Turtle Pond Race Report

Now I know what the hot dogs feel like.

I like the heat. Or at least I used to. I tend to ride better and get decent results when it's warmer out. The 45+ race at Turtle Pond started at 9 am. That would have meant leaving home before 6 am in order to arrive on site in time to get a decent warm up. F-that. The 35+ was at 1 pm, much better. 48 is still > 35... This would mean missing out on not only the team shenanigans, but as it turned out seeing Dougie win, as well as being deprived of any chance to try to stop him. And I'd get to race in the heat of the day, which as it turned out, was 91 degrees F at its peak.

The 35+ race had a smaller field, just 40 starters. OA/Cyclemania had several good riders, CCB had three, and Sunapee had three or four. Five laps of the newly modified 11.4 mile circuit, with the finish no longer at the top of Oak Hill, but instead a downhill sprint. Hmmph. We rolled out very slowly. At first I wondered if yet again we'd be caught by the field behind us, but after half a lap someone attacked. I'm not sure, but I think it was an OA guy and a CCB guy, maybe Langford. Then I think the CCB guy came back. The first time up the new hill I went to the front to make sure I had no issues. I was riding my aluminum bike and the front shifting is not that reliable. The new part of the course was fun and the race got aggressive on the downhill portion.

The next time up Oak Hill was faster but I felt OK. It was a good thing I'd arrived early enough for a good warmup because when I first got on the bike my legs felt like shit from running the LT test Thursday. Now they were better. Fluids were an issue. I packed two bottles on the frame and two small Fuel Belt bottles in my pockets. Drinking these first, we were 1.5 laps into it before I had to touch my frame bottles. Still though, I'd need to ration.

There were more attacks and I think another OA guy bridged up to the first guy. Thomas and Barton, I believe, both strong time trialists. The follow vehicle passed us, so they must have had a minute's gap. The third time up Oak Hill the pack realized we'd have to chase and all hell broke loose. To my surprise, my legs were up to the hell-raising, and I cut through the field and stayed on the good wheels all the way to the top and over. A lot of better riders got shelled out. At the bottom there were a dozen of us left, Shattuck (Bike Barn), Mangan (CCB), Vollers (Start House), Piergentilli (WH Bagshaw), Mosher (Corner Cycle), Meerse (OA), another OA or two, an IF guy, and a Sunapee guy (Stockwell?). The rest of the field was gone. Shattuck was pushing the pace mostly, and oddly the OA guys rode some tempo. I suffered a bit but hung on. Mangan made a few attacks but the OA guys covered and they'd come back. Ditto for anyone else who tried anything.

The fourth time up the big hill I was hurting. Then Shattuck and someone else tried organizing the group. I would roll through on my turn, but several were not participating, notably the IF guy, Vollers and Mosher. The break was gone and we were racing for third. Or at least they were. I started to feel very bad. I was overheating. There have been very, very few times I've ever felt like this on the bike. It's happened at Bow on the climbs, but I've usually lasted until a descent, or been able to douse with water. Or just pop.

With just 1.5 laps to go, and the chase organization having failed, someone got frustrated and attacked. About half the guys got 10 seconds or so on the rest of us, but they were spread out, barely together. The rest of us closed it up, and then Vollers countered. That came back too, but all these surges were nails in my fiery coffin. I even had my head down, somewhat out of it, when we hit the turn to the Hoe Pond Road wall. I died immediately, barely making it up, never mind fighting to stay on. I thought about stopping. I had goosebumps, was dizzy, and in uncharted territory. I don't think I've ever felt this bad on the bike. Rolling down the short chute to the pond, the remains of the group disappeared. I drank what liquids I had left, preparing to bag out of the last lap and accept a dnf. It seemed like the smart thing to do.

On the descent toward the start, I cooled off. From rationing, I had more liquids than I thought, and drinking it helped. Approaching the line, I heard some beeping. We'd passed the women's race and now their final sprint was coming up from behind. I crossed ahead of them, but made the turn onto Oak Hill Road anyway. There was a feed zone there. I did not want to quit. I figured if someone gave me a bottle, I'd keep going. I could always turn around if I couldn't make it up Oak Hill. I begged -- some dude responded with a small bottle, only 3/4 full of plain water, but it was cool. Riding the hill in my smallest gear, I kept going. When I looked back I saw nobody, but then on the next descent I started to feel better. Drinking more water, I rode a bit harder, but after a few minutes Craig Harrison (Sunapee), Adam Sternfeld (Millwork One) and two other guys rolled up. They were all that was left of the field. Craig was doing 80% of the work, towing us around. On the backside rollers we even lost one guy. I was pretty psyched to have friendly faces to ride with. We did not sprint. I would have cramped. So I was credited with 16th place out of 20 finishers, with half the field dropping out.

After the race I mixed up two bottles of Gatorade and did a few miles easy with Adam (who says he weighs as much as Murat, something he was not proud of...) Then I drove home, stopping at TJ's for a turkey club and a bag of chips. I drank at least 2.5 liters of fluids by the time I got home, but weighed in a just over 75 kg when I got there, a full 2 kg less than when I departed. I hope this was just because it was the first warm day of the year.

This morning I stayed home. My original plan was to just race Monson, but that was canceled, so I did TP instead. Today's Quabbin race is good, but that was an early start too, but beyond that I did not think I'd be recovered, and I had much to do at home. Ironically, I was up early anyway, and decided to head out on sore bike legs at 8 am. After twenty minutes I felt much better, even doing several seated high-force efforts before heading home at two hours. So I think my legs did not get that stressed Saturday, as the (blown) fusible link was my body core temp. Home by 10 am, after a bit of recovery, I began to slowly put all the finishing touches on the Madone, cutting the fork, making adjustments, tightening everything. In the evening I took it out for its maiden voyage. Everything was cool, it felt great. Front derailleur setup with the compact is a pain, I was getting rubbing in the last two cogs either way. I'm hoping Shimano might come out with 36/52 rings for these things, but I may resort to TA or FSA rings. Or just go standard. That was the only issue. I left just one 5 mm spacer under the stem. The bars are still not as low as the Slim but I think they will be OK. If the weather cooperates I'd like to get a few more rides on it this week and race it at JP. It was 17.5 pounds with the fairly heavy clinchers that came with it. That's the same as my aluminum bike weighs with the carbon wheels, which shed at least 400g over the clinchers.

Yeah, that was boring. What did you expect from an overbroiled hot dog? Thanks for reading.