Ryan, my legs hurt just watching that video. It's like I have PTSD from years of doing these races. You are in quite the group though!

Ryan, I'm also thinking the cat 3/4 might be the way to go.

@Ryan - Ideal that the best Scorpions ballad was playing during that. 

Jeff W is doing the 3/4 field.  Oh-magherrd.  Jeff, tell me when you register and I will too.  

Sandbagging the 3/4. I will be there. 

I'm on the fence for this, but would need to share a ride up if anyone has room. If not, no big deal, but it'll definitely help my decision making.

Hey Adam, I'm not sure how everyone is getting up to the race. I'm in for sharing a car and will prob have one with me.

FWIW, it looks like I'll be taking on a road race for the first time in a few years. My only consolation is that they are starting the 40+ and 50+, so I'm hoping I'll have at least a few 59 year-old back-markers to ride with me. Because I sure as hell ain't keeping up with Molloy, the 40+ field in general, or any of the even average 50+ riders for that matter.

Joe-

Just noticed that they allow day-of.  If in the next 36 hours I start feeling super chipper, I will get back on the forum and start begging for a ride last minute.

anyone thinking of heading down the night before?

Results, bros?

3/4 was a bit of a mess. We all rode strong but I flatted and general chaos from neutralization and confusion and just a super negative field kinda wrecked our day. So no results to speak of but we made a good showing. More later

super fun course. had great positioning all day. was sitting pretty at about 5th-10th wheel for the whole race, which made the climbs and descents much easier. i had a few break attempts, that ultimately were swallowed from lack of participation. pretty bummed about my finish. i was sitting 10th wheel coming around the last turn into the step climb. guy in front of me has a mechanical, drops his chain, i get stuck behind him and get passed and gapped. wound up rolling in 16th. niall snagged 8th. 71 starters. 21 finished. 

good job guys 

That's crazy attrition!  What happened?

Jules said:

That's crazy attrition!  What happened?

I haven't seen the results, but....the Cat 4 field as observed by me as they passed, was basically split into a few groups separated by massive chunks of time. If I were to guess the "21 finishers" were the dudes in Jeff and Nial's group. There were plenty more on the road...all over the place.

This is a hard, hard race. All the groups got shredded to pieces. A long stretch of stair stepped climbs, separated only by a brief downhill here or there, then the back 1/2 of the course was rolling to flat to descending. It was windy. If you lost it on the climb, and were riding without a good group. You would lose MASSIVE amounts of time on the "flats."

It's easy to get to, not too far. More folks should do it if they are interested in road racing.

after usac posted the results, it looks like most of the field actually finished, but there were big gaps of time in between the groups. i supposed it was just 21 posted times when i checked the results at the school.

Anyone have any time/distance data on the climbing stretch after the start finish, but before the sharp 170 degree turn ramp to steep/shorter climbing bits? The one that would go up and up, then down for a second, then up and up, then cross the major road, up so more, down a little more up and up?

Really well run race, but not an easy course. 43 miles sounded short but turned out to be plenty Both Jeff and I tried a few moves but nobody was pulling through, so after 2-3 failed attempts to get something going I decided to save my energy for the last KM which was a merciless series of stair step hills. Our group passed Marc on one of the laps and all I remember him shouting was "patience patience patience". It was good advice, I managed to finish strong for the first time this season and held on for 8th place – usually the last 20 seconds of a race is where I go from 10th to 30th. Thierry was not so lucky with knee problems and had to abandon. I'll be back for this race next year for sure... 

@marc re timing data i think me and jeff uploaded to strava if that's what you are looking for?

Just heard a crucial bit of information from the wifey today about this race. On her way to the feedzone, on the "neutral" road, a juvenile bear ran in front of the car. That's right, A BEAR.

And since there wasn't a thread, and I was the only one who raced it, I thought I'd mention that after the baptism in a church that was 104 degrees today, I literally ran to my car 5 blocks away and sped off to New Britain Connecticut for a Pro 1/2/3 race with $2000 on the line.

This Olmsted designed course is fast and flowy (what else would you expect from the designer of CP?) and today's wind was severe. Having had my fair share of DNFs and DFLs lately, my goal was to finish safe and sound. And safe and sound I was. Very conscious of my energy, when I pushed, when I took wind.

In a teachable moment, it's worth noting that during one particularly brutal cross windy stretch, where everyone was always lined up on the right gutter begging for just a smidge of draft, that I actually took the opportunity to move up in the wind. What made me chuckle to myself, is that yes, the wind was strong and severe, and I could feel myself working to push past the single file dudes....BUT, the single file dudes were also going so slow, that if I had to guess, I was maybe cranking 220 watts.

So that was kind of the story of my race. A break gets and stays away, eventually lapping the field (I had visions of Perlbergs and Partlands and Ragots in that move), while I focused on keeping good position in the main pack. A few laps were harder, but honestly, this race was less than 1/2 as hard as anything that I did at ToAD. That said, I still managed to lose track of some groups of stragglers off the front, and while I'm fairly confident I powered to a 19th-ish place in the field sprint, that put me in 35th overall. Out of 65-ish starters. They paid 20 deep.

So after a few rough races, it's nice that I can pin on a number and not get dropped EVERY time. Now to continue to build towards Green Mountain. Sarah says she doesn't care if I don't make time cut. She wants to go to Vermont!

FWIW, the "family friendly" report. Big park. You can see about 70% of the race unfold from the start finish area due to the open circular nature of the course. Lots of grass in the center of the course. Perfect for running RC cars. Big amphitheater for creative types looking to perform. Playground equipment just on the outside of "turn 3." And a nice looking Museum of Modern American Art by turn 4. Lots of shade for naps and picnics.

Random question, anyone know what happened to Rene H. in his race? Not seeing his name in the results.

I saw him on the side of the road at some point. I think he must have punctured.