Will do my best... trying to get back down to paleo-norm weight, still many pounds to drop.

GoodLuck Norm&Aly!
w/2 you can sit-in 'surf wheels' &determine which breaks are worth your efforts to hammer it home at end of race.
you guys can place...BIG key is pre-race nutrition, hydration (start 2days before), bananas 3/day &same day(1)before and (1) during race cut into halves and take one @ea third of race; (1)pack of 'Shot Block' margarita(w/extra sodium). key to avoid cramps.
also take (1) disposable plain water bottle(great bear, what-ever) in jersey to toss, after 1st 3rd of race.
rock-it guys.
-h;>

thank dude

I started nutrition last night! came home and had a proper sit down meal at 1am.

Re-posting to get everyone psyched for Norm:

Hey Everyone... just back home after the weekend up racing Tour of the Quabbin. I got 5th place in the cat 4 race, really enjoyed the race and even the "miserable" weather.

*** PART I ***
I traveled up to the race with William and former Kissena Al Barough, starting out early from Millbrook on our way through drizzle that became a wintry mix that revealed a thick crust of icy snow on the ground, rain steady on, and temperature in the mid-30s at the Quabbin start. It seems a bit absurd to be starting a 65-mile bike in those conditions. William said he had done enough of that sort of thing and --instead of racing-- would act as team car for Al (in the cat 3 race) and I (in the cat 4 race). William was awesome getting our bikes, food and drink perfectly prepared as Al and I pinned our numbers, applied our helmet timing chips, rubbed-up in embro, lotions, and creams of all varieties and --most importantly-- coated ourselves in the sort of psychological resolve required undertake such an endeavor. Not sure my brain was actually participating in this, as its participation would likely have resulted in my bowing out. But, my spirits which so enjoy the rain were hoping that I could get them through the early portions of the race --to one good hill, where energies would bring warmth. To further boost my confidence, Stéphane offered to follow also, right behind my race, as William went ahead and followed Al's race.

And that's how it happened. Across the start line, it was a chilled and quickish 4-mile descent, after which the race got on --but the racing was even-tempered, slow, punctuated by a most unfortunate occurrence. Just coming into the first of 3 towns the race passed through, the pace moto missed a turn and guided some number of trusting riders to the end of their race. Most of those fellows saw what had happened and crossed through a gas station to rejoin the race almost instantly. Those who didn't see or didn't believe their misfortune, invested themselves in riding in full-on Belgian weather just for kicks, for 4 miles. Back on the race course, the race soft-pedaled for a bit since we had no pace vehicle. Someone rolled back and told the SAG vehicle what had happened and that vehicle promptly moved up and became our surrogate pacer. Terrible for those racers who rode on behind "Quasi" moto, surely the may fool of Quabbin.

The race had a few attacks early on, but the big guns of New England cat 4 were just rolling near the front, unconcerned with other toying with ideas of grandeur. The pace was subtly increased on the upside of the rollers, the dropped contingent would reattach, then become drop back again, then reattach. Subtle, subtle speed. I believe it was on the 3rd or 4th significant climb, the dropped remained that way and a group of 15-20 riders slowed a touch, then rolled on, up and down, up and down, the rain seeming to intensify and adjust with our efforts over and along the course.

For the middle part of the race, nothing happened other than everyone signing-on to the unspoken agreement that all would be fought and won and lost on the last climb, the 3-mile undulating not-to-steep, but a best-to-be-a-climber hill nonetheless.

I was marking Misters Van Winkle and Maizlan of the Hudson team. It was the latter who broke the agreement with an attack 15 miles from the finish --obviously a ploy to bring other riders our so Mr. Van Winkle could move into position for a winning move. Maizlan stayed out for about 5 or 6 or 7 miles perhaps. He was caught going up the first of two rollers going through the town of Ware --just a couple miles before the re-entrance into the Quabbin park where the last climb begins. As Maizlin came back, Van Winkle and an unattached rider of such finely chiseled lean musculature (obvious as he was the only man riding bare-legged) and smooth rhythmic motion --oh, I'm digressing... anyhow, these 2 guys began their separation. I moved around a couple of riders and set to make-up the distance, only 3-4 bike lengths, but I couldn't catch them. At the top of that roller, I was still chasing the 2 leaders and had a 15-20 second gap on the other 10 or so guys who were left of the original separation group. My energy went near flat-line on the next roller and about 7 guys came around me quickly. I struggled up to them and stayed there as we entered the Quabbin park to start the last hill.

***continued in next post***

*** PART II ***

Last hill to the finish: I felt my energy too far spent to do much attacking, but the 7 I was with were waiting around for someone to do something so I slid over to the far right of the wide-wide road, spun-up the pace to a nice clip and felt everyone follow onto my wheel single-file. I see the 5k mark and I stomp it. They are hanging with me, I feel it, but I want to wear them down. My legs start to crack so ease-up a little but not too much, a micro-recovery, then I'm stomping again, trying to tear myself loose. I feel terrible but wonderful. The pitch angles up and I try to keep my pace... the legs aren't there, just sponges full of sizzling toxins.

It was then, about 2k or less, the two more burly fellows in the group, rush around me on the right. I have no response, just keep turning the pedals. 3 others come around left, passing me, but I work to catch-on to them. The 2 spirited attackers are gone. I ride at the heals of the 3 for less than a minute. I lift-off the saddle, sling off the acid-bath, and stomp clear of the 3. I sit down to keep my speed steady over the pedals. One of the stronger attackers is slowing down up ahead, but I can see the finish up ahead... not much time. I think I can bring him back to nab 4th place.

Then I see William and Al driving down the left lane yelling at me... "Go Norm! You got Top-10 Norm! Put it in the Big Ring and Get out of saddle... go Norm!"

The made me feel incredible. It was just so much fun to get that treatment. I pushed hard got my speed-up enough to slide into the big ring and stand-up for 10 quickening strokes. I get closer, but the finish it to far to stay off the saddle... I resume spinning. I'm still gaining on the man ahead... I even see the 2 leaders crossing the finish line ahead, I see the 3rd finisher (such a strong attacker!) cross the finish... uh, then I see the 4th finisher... Damn! I was supposed to be by him by then!

So, 5th place it was. It was fun.

Thanks again to William and Al. William was especially wonderful for being such a great host and team director, mechanic, and soigneur.

I LOVED THAT REPORT!

win it this weekend please!

Seriously norm, that is an awesome report. "In the mouth of the wolf" this weekend!

Bocca lupo, Normanzo! (And Alyosha.)

Kick ass, Norm and Aly!!

Ok quick report as norm is driving:
Beginning: pace was slow, some attempts to break during the race, nothing threatening so peloton kept the pace pretty steady. 2/3 of race: some fast accelerations and people shooting off the back on the rollers. Norm wasn't feeling too hot towards the end and kindly offered to help me launch to the front, however the pace was kept pretty high by wat I assume were a cat3s team coming into the final segment (mile 55+), so declined. Then at the base of the last climb, ppl were elbowing, swerving and yelling, lots of jostling and shouting. I found my way to the front once clear and leap-frogging from rider to rider. Eventually sat in at about 4th or 5th wheel with 200m to go, tried to kick it a bit thereafter, clearly not enough pop as ppl latched on behind me (from wat I heard from feedback) and then got swarmed with 50 to go. Norm finished right behind. Don't know placing yet. More to come soon.

I don't want to write a report on this race. Can I just use the one I wrote last year?

Well, I reckon that won't float. Alyosha and I drove up to Mass last night --long drive, but had a fun Italian-Americana dinner at Red Rosie's in Springfield, and the hotel was cozy. The morning pre-race ritual went smoothly and we arrived at Quabbin Resevoir to greet a lovely, sunny but pretty chilly, 35 degree morning. Speeding along... we got to the start line and lined-up front. Roll out along the 4-mile shivering descent was not fun, but much better than last year's 35 degrees and pouring rain.

So, the roll out seemed to go on an on. I was, as usual, farther back than I should have been --so, I can't complain about the pace having been slow. More or less, that remained the pace quo for the next 20 miles or so. A few little break attempts were visible going up the road. Some of the rollers were taken at moderate pace. Finally, near half way into the course, I gathered my senses and moved up to the front. I got to the front, feeling strong on the way up the longer (but not really long) stepped rollers. I found the pace was slow, which seems to explain why I felt strong and speedy passing guys so easily on the way up. But, once up there and warmed-up (still feeling really good), I tried to capitalize on the slow pace with a casual roll off the front getaway. Turns out the sentrys were not letting anything go... not even me, and I looked rather dopey with vest open, and granny wool arm-warmers pulled down to reveal my pretty blue long-sleeve base layer sleeves.

But I kept pulling hard as hell and got a little group going with a small bit of separation, but the fleet fellows on team CLR, 2 strong lookin' dudes with their 2 strong lookin' teammates back in the group, were shutting-down the rotation attempts. I don't *think* anyone was up the road at that point, as I saw two pace motos --I think these guys were just trying to hold it together for the finishing hill. A few of us kept trying stuff, but we gave-up quickly. Anyhow, I let others resume pacing on the front and I got ready to take a neutral bottle from the feed --I got my bottle, but I lost a lot of position in so doing as lots of guys didn't even see the feed zone and were pumping it hard through.

*** Norm in mid-pack again, long-time, my moves upward seemed to get canceled by everybody being happy to sit as they were and Norm not wanting to go over the yellow line or off-road it either. During this time, my legs were feeling heavy, felt like I had flat tire, and so I was not moving-up on the climbs as before. I spoke with Alyosha who seemed to be doing well, motoring along through the race. I offered a launch service, but I think I must have looked rough (or maybe he noticed my arm-warmer faux-paux) cause Aly declined pretty quickly. Turns out Aly had plenty of juice to choose his leadout among the fittest racers present --and although his final sprint didn't get the result he wanted, it was damn bold and earned him a panache in my book ***

But, I got ahead of myself... [see next post/comment for the continuation]

[]continued from above... ] Let's roll-back to mile 49: here, I knew opportunities to move-up were approaching since I knew we would soon arrive into some turns and the town of Ware --which do provide many nice little spots to accelerate through with ease. I took some nice little turns and move-up well. Not at the front yet, so just as we hit the base of the first of two big rollers in Ware (note: this is where the race was decided last year), I accelerated and timed my burn to arrive at the front by the top of that first roller. I ignored my heavy legs and phantom flat tire, and pedaled hard enough to do the job. I did get to the front and felt --well-- better than I thought I would. Last year's race was decided on these rollers --but, last year we were a lead group of 12 or so riders, this time, we were a separation/group numbering about 40, maybe 50. One brave fellow went off solo. I spent some time in the wind here, but I was soft-pedaling waiting for others to come through --I just waited and they finally did on the descent down before the entrance into the Quabbin Park --which marks the beginning of the 4-mile climb to the finish.

I was in the top-10 here. I was nearly taken down by a 18 year old twerp. The CLR team had lined-up their train. And soon I realized I was in the middle of something that was about to go-down as a damn park bunch sprint and I was losing position again. I did not have the energy to launch a long attack, I was even losing some position in the mass bunch that started covering the entire width of the road. So I struggled and looked for Alyosha. I thought --even with what piddly force remaining in me-- an attack on the second to last stair-step (which was the steepest and fairly long) would be a fine thing to try. I worked and found Aly a few riders in front of me, he started his fast move up right then, I went farther right to move-up where I could --at that very moment, I told myself I needed some luck to get passage to the front... and 5 seconds later I was riding through 2 giant, deep potholes (a ditch really), consuming about 15-20 ft of the right side of the road --I chomped through the stuff-- but my speed dropped to less than 10mph and I had to regain a good 20 yards lost on the group. I never really caught them.

However, as mentioned above, Alyosha showed some prowess on the climbs today and did a great job focusing on being in contention for the podium at the end.

thanks Norm, it was disappointing but i shall learn. you were quite combative, much more than I was and this would have paid off had the rest of the peloton (including myself) were not so conservative, but so is cat4 racing. I was expecting quite a different pedigree though as most teams were from the New England area including those 'damn teenagers' that touch handlebars descending at 40mph and would rather race and contaminate the rest of the field w/ pneumonia than sitting this one out. looking forward to more of this, i love bike racing. xoxo alyosha

yo Boys!
courageous efforts....cold&rollers of NewEngland dan be a bitter turn. nice to hear of fiesty riding by Normanzo, &Ally holding powder for finale, longer races are clearly about survival - take away - steal as much energy from other(unknown) outOfTown racers as possible. this WILL be your race one day soon. keep-up good work(s).
-h;>

nice work you dudes

sign of big things to come, i think

Very nice work lads, impressive to say the least. If you adjust for the change in field size and strength it is probably a better result than last year!

Norm your lack of gas in the final stretch is probably my fault; I've been depriving you of properly ground coffee... I feel bad about that, but my car now smells like freshly ground medium dark roast, which dulls the pain of said regret.

thanks guys.

Jules --ha! I hope my dim power can be remedied by better quality coffee... if so, watch out for me in the next park race.

@ Norm dim perhaps, but every time I blast full-tilt through a lap ten or twenty seconds slower than your two-lap tt's I marvel at your "dim" power...

thanks hombres. i need better tt skills...requires a lot of focus, strength and application!

Come out on Wednesdays mornings for TT practice. They hurt, they make you want to curl up and die, they make you want to cry like a baby, but you end up getting stronger.

6AM Wednesday mornings for two lap TT efforts. It feels even better the second time.

A fool and his brakes: Looked over my bike yesterday and found my rear brake was locked-down on the right side of my rim, the rim caked in brake compound residues. I think that explains --at least-- partly that sensation of a flat starting half ways into the race. Same thing happened at Battenkill. Perhaps my aspiration to achieve Schleck-like physique has left me so feeble that I cannot tighten a brake bolt properly (yet, strangely, I broke my crank arm bolt a couple months ago). Or, maybe my coach has subliminally programmed me to loosen the brake in my races in order to handicap me a bit so that I get a fire in my belly and build-up a great ferocity for my "A" races. Of course, I guess that's not robbing me of very many watts, but it certainly explains something of my power loss this past Saturday.

Quabbin Results are in and show the hugeness of the finishing group, Alyosha coming at 26th and myself way back in the 45th spot, so much like a park bunch finish.

http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2012/04/28-Quabbin-RR.asp

Odd report from CLR team dude: I just saw this video race report from a guy on the CLR team, which seems to clear-up/confirm that they had a guy up the road when I made my move just before the halfway mark. So indeed, they did a great job controlling. However, the guy reporting here says that a Kissena rider had initiated the early attack and that their guy went with him --and the two were away up-the-road for a long-long while. I think it must be a simple case of mistaken identity, or perhaps another Kissena was in the race unbeknownst to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPKfORD6I3A

haha no what i think happened, is that I went to the front to catch some wind and block a little sitting 2nd and 3rd wheel, i thought you were away cause i saw that u pulled the peloton for a while and then couldn't see u anymore so i assumed you went away! i was chatting with the CLR guys and i was like, good job blocking, my teammate is up the road too so i'm not doing any work either! lol. i think i confused him more than anything.

Aly --awesome, even if unintentional, tactic... you were actually blocking so that I wasn't getting whipped around too much back there! You spared me some energy!

glad i came of service, thats shitty regarding your brake! i think u need more bison in that paleo diet :) PS: talking about bisons, i hate lebron james. go knicks!

Thinking about it Adam.

I might do this. It's an overnighter I suppose.