo finish over Curley, who of course launched his trademark protest, claiming a dead heat and demanding a reride. Johnnie should have given the prick what he wanted and then just laid him out on the tarmac, but instead he just told him to quit whining, and the officials let the ruling stand. Chalk up a win for BOB!

My race, the 40+ was next. A dissappointing field of only about 35 riders lined up. Me, Duano, the Cronoman, Big John, Ranger Rusnak, Jim, Tom C, and JWR4 were representing BOB, which meant we had the numbers. My plan was to attack at the gun. Well, almost, as I couldn't get into my pedal right away, and I did not make it into the chicane first. Coming out of it onto the straightaway, off I went. Ranger, Hagen, and the Cronoman chased onto me and we had 11 seconds at one point, but the field had sped up with them and reeled us in. A few laps later, Rano (Gearworx) and Tyler Munroe (CCB-Evil Empire) sped off to a half straightaway lead. No BOB riders up there, and as the two strongest riders in the race, I knew instantly that this was it. Luckily, I had super legs and bridged the gap in no time. Ranger Rusnak also came across, and now we had two BOB in a break of four, with the only other strong teams represented. We got in a nice, smooth rotation, and had a half a lap on the field in just a few minutes. Ranger overextended and dropped off, but I was in a zone and kept driving it. When I heard 39 seconds, I realized that we could lap the field. There was nobody left in there who was chasing, as BOB had easily shut it down. Munroe and Rano preferred to stay isolated, and it was up to me to finish it off. It took two extra long pulls, but we made contact just 18 minutes after we went off, and now the race for the win would be between just the three of us.

There was a second break containing Big John and Tommy Mannion about twenty seconds ahead of the field. They had picked up the Ranger on his way back from our break, so all six paying spots were taken. Tyler and Rano each had only one strong rider to help them in the field, whereas I had six. Somehow, we failed to communicate, and when the break caught the back of the field, all the BOB guys were at the front of it (although it was down to less than 20 riders at this point). I would have preferred to have them at the back to immediately pace me back through for a solo counter, but we were not able to communicate this, and their sprinter's instincts took over, assuming we would setup a sprint. I have no top end and wanted no part of any kind of sprint against these two guys.

I tried repeatedly to attack, but it was fruitless. All the paying spots were long gone, but others were attacking too, and Tyler and Rano's boys responded to my moves as well. Into the last lap I made one good attack and got a small gap, but coming out of the chicane I glanced back and I thought Tyler was right on me. I eased, but it turned out it was Chris Naimie (Sunapee) and I missed his wheel as he flew down the backstretch. It was a longshot, but I tried to catch on, but I barely got a draft and as we rounded the final turn, Tom Stevens roared by giving his teammate Rano an impressive leadout. Tyler was on them, and I faded, getting third. Oh well. It was a bummer to let the team down at the end. Even though we didn't work well together for the finish, it was their presence that made the break possible. Johnnie and Ranger also finished in the money, so at least we got three out of six paying spots. Here is the polar data. Notice how flat the profile comes out when riding around a speedway:





Housatonic Hills... ughhh. The good news is that KL came in third in her race, so there was rejoicing in the payline for the second day in a row. The heat was the big story, but to be honest, for a 95K race on a 95 degree day, the conditions were about as good as they could get. There was not much humidity, there was a light breeze, and most of the course, including the climbs, runs under a canopy of trees, providing heavy shade. The heat in the parking area was a lot worse than what we felt out on the course. The up and down nature of the profile also meant the next screaming downhill was never far off, which of course cools you down better than anything other than a pool. We never would have even found the race, but thankfully Amanda saw us take the wrong exit and chased us down in her rent-a-truck, leading us to the event. Thanks Amanda!

People were bitching about the potholes, but again, other than one or two moon craters, I thought the roads were excellent. I think the Zipp revolution has severely skewed some rider's sense of reality when it come to what constitutes good pavement. This was a great course. The climbs were not as big as what I expected, but obviously they were hard enough as I was never in the front group. Results haven't been posted yet, but at least twenty riders went clear in my race and I was near my limits in the second group. Not knowing the course, and with worries about hydration, I rode conservatively. We had 20-25 in group two, and the pace was hard for me, but I was OK and we stayed together on the climbs. On the second lap I felt better, and having now seen the course helped. When we got to the finish climb, which I had not reconniteured, I went to the front, but three riders (including our friend Curley) moved past on the steep part and I could not follow. I ended up dicing around with a few others, and I attacked where the road flattened, losing all but one. The finish was actually downhill, and I was in my 52x14, but the guy got my wheel and outsprinted me. I don't know where I finished, but it might have been top 30. We'll see.

Justin Spinelli won the Pro-1,2 race, so that was cool. KL did well on the finish climb, but the downhill sprint undid her efforts and she got third against some classy riders. Driving home, we went past a billboard advertising weight loss surgery. WTF? Send the fuckers to Housatonic. Thanks for reading.