Such a great race. Would love to have the fitness to do it again. If you love to climb, DO NOT MISS THIS RACE.

Link for those interested:

https://www.bikereg.com/killington-stage-race

Bump. I just reg'd for this. Anybody planning to go let me know. I can split rental car fees and hotel with you. If anyone has a bike rack that fits a rental car, that's awesome too.

Craig London said:

Bump. I just reg'd for this. Anybody planning to go let me know. I can split rental car fees and hotel with you. If anyone has a bike rack that fits a rental car, that's awesome too.

No Jersey Crits for you this year? I guess you've "been there done that."

I would really, really, really love to do this, but given that my wife's birthday is that weekend I have to pass. I did mention it in passing, and her look said it all.

Stage 1 of KSR is in the books. My main goal was to finish today in one piece and cross the line with the same time as the group. The winner would get a time bonus, but odds are that whoever that was won't be a factor tomorrow. 

The race was pretty tame, and I momentarily considered going for the sprint finish until we completed the first lap. It's effing scary. Anyway, approaching the KOM on the first lap, I found myself at the front. I basically just rode tempo, followed wheels, and was with one other guy at the top. I thought he pipped me, but results say I was first. 

After that, I ended up rolling away, gaining about 15 seconds on the field. Here, I considered trying to hold it and see if I could solo away. Then I laughed, cruised down the descent at my own pace, and caught back into the peloton. 

Approaching the second KOM, I now thought I may as well give it a go and see if I can snag the jersey and a little cash. Again, I ride tempo -- I averaged 250 watts on each climb -- except this time someone is attacking. I let him go, knowing that he wasn't in the first KOM, and that I really want to save legs for tomorrow. I cross the line with three other guys, finishing second according to the results.

The finishe was f#@*ing scary, and included a car in the middle of the road with 200 m left (after the yellow line rule was lifted). Anyway, I cruised through in 29th, with the same time, and apparently the KOM jersey. 

I won't lie -- the jersey is a pretty great consolation prize. I felt like garbage yesterday, and had some pretty severe back pain last night and this morning. That faded once I got on the bike, and I feel like I have some momentum heading into tomorrow. Even without the jersey, the fact that I was able to get some distance on the climbs without working too hard makes me feel good about tomorrow.

Results:
http://velocityresults.com/results/570/killington-stage-kom-killington-vt
http://velocityresults.com/results/568/killington-stage-race-day-1-killington-vt

Great job Adam! Tomorrow you ride for blood. Take a sharpie and write down the bib numbers of the top 10 guys on your arm; done lose sight of them in that final climb.
It's a half hour uphill knife fight (if I remember correctly) with a lot of short flat rests and then a final drag up to the bottom of the ski lift.

polka dots!!

Photos please, Adam. You'll be Twitter famous. 

Awesome performance. The way you talk about racing now is amazingly more advanced and confident than I've heard from you in the past. It's downright fun to read ... and motivational! Keep that same head about you and make sure you leave it all out there this weekend. Good things will happen.

Thanks, Jeff. I suppose that's what a steady diet of trap music will do for you! Yesterday was a blast, but today is the leaders jersey or bust, which will require the stage win to get it. 

Here are the podium pics from yesterday. I'll look a little more excited when I'm on that top step. 

https://www.facebook.com/TheKillingtonStageRace/photos/pcb.707948959314457/707944602648226/?type=1&theater

These last couple of exchanges reminded me of another tale of Adam. And I thought, the same Adam? But then I was like I think this one was the "Nagub?"

http://kissenacycling.vanillaforums.com/discussion/229/killington-stage-race-ksr/p2

We'll, today sucked. It started bad when I forgot my garmin at the house and didn't have time to get it. Fine, I thought, let's do this old school and just ride. 

My goal was the stage win, but Wearing the the kom jersey made me a marked man. I finished third in the first kom, but we had a 10 man break, which made me happy. We held that and kept drilling, and my status as kom didn't earn me any favors in the pack. 

The  final climb was the hardest thing I've ever done. There is nothing around here like it. It just kept going and going. I cracked somewhere along the way and just tried to finish with some dignity. 

I ended the day 10th, which is a major disappointment, and lost the kom to boot. The upside, if there is any, is that I have 2:30 on the next guy in the gc and am within striking distance to move up. With no tt equipment I'm skeptical about how well I'll do, but fuck it. I'm just gonna go balls out for 11 miles. 

Results  
http://velocityresults.com/results/571/killington-stage-gc-killington-vt

http://velocityresults.com/results/570/killington-stage-kom-killington-vt

http://velocityresults.com/results/572/killington-stage-race-day-2-killington-vt

Looks like a solid ITT helped Adam on his way to a 9th overall on GC. Congrats, and can't wait to read your race report!

http://velocityresults.com/results/571/killington-stage-gc-killington-vt

Thanks, Marc! I ended up 13th in the TT, but my time leapfrogged me into 9th overall.

Going into Stage 3 I was gassed, more mentally than physically. I really did not want to ride my bike yesterday morning. We also had to be packed up and out of the house before the race, so that added a little extra work to the pre-race routine. 

The ITT itself isn't all that interesting. It's about 11 "flat" miles that aren't really flat, but just gradually up hill. There were a few climbs, but for the most part, one could stay aero the whole way. This was of no use to me, as I decided to just get as aero as I could on my road bike. Of course, this was never aero enough.

My TT was fine -- I started a little easier and ramped up the power as I went. Mentally, I just tried to treat it as a FTP test. Coming in, I knew I had about 2:30 on the rider in 11th, but was about a minute off of 9th.

Once I started, I knew I wasn't catching the guy in 11th, who was decked in TT gear. That guy in 9th? Also on a full TT rig. He passed me pretty quickly, and did well enough to move from 9th to 6th in the GC. 

I ended up finishing 13th in 28:20. In terms of power, I kept it right at my best recorded 20 min power for 28 minutes. I was disappointed this wasn't higher, then realized that I was far from fresh coming in -- all I had to do was look up at the climb I cracked on less than 24 hours earlier. 

Turns out my TT was good enough to hold off the guy in 11th and move up a spot in the GC. Weird thing to finish higher in the GC than you did in any of the stages. I ended up 12 seconds back of 8th, and there's no doubt that I could have made that up on Sunday's climb. Hell, I could have probably shaved minutes off there. 

All in all this was an awesome weekend that left me loving my bike and racing more than I did on Friday morning. I was a little off of my goals for the weekend, but not by much, and unexpectedly earning the leaders jersey in a stage race was a nice little surprise and feather in my cap. In retrospect, my goals were lofty -- as they should be. I also learned that the winner of my field is an elite triathlete who does about one bike race a year -- KSR. So it goes.

A fun little consolation prize was some of the respect I got from other racers in my field when they found out I was from Brooklyn, land where there are no climbs (everyone else was from upstate, Mass., or Vermont). "How do you train? Bear?" They asked. In fact, I've never ridden Bear.

So now I guess I look toward Catskills and maybe GMSR. First I'm going to chill today and probably eat a little too much and enjoy that beer I won in the KOM. Then I might think about losing some weight or shedding some lbs from my bike. That can wait though.

Also -- stage races are awesome. Even if you don't think you can win it's the best bro-down you'll get. When else can you drive 5 hours into the mountains of VT to ride bikes and then sit on your ass and eat in an effort to recover? Any other time and you'll be forced to go do "stuff." 

Also - for anyone who does this race in the future - stop at Mike's off of I91 at Rt 4. It looks like just a gas station but swear to God they had some of the best sandwiches ever. We talked about it the whole drive home. 

@Adam Fabian you're a friggin inspiration.  I'm hoping like hell to be in shape and have time next year to give you the support you deserve at these races.

Awesome work @Adam! Loved reading your reports; between those and the photos I saw over the weekend, it sounds like an amazing stage race. 

Great job Adam!

I have been guilted by Jill into registering for this race this year. Any other takers?

https://www.bikereg.com/killington-stage-race

FYI, from killingtonstagerace.com:

"If you regsiter prior to March 20 you will save $50 off the full registration fee and will also be eligible for our "no questions asked" 80% refund of your entry fee should you want to withdraw. The only caveat is you have to ask for your refund by May 13. This early registration perk allows you to withdraw from the race for any reason, no questions asked. The refund will be promptly applied to the credit card you used to register so you won't have to wait for a check in the mail. We hope you will choose to save $50 and be eligible for our "no questions asked" refund policy by registering prior to March 20."

Looks super fun, but I'll be out of town at a conference. Not nearly as fun

Oooh, Memorial Day weekend.  Possibility here.

I'm tentatively in. May have other travel plans for that weekend, but my heart is pulling me towards Killington. (I also really really want to try a stage race)

I'm a big fan of KSR. Get a bunch of dudes, rent a house and have a great time.

You might even make the front page...

man that's so tempting... I might be in but I have to double check my schedule. I hope so!!!

Anyone interested? I'm starting to look into housing, so if you want to get in on some rustic Vermont chalet action, now is the time to speak up! It'll likely be me and Jill, plus maybe a VeloClassic/Stan's rider or two.

I might be in Jeff, I will confirm in a few days. What time should be leaving on friday?

We'd probably take the day off and leave mid morning after rush hour. It's a good 5.5 hour drive with no traffic a couple snack stops. Please let us know ASAP, as we need to reserve something.

Any estimate on lodging costs for the weekend? I really want to do this.