Tour of High Bridge

3 comments · 20 views

Aug 01, 2011 at 10:40 AM

I know we have some series competitions to sew up at Prospect. Let's make sure there's a crew for that.

All the same, for those who can't go to Catskills, are tired of Prospect, and want a good, hard, circuit race, check out the Tour of High Bridge in NJ.

http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=13894

The circuit is about hte size of the Prospect Park loop. But it's brutal. You start by going uphill, nice steep incline, 400 meters maybe, then make a right turn onto a flat for about that long, then a left onto a slightly less steep hill. maybe another 400 meters. At the top of that you turn right onto a narrow road and you start some rolling terrain. That takes you into another hill. When you get over that, the road shoots down, good for 45+ mph, then a narrow right. And just about flat or downhill to the finish. Complete road closure. You get pulled if you're out of contention.

I put a 27 on for the race and glad I did.

While there is a train stop in town, I don't know if trains run there on the weekends.

Marc Bertucco

Aug 01, 2011 at 10:51 AM

This race is seriously hard. Last year, it rained in epic proportions. We had 3 Kissena's at the start, and I think Tad (no longer with Kissena, but he's an eastern European sledge hammer of a rider) was the only one to finish...or he was the last of us to DNF, can't remember exactly.

mugwump

Sep 10, 2012 at 02:42 AM

3.63 mile lap, climb 326' as a contrast, a lap of prospect is 124'. and most of the rising happens in the first 1.3 miles. Super-nice thing about the course:Complete road closure. And so long as you ride until you're pulled, you're given a finishing place.

If you're looking for a hard road race, this is plenty hard, and it's alot closer than upstate New York. Yes, it's short, but you'll be so blown, you probably won't care.

Basically, you start, and are beginning the first of three hills. The first one ramps up pretty steep. I use a 38x27 by the top. 100' of elevation gain in the first .33 mile. Two years ago, a friend of mine slid out his rear wheel climbing out of the saddle in the rain on a 39x25. Then you turn right and go on a flat for a little over .2 mile, turn left, hit another hill you need a 39x23-25 on anther 47' in less than .2mi, then at the top, another right onto a rough one-lane road. Time for the big ring. When I first did the race, it was dirt, not pavement, but now it's lots of patch and potholes. At the end of the one-lane section, you start descending and roll into your last hill. It's more of a 38x21-23 kind of hill another 60' in .25mile. At the top, you put in in the big ring again and rocket down a narrow road with a blind left turn. quicking going over 40mph. After the turn, swing left to take the long corner at full speed, like 30mph, trying to carry as much speed as possible, because it's the most thrilling spot in the course. Then for the next 1.5miles you're basically going slowly downhill and the lap starts again.

A few years back, I was over my threshold (normalized) for the first 45 minutes, and was still above by threshold when I got dropped.

This year, I had it planned. I was going to get there early enough to get in a 45-60 minute warmup. Estimated the times by looking at what was on the race plan. Mine was the last. Spoke to the promoter morning of, he told me 3:45pm start. All set.

I get there, held for a lap or two at an entrance to the course, then go to the parking lot. A friend tells me 15-minutes to start! Get dressed quickly, no time to pump tires, ride to start, get number. Two friends pin it on my skinsuit, I roll for five minutes. Race starts at 3pm.

My second minute of the race was my hardest. My only hope was that they'd go easy-ish the first set of hills, so I could ease into the course. No luck. And with a smallish field of 35 riders or so, not alot of room to hide. I'm off the back on the rough road section. But I get with a few other riders. The guy in front of me climbs decently up the third hill, but basically sits up for the descent. I couldn't believe it. So I raced by him, went downhill and around the turns as fast as I could manage, and the slow descender and another guy catch me a bit after exiting that turn. The slow descender sits up the moment it's his turn to take a pull. We have to go around him. He tried to do this to us a third time. By the end of the lap we're within three seconds of catching on, but miss. The slow guy jumps past us on the hill, but doesn't quite catch on. Nice!

The rest of the race is just try to find a rhythm. I eventually get lapped on the flat. The leaders looked slow. Guess the hills take it out of them, too. Then I'm pulled, and I ride another lap with a friend. Turned out I was 21st.

I like this race. But I'm only going back if the promoter keeps his word on start times.

Marc Bertucco

Sep 14, 2012 at 01:04 PM

Just saw this thread...sorry to hear about the start time snafu. From an organizational point of view, not the best race experience in the world for me either. As I was attempting to exit the parking lot, the cops kept us from crossing the course until the entire race was over. That's right, the ENTIRE race. Not wait until the field passes and move in between long laps...

I notice the trick the Jersey Race promoters like to use with their start times is to give us the start of the first race and say the next race will follow immediately, or 10 minutes after. Seems a bit lazy to do it that way. Plan a complete schedule and do your best to stick to it.

This is definitely a race where you need a solid warm-up for sure. From a lactic acid point of view, I don't know if there's another race where you go from zero to "11" so fast and have to hold it for so long. Some of the crits I've done this year, but there you can survive on leg speed for a bit longer, whereas this course is pure power output.

I think if they paved the small road winding/rolling stretch, this would change the race dynamic and allow more folks to hang on for longer. As it is now, that road is so rough that you don't really get any recovery until late in the lap.