The Beast is Back

Killington used to be the biggest stage race on the east coast. I don't remember any other five-day races. The courses were challenging, and the sprawling ski village was perfect for accommodating six hundred bike racers and their supporters. The race was on Labor Day weekend from 1987 up until around 1998. The last time I did it was 96, I think. Race expenses, primarily for police details, were way, way, into six figures and eventually the organizers decided to pull the plug. At that time mountain biking was booming on the ski mountain and it looked like that might be a better growth area for promoting summer tourism in the region.

Not too long after that, the Green Mountain Stage Race was created, filling the calendar void on the first weekend in September. That race has evolved steadily, and seems to be a success, but it still has not gotten as bike as Killington was. Maybe that's a good thing, because this year the GMSR promoter Gary Kessler, along with the Killingon resort management company and the Long Trail Brewery have brought back the KSR, this time as a three-day, three-stage event to bookend the summer on Memorial Day weekend. Only one of the courses, the "Pepsi" circuit race, remains as a holdover. The other two are new. A 17k point-to-point, very slightly but steadily uphill individual TT was featured Sunday, and a 100k queen stage over incredibly beautiful, but challenging Vermont hills was on tap for Monday. The stage would finish up East Mountain Road, which starts at the Skyeship Gondola on Route 4, climbing 1100 feet in just over two miles before turning into a series of big rollers through the condo village. That lead to the traditional KSR road stage finish on the access road to the base lodge, which climbs another few hundred feet at a steep pitch before the line. This stage finish would make the race fitting of the old "beast" nickname, despite only being three days now.

The planning and organization looked great, at least for the 40-49 masters. Our circuit race did not start until 1:35 on Saturday, so we did not even have to fight holiday traffic after work on Friday. Armand got us a house in nearby Ludlow, so me, him, the Cronoman, and Billy C headed up early Saturday morning. I wisely awarded weekend custody of the Cronoman to someone else though, as he likes to go to bed ridiculously early, and with racing on tap, I could not babysit my high-maintenance best friend all weekend. But of course we let him hang out and eat with us (except he doesn't eat enough of the right foods at the right times, more on that later).

Packet pickup was a breeze. We got to the circuit race venue just in time for it to start raining steadily, always a bonus with a dirt parking lot. At least it was not cold. The organizers had around twenty portajohns, a good sign. The race started on time, in the rain. This event was pre-reg only, so we got a good look at the start list on bikereg during the week. Only 68 riders were in the 40-49, but the field was STACKED with talent. In fact, I would not be surprised if over half the entrants had won races in the past few years. It was pretty incredible. And even though there were several guys "racing down" from the 50+ in order to keep their teams together, they were all good former race winners for sure, and at 49 I was feeling old in this one. But part of the reason I was here was to get acquainted with the new race in prep for next year, when I can race the 50+ (sorry younger team mates, but you're on your fucking own next year).

We would do three laps of the 30k circuit. It was the same as before, except for a slight change on the backside, where they briefly diverted us off route 100A and up around the back of the Calvin Coolidge homestead for the KOM sprints. The "climb" on that leg of the triangular course is long (around 5k) but not very steep, so this small kick was added to give the king/queen of the mountain competition a little meaning. The real dust on that would settle on Monday anyway, and for this stage only three places, 5-3-1 points were on offer each lap. I considered trying to ambush the field on the first sprint and steal some points, as getting this jersey on Saturday would probably be our only hope of actually taking anything home against this field. That plan went out the window when I found myself suffering just to hang on! Fuck, was I just blocked and not ready, or were these guys this fast? I felt like my brakes were rubbing. It did not help that the road as a little bumpy and in the rain it was more difficult to stay tight on a wheel. I was running my carbon wheels too, and the braking was awful, grabby and choppy. I think the back one needs to be re-tensioned, as this remained an issue for me all weekend, even in the dry.

So no KOM attempts for me. Soups did what I couldn't even think of doing, attacking and taking the first five points. The Cronoman hovered near the front, bouncing pesky friend and foe alike off his broad shoulders in order to keep a good position. Me and Billy were hanging grimly a ways back. Armand was with us too, for a while, but this was his first road race of the season (perhaps not a good choice) and with his decidedly non-climber build, he struggled to maintain the pace and got popped just before the KOM. This was bad, bad news as we still had 75k to go and A-man would be in for a long, difficult battle against Cuts-ville if he could not rejoin quickly.

Most of the riders in this field were top quality. The group was mostly very tight and poised. But there are a few misfits in every crowd. Coming out of the KOM some guy in front of me (not from a New England team) practically stopped at the gentle merge back onto 100A. I had to burn half a match sprinting around to get with the field before the bumpy, hair-raising plunge down into Plymouth Union and the tight turn onto 100 proper. Grrrr. Then somehow, probably due to my excess caution and shaky carbon-rim braking, the bozo managed to get back in front of me on the descent, and then get us gapped again coming out of the corner. Badly too. He takes about five pedal strokes and then fucking SITS UP and looks back for someone else to close the giant span he just opened. The field was drilling it too. Now I realize it's my own fault for being back there in the first place, but that did not do much to quell my anger, so I put on my best jump and track sprint. No fucking way I was towing this jackass back up. And it worked. He was G-O-N-E and not seen again all day.

Of course, not long afterward the field slowed a bit. The rain was stopping, the sun was coming out, and we were now riding through a sauna. Then Billy noticed his rear tire was losing air. He doesn't TT well and thus was not a GC guy, so waiting for him was not an option (and probably would have been suicide anyway). Besides, we had Armand back there someplace. So I coached him to summon the wheel van, and try to stop and get a quick change at the turn onto Route 4, where we would sort of slow down. He tried, but the field drilled it on the first half of Route 4 and he was not able to rejoin. And of course, after a few k we slowed down A LOT. Now we had two out of four in a battle against the cut. Life on B.O.B. I conferenced with the Cronoman up near the head of the race. He opined that the strong teams were neutralizing each other, and that he did not think anything stood a chance of getting away. And then he attacked. I just don't understand that man some (most) of the time...

The second time up the rise leg of the course I felt much better. Maybe we were going slower, or maybe I was coming around, or a little bit of both. I got up front but by now everyone knew where the KOM sprint was and the guys who got points in the first sprint were all serious and aggressive about it, so I took a pass. I banzaied the downhill this time to avoid burning matches again. The third lap ended up pretty slow, except for a sharp acceleration a kilometer or so before the KOM, where we went single file. The last time down the hill I had to brake and my pads grabbed, unicycling me off a bump and up onto the front wheel at 40 mph while the back locked up and started to come around. That was my day's excitement. The finish sprint is a mad downhill dash in your biggest gesr, and I just coasted in the crazy draft before pedaling the last 100 meters to make sure I crossed close enough to get S.T. One stage down.

Me and the Cronoman then did a cooldown ride to preview the last part of Sunday's TT. When we got back Armand and Billy were at the truck. We had finished in around 2:11 and Billy said he finished in a group of other flat victims at 2:21 so we knew he had made the cut easily. Armand had not caught him and looked disappointed. The cut would be 2:38 ish...

This boring narrative will have to be continued tomorrow. For a more concise report on how the weekend went at the front of the pack, go see Jonny's blog Thanks for reading.