End of the Road...

...season. Well, probably anyway. There is a race in RI on Columbus Day that I've never done before, but I suppose it could happen this year. The 2007 Bob Beal Master's Weekend Omnium is now in the record books. This is another stage race scored on points, with a double stage of a road race and 3 mile TT on Saturday followed by a crit at Ninigret on Sunday. The race is unique in that it is masters only, and they use five-year age groups rather than the normal ten, so the fields are a bit small. It is also the last race in the season long MCRA series, and since the series champion for each age group gets free entry at all MCRA races next year, that counts for something. My teammate JG was in second overall going into the weekend, with a slight chance of overtaking the leader, so we were focused on that. The 45-49 group had no CCB nor Gearworks riders, but Bethel, Mystic, and Denos each had a few riders, along with a bunch of others to make a field of around 45 starters.

The road race also featured a course change this year. We would only do two laps of a 19 mile circuit that included a neat little climb, short, steep, and very bumpy. I thought it was cool. Of course, it rained pretty steady on Saturday morning and the potholed descent on a seriously crowned road was a bit treacherous, claiming at least one victim whom I saw being spatula'd into an ambulance. Our plan was to keep it together for a field sprint so that JG could gain as many places as possible over MCRA leader Eric Pearce of Bethel. We knew Pearce would be dangerous in a break, especially if he hooked up with other strongmen Todd Buckley (Arc-en-Ciel), Tony Settel (Deno's Wonder Wheel), or Bill Thompson (Celtic Builders). We'd ride tempo and keep any breaks in check, unless Pearce got in them, in which case we'd contain it ASAP.

Right off the start a move with Buckley went away. I went to the front and kept the tempo up. Duano came through for a turn, but then he retreated because of the looming climb. I took it all the way into the climb, with the break at ten seconds. The front of the field surged past me on the steep part and absorbed the break, while I pulled it together and tried to stay on the line. The climb was short and I got back up to the head of the bunch and descended on Buckley's wheel, and the course led back out onto RI Route 2, a wide, smooth state highway with the gentle grades characteristic of this seacoast area. This took us back onto the old course layout with a short stretch on US 1 before turning onto the twisty and winding Kings Factory Road that led back to the start. Moves kept going, mostly at Buckley's impetus, and I stayed up front with Tim-mee! to keep things close. No sign of Duano or JWR4 at this point, as along with much of the field, they were put in difficulty on the short climb and basically that was it for them.

Once we got on Kings Factory Road the field was down to less than 25 riders. Buckley was away alone at 15 seconds, and a group of four was chasing him. Timmy and I brought back the four chasers, and at that point Todd was just dangling a few seconds ahead. Chris Burke (Bikeworks-Hallamore Trucking) jumped across from the chase group, and he and Buckley started to extend the lead. I was taking a breather, and not too concerned because they were still in sight. Coming back over the railroad bridge at the end of Kings Factory Road, I was conferring with JG about how much rope to give the escapees when he looked down and realized he had a rear flat. Fuck!

JG knows what he is doing and he signaled the SRAM support car in advance of pulling over for the change. Nobody else in the field but me recognized his plight. We were just turning onto RI 91 and I sat up and waited, hoping that JG would get a quick change and we'd get back on. The official's car came up next to me and she said something I did not understand, but then she raced ahead. I immediately pulled out into the middle of the lane to keep the car traffic behind the race blocked in, giving John a little "caravan" to motorpace off of. Sure enough, he'd got a quick wheel change and came out around the last car just before we took the left turn onto the new section of the course. Lucky for us, the pack was sitting and doing nothing much as everyone was apparently wondering why BOB was not up front chasing the break as we'd been doing all day. JG and I were about 20 seconds back and it took us a bit over a mile of chasing to make contact. Sweet. Going through the start/finish Mike Norton informed us the break was now 25 seconds up. They were out of sight. We needed a rest after chasing back on, and then there was a little crash in the group that resulted over some confusion about which right turn we were supposed to take (pace car and the break were out of sight now). We waited for the fallen, and then took the turn but JG and I were still resting. We eventually got a second pace car for our group, and the final time up the climb was uneventful.

Back on Route 2, I was recovered and went to the front and rode some hard tempo, but this road has some long sight lines and the leaders were gone. Buckley is too strong. They stayed away and Burke took the sprint, along with the 30 omnium points. Todd of course took second, but we found out later he had family obligations and would not do the other stages; so much for him. Back in the field, Pearce tried some attacks but we came down to the finish road grouppo compacto. Settel went at the final turn, but Thompson brought him back. I was up near the front, but then it got quite slow, pushing me back a few spots. We were getting very close to the end. I'd paid attention on the way in the first time, and when the right side of the road opened up, I jumped away in the 12. I kept looking down and saw no wheels until I was just about on the line. JG was closing fast, and I thought about tapping the brakes and letting him take 3rd place points, but it was too late and I rolled over. Pearce was right on his wheel in 5th, pretty much ending any hopes of JG taking the MCRA title.

The skies cleared and the roads dried out just in time for the afternoon TT. The wind really picked up too, but for most of the one-way 3 mile TT course it was a tailwind. I rode OK, getting the 53x14 up to 115 rpms (maybe too high) at the start but then slowly fading and kind of dieing at the end. Average cadence ended up at 94 rpm and average speed 27.7 mph, a time of 6:29.8 which was 6/10ths too slow to take second in my age group. Settel killed it with a 6:06 to win. JG did a good time too, and Burke was 8th. So going into the crit on Sunday, your hero was now the race leader by a slim 1 point margin over Burke. Tom Luzio (Denos), second in the TT was 3rd overall, and JG 4th, just 5 points back. So anyone in the top 4 controlled their own destiny, with a crit win ensuring the overall victory. Not so good for a crappy field sprinter like me (Burke is very good), but looking good for Team BOB with JG as the second card to play.

The crit at Ninigret was windy as always. Lots of moves were tried, but everything got brought back. The pace was very choppy, not good for me. I was fine when it was fast and single file, which was not very often. All the accelerations were killing me. I had superb legs in the RR Saturday, but Sunday I was only so-so. This has gone on long enough, so I'll cut to the chase. With one to go I tried to attack, but they did not give me much leeway and taking the bell I looked back and the field was close so I sat up. Going into the second to last turn, JG had Burke's wheel, so I backed off, but then Duano came roaring by to setup the leadout. I got on his wheel and we roared down the mini-straight, and then out around the sweeper that leads into the final straight, where a stiff headwind waited. I'm second wheel, and I think JG was now right on me, and Burke behind him, but I'm not a well-poised sprinter and I did not look back. Duano had taken it from a long way out and was starting to fade in the wind. There was one lane open on his left, and I thought I'd waited long enough, as we were about 150 meters out. I sprinted by on the left, and put my head down with a clear shot to the line. But my top end sucks. They started coming around and I fought for every inch. JG yelled at me, because he was trying to come by on my left and I'd drifted over and made him check up. This cost us the victory because Burke had taken the right and unleashed his sprint. By the time John got through, it was too late and Burke took it by a bike length over JG. Luzio got 5th and I could only hang on for 10th. In the end Burke of course won the GC, which he richly deserved after winning two stages with only one teammate. JG took 2nd, Luzio 3rd, and me 4th. Kind of a letdown. Looking back, we should have just forgotten about my GC place and setup a pure train for John. Live and learn. At least I had good form. Not sure what I'm going to do with it now. Thanks for reading.