I'm considering. Will be a struggle to get fitness up though, between family vacations and work this summer. 

Registration is supposed to be opening this week for GMSR.  It's 4 stages over Labor Day weekend (Sept 1-4).  I'm looking at racing and would love to get a crew of Kissenistas to go for a fun weekend of racing.  Anyone interested?

Finally, made this happen despite various challenges. After the cancellation of Killington this year (with me peaking nicely for that spring event following 38 weeks of training!), I targeted this 4-day bonanza in the Cat 1-4 50/60 Masters category. Because I'm a masochist. Here's my report:

-- TRAINING: I dove into the 8 week polarized build from Velocious. My first time trying a polarized plan and I dug the mix of volume and intensity. I add an extra week of build prior to the 2-week taper, which may have been my undoing. In any case, I drove my FTP back up to my old 290 high water mark and felt decent even doing the prescribed 7x6 minute VO2 Max efforts and double threshold workout days. For the last 4 weeks I attached my aero bars and practiced being Vingegaard.

-- TAPER: I have yet to nail a taper that left me feeling like a superman. And this one did me in. After 2 days off the bike I got hit with some weird bug. It wasn't quite a cold and I had no fever, cough, or particularly elevated heart rate. But I was massively FATIGUED even after easy workouts. Could it have been adding that extra week of build? I opted to keep up with my taper workout schedule, which was relatively light. But I didn't start feeling recovered until the day before the race. And I certainly never felt like superman despite doing my first full-fledged carb load for 2 days. Big take aways: next time I'm sick I won't train through it, but will take the time off and don't overload TOO much before the taper. 

-- DAY 1/TIME TRIAL: Major pre-race nerves. Reading all the racing posts here had me convinced I was going to break some bones, having only raced 2x this season. Then, on the drive up to Vermont with my huge fan club (e.g., my wife), I noticed a lot of concerning splits in my 26mm tubeless tire. I panicked and picked up a replacement in Northampton. That night I mounted the tire with my new bottle of Silca sealant and went to bed feeling confident I wouldn't' get a flat -- but when I woke the tire was basically flat. Jesus. I pumped it up and within an hour it had lost 10 psi. Running out of options, I figured I would just fill up before the 15 mile time trial and it'd be fine for the duration. Instead, the whole thing EXPLODED. WTF?! Sealant everywhere. Thankfully, the neutral support threw a wheel on for me and I survived. I bested the pacing plan that Bestbikesplit laid out for me but it wasn't enough to celebrate. One rider passed me and my lungs were burning as I finished 56 out of 81 starters. Only 17 minutes of all out effort and the FATIGUE came back with a vengeance. Also, I stopped by a bike shop and they fixed the wheel. Turns out the Silca carbon laced sealant ripped a whole in my rim tape. The sealant is probably overkill for a racing road tire. 

-- DAY2/CIRCUIT RACE: Pounded more carbs the night before and woke up feeling a bit recovered (so said my whoop). My goal was, as always, to not get dropped and happy to say after 70 miles GOAL ACHIEVED! But it wasn't easy. The loop has one moderate climb and the first time up I fell off the back with another guy. He turned to me and said he had worked all year so this wouldn't happen and I said fuck yeah and we worked to bridge successfully (maybe the first time for me). After that the race settled down pretty much until the end. I had one scare on the descent leading into the finish though to keep things spicy. The road conditions were horrendous and my bike was jumping under me like a pogo stick. I was pushing 45 mph and things started to feel quite tenuous. I was inches away from the grassy shoulder and feeling off balance and near to breaking all my bones. Luckily I slowed down enough to stabilize but that was scary as fuck. Coming into the finish I felt I had some juice still in me and tried to move up. The road was packed and it wasn't happening. Also, there was part of me that was scared to embrace the greatness I KNOW lies within my quads. Nonetheless, I was happy finishing with a decent pack finish 30 seconds off the winner. Finished 42nd out of 79 starters.

-- DAY3/MAD RIVER ROAD RACE. The Queens' stage. Also, known as the I AM FUCKED FOR 60 MILES stage of this ordeal. Again the goal was to not get dropped. Hard to find a rhythm in the peloton this time out as we hit 5 miles of gravel about 20 miles in and bottles were flying everywhere. But at mile 30 we hit a moderate climb and I started to slowly fall off the back. In my stupidity, I thought, yeah, I'll catch up with those guys later. Um, that was NOT happening. The pack was gone and so I was my luck. I thought there were a decent number of riders behind me but I wasn't sure. I joined up with one comrade from Virginia and we worked nicely together for the next 20 miles, until the base of the bad assery that is the Baby Gap and the monster Appalachian Gap climbs. We passed various stragglers from cat 4 and I took off at the base of the climb -- but I was suffering. My legs were not happy. A gaggle of riders that had, in fact, fallen behind us now caught up and passed me. At the start of App Gap climb I saw the Grim Reaper carrying a sign that said "Repent!". That was pretty much the vibe. I didn't notice but Mr. Virginia passed me and gained 5 minutes on me during this soul crushing ordeal. I crawled my way to the top where my big fan club of one saluted my efforts. People were collapsing and being tended to by EMS all around me. The big lesson from this that I never seem to learn -- DO NOT GET DROPPED. I should have put everything I had into staying with the pack on the early climb. I would have had much more in the tank and it might have been an ascent to heaven, instead of to hell. I lost 20 minutes on the peloton and finished 61st out of 79 brave souls.

-- DAY4/CRITERIUM: This will be short and sweet. I was actually feeling optimistic going into this 15 mile circuit. I wanted redemption from the day before -- but it wasn't happening. This was only my 2nd proper Crit with 6 turns and a very fast field. A fun course but I got pulled after 12 minutes. 62nd out of 69. One lesson: get good position at the start line. I was actually at the front at the rope barrier but when everyone moved up to the line I wasn't prepared for the aggression and I suddenly found myself at the back before we even started. And that was that. We packed up the car and headed home, already thinking about what I'd do differently next year. 

Like I said, I'm a masochist. Good times!

Sounds like a solid race!  I'm jealous.

That sounds grueling, torturous and fun! I admire your focus on and commitment to the training plan with a specific event in mind. Congrats on the results!

Way to go Adam!! Excellent race report.

Nicely done Adam; stage racing is not for the faint of heart, or grey of beard. Don't feel too bad about getting sick around the taper; keep in mind that when you're super fit you are always on the razor's edge giving your body almost more than it can handle. Doesn't take much to push it over.