Go Stéphane! Attack your way into the top-10!

Marc... I think that must be Maurice who encouraged you. I always say hello to him at the races (near and far)... nice guy and a great voice too. Hope your legs recover... those sound like climbs that beg for a compact, so awesome to keep kicking on a tough course with those super strong dudes.

Harry... keep racing hard... have fun with the crit!

Nice work guys. Keep it up.

After reading Marc's message, I have to say several times during the past few days I thought too bad our riders are not here. The terrain would have' suited you perfectly. It's a tough race. Where we had dinner, I saw a former riding buddy, Ira Blumberg from Setanta who finished well today and is 18th on the GC. He was there with other racers, one of them Warren St John, who had a hard time and is 32nd on the GC. He told me that going from 4s to 3s is a huge difference for this type of race, he mentioned the "accelerations"...
Our Harry keeps improving his placing, he's 24th on the GC. I am 14th, Haluk Sarci, who was second this morning, is 13th tonight because of a flat during the first half of the race.

Stephane, Warren told me he broke all his power records in the TT and got 34th.

Great reports guys - really wish I was there. Fantastic to hear Stephane "Shut Up Legs!" blasted his way into top 15!
Nobody ever refers to this race as an "easy" one and the truth is lots of guys make this their A race of the season - so Chapeau's all around for the guys who pinned on numbers and duked it out - especially after a full season of trashing the legs of teammates & competitors alike

The rains returned to Vermont in a big way. I see from the website that the crits were canceled. I'll be curious to hear from Harry and/or Stephane if any of the early crits were run.

While we're waiting for Harry and Stéphane's final race report (according to the results, both of their crits were run before the heaviest rains fell), I thought I'd share this technical tid-bit gleaned from a story Stéphane told me about one of his competitors.

It seems that the trend towards wider rims is having unintended consequences. One competitor's breaks were set up to work on his wider wheels, but when he had to take a neutral wheel, he had very little breaking power and ultimately climbed off for safety reasons.

Weak. Can tighten brakes whilst riding. Should have dropped off the back marginally, barrel adjusted, back in the game!

Or, got off and done it.

Hi guys. I'm in Québec, recovering slowly from a crash in the crit.
The guy who had the problem with his breaks is Phil Penman, now a cat.2. He had no tools and could not adjust the brakes manually. He's a tough guy, but when he went off the road he decided to quit.
I was 13th on stage 2, riding by myself after being dropped by the 12 strong guys in front on Baby Gap and dropping the others then.
In Burlington, I rode the course before the race, noticed the bad corner with new paint, started the race doing exactly what Marc and others say, that is going with the front racers. I was with them for five laps, behind the "leader" in yellow, taking the left turn before the longish descent about ten miles faster than what I would have done by myself, thinking that if they could do it, I could... Kevin Moser, the leader after three stages, pedalled after the turn and planted his left pedal on the climb, fortunately there was enough of a gap between us for me to avoid him to his right, which was quite a relief because he was all over the place, having lost his balance, one foot in the air, going straight then right... yesterday a strong 40+ who raced there described that to me and another rider like something crazy, he owns or manages a bike store on McGuire street in Québec, I told him I was the rider behind, quite funny... so now I have to chase because there is a gap, I move up on the climb a little faster that the group ahead, but I'm not faster in the turns, I get closer on the climb on the next turn, get tired after the first turn after the long stretch, notice there is one guy on my wheel, I ask him to pass me on the right, he does, I am inside, start to turn and both wheels disappear under me and I hit those beautiful stones made for pedestrians with the left side of my back. Cannot move right away, cannot breathe, then I stand, the first racers are passing me on both sides, I wait for the paramedics, they both think I broke at least one rib, Harry takes me to the hospital where the x ray technician thinks I broke a rib, but after a while they tell me nothing is broken, which is quite a relief. After two days it still hurts like crazy when I move or sneeze, but it's just a matter of time.
I should have taken the turn with a good line before asking the other guy to pull. Soon after, the strongest rider went away and lapped everybody, so all the guys had the same time! If I could have climbed on my bike again after a free lap, I would have finished 14 on the GC, now I'm not even on it, but I know I had my best start ever in the GMSR crit!

Lesson from GMSR: if I want to keep racing in the fifty plus next year, I have to lose a few pounds while keeping my power, which is sufficient, and train harder. I'll start when I have recovered.

It was a pleasure to travel and do this race with Harry, I'm looking forward to racing with him next year in the fifty plus.

Stephane,

Very sorry to hear you took a spill; I bet if you went back you'd find a cracked cobble where you went down. He's probably moaning to his cobble-mates about that insanely strong guy that smashed him...

Get well soon,

J

This is ominous. If, when Stephane claims that he 'has no legs', he attacks off the front, putting the whole pack in strife, what will he do when he claims 'I think I broke a rib'??!!

Heal up fast Stephane!

Sorry to hear this Stephane. I know from experience how painful thise kinds of injuries are, Here's to a fast recovery.

Posted By: Marc Bertucco

It seems that the trend towards wider rims is having unintended consequences. One competitor's breaks were set up to work on his wider wheels, but when he had to take a neutral wheel, he had very little breaking power and ultimately climbed off for safety reasons.

so at the risk of sounding like a hardass blaming a dude for something he probably just didn't foresee - a properly set up brake should have enough barrel adjuster to go from wide to standard rims, and vice versa. cause i do it quite frequently.

GSMR racers..

I just caught up on the updates. Thanks for the great reading. Made me want to be there with you to race and cheer you on. Hope to head back up there next year.

@Stephane hope you've recovered quickly

What a great bunch of reports. Thanks Marc for the play-by-play and Stephane, so sorry to hear about how it went down. I was rooting for you, on the edge of the proverbial seat while reading your last report. Hope you're feeling 110% soon.

"Michelin's own testing has revealed the Michelin Pro 4 Service Course tyre is not only safer but is also an average of 16% faster when cornering on wet road surfaces."

"safer" would have been great while cornering on one of Burlington's brick-lined pedestrian blocks!

I'm not sure what they mean by "faster when cornering on wet road surfaces".

Anyone for the 2012 edition?

I would like to attend

adam,
weathertop mountain inn (b&b) great meals, reasonable accomodations, super cyclist friendly.

lisa&michael lang
755 mill brook rd (rt17), waitsfield, VT 05673

800-800-3625, www.weathertopmountaininn.com

stephaneG, marcB/sarahB&penny, &i stayed there last year, convenient to start of (2)of 4stages.

-harryB;>

harry edmund bolick
hbolick@gmail.com
+1 718 640 8680 m

sent from iPhone

Thanks Harry.

good move!;>

On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 12:03 PM, Adam <

I'm in. I'm "working" my gig as soigneur for the rag tag crew of cat 1 and 2's with whom I am staying. Free room and board and transportation.
ATMO this is one of the best races out there. Entries are lower than usual because if you haven't noticed this country is in the death throws of its little empire and people just don't have the cash.
That said I'm going only because I only have to fork over the $200 entry fee. But it is worth it.
If anyone would like to rent me some fast wheels for the ITT drop me a line.
kpsartless@verizon.net

Keith
646 250 3144

KEITH SNYDER IN THE MUTHAFUKKIN' HIZZY (forum)!  Sweetness.

Keith, you are welcome to borrow my 55mm Reynolds carbon tubulars.  I have yet to prove they are "fast", but they look neato.

faaaack its so expensive. i could take amtrack up for 100bucks roundtrip and stay in burlington for free but that'll come to still like 400 for the whole thing!

Not including the on-again-off-again Fitchburg, Green Mountain is the best stage race for amateurs we have. The Mad River Valley is gorgeous, real towns, real cities, real good places to eat, real swimming holes in the Mad River if it's warm enough. Nice solid ITT to start it off. Interesting circuit race with a serious stair-stepping climb and a big-ring descending sprint finish, RR that always finishes on the top of a 3 mile-ish climb on top of Vermonts highest paved road that is hard and epic, but not freak-show ridiculous like Devil's Kitchen.

And the crit, well, I can say without question, on of the most enteraining and difficult criterium courses you will ever do. It's bloody brilliant in Burlington. If you came to my crit workshops in the past 2 years, I designed "race to the first corner," little ring drill, with this race in mind.

How much do my wife and I love this race? Well, even though we have a new baby, am totally out of shape and in danger of not making time cuts, we're still considering going.

P.S. Yes, it's not a cheap weekend, but for us, this has always been a special treat/highlight of the season. We've stayed for I don't know 8 years in a row at the Weathertop, and loved every year. We always treat the race as a vacation, so the money's already budgeted for this race.

 

Green Mountaineers! Good Luck! Here's some quick tips that will help you succeed in the SR.

1. Time trial today. Starts with a significant climb of significant distance. Pay attention to your watts/HR/effort level. Way too easy to blow your self out with adrenaline having you push 450 watts or more. Do that and you won't have enough juice to propel yourself on the rollers and descending bits. You really want to be able to crank there. That's where you will make your time....not on the first climb. Every year I give this advice, and every year someone's report includes the comment, "I blew up on the first climb." Don't be that dude.

2. CR...the right turn leading into the feed zone section is significant. The climb is significant. Don't underestimate it. Also don't over-estimate it. There is a fast straight descent, plus plenty of open rolling highway roads for the strong to catch back. If you are going for sprint points...you'll want to be in good position with 2-3k to go. It's a wide open, fast final k that will make you wish you had an 11. The last k will go so fast that if you are 25 riders back, you have no hope of placing.

3. RR...I hope you have at least a 39x25. You'll need it. Breaks start to go on "Baby Gap" many miles before App Gap. It's a right turn off of a flat main road and is a hard long stair stepping climb that never really seems to end (rather it kind of drifts away). You are going to want to be with the leaders here, because the field after many flat miles together will start to split here. No place to really catch back on after baby gap before the final app gap climb. The group you are with on Baby Gap, is the group you will fight for the finish.

4. Crit...I'll post another with more specifics about being successful here, but make sure you get in a fierce warm-up. This technical circuit is unforgiven and I guarantee you lots and lots of riders will be dropped for good in the first 8 laps. Don't be that guy.

adam &co,
good luck...let us know how it goes!
-harry4;>

ps. ditto on mb's comments above re: stages, eat&slep well...&emember chocolate milk 4recovery!