The big news is that Wojciech takes 4th in the 3 race by attacking the first chase group in the final K. So impressive.

In the 4 race Norm, Jules, and I all stayed around 15-17

I got over Devil's Kitchen in the top ten, which I was quite happy about, but I started fighting some cramps in the final miles after it and got dropped from my 3 man chase group. I expect all three of us should be in the top 10 GC tomorrow and we'll be looking very good in the team competition.

Our team was so great today taking care of Norm, Jules and me. Whitey, Owens, Stephane, Adam, Patrick, and John M were all on the front attacking and forcing chases from key riders. Sorry if I'm forgetting anyone. Multiple teammates checked in on me to see if I wanted to be moved up, if I needed food or water, reminding me to eat and drink. They delivered us to Devil's kitchen exactly as we planned. I wish I could've delivered a little better result for all the work but i just didn't quite have it. hopefully though we can stick three Kissena's in the top ten GC after tomorrow.

Excellent work guys. Keep it up and I'm sure we all look forward to some detailed race reports after the finale.

It is raining

Out o town...but not out o mind. All the vertically challenged flat landers, such as myself, salute you all !
yacks

CORRECTION

Wojciech got 10th. He didn't realize there was another group of six up the road. Still a kick ass result.

We're 13 seconds ahead of Tarmac in the team competition. And over 11 minutes ahead of Hudson in third.

Results are here http://fastalracing.com/ToCResults11Stage2.pdf

Gotta say how awesome the team has been; today was epic - exactly as Ryan says, there was a full-on posse keeping us in position at the front and I was delivered to the foot of the Kitchen by a Big, Orange Bus. Murderously hard (again) hill; very difficult to climb hard and yet within yourself (I found). Some monster (for me) power numbers and for an old guy pegging my HR at 180 for 25 minutes is no joke.

Saw both Ryan and Norm power by pretty early on; regrouped with a few guys over the top and we pace lined it to the finish, picking up Norm on the way.

Was definitely hoping to go better but they guys who rode away were strong as nails. Looks like I finished 2:28 back from the lead guys. Time to rest up & ride smart tomorrow. We're ahead of Tarmac on team GC by just a few seconds.

Oh, and Woj is a Stud. Fourth, Tenth... In that field is hard a <bleep> to do. Chapeau!

Hey cat 4s. GO FOR IT tomorrow! think podium spot, not top 10 or team classification - nobody will remember that. With three guys and all the other strong men, attack early and often.

Easy for me to say not being out there with you, but I really think no reason to race conservatively .

Mike

Waiting on tenterhooks for the results...

:shocked:

http://fastalracing.com/ToCResults11Stage3.pdf

Team GC!

The team rode like Animals today.

Race report tomorrow.

Whoever said nice guys finish last was talkig out his ass! A team GC at an out of town stage race...SA-WEEEETTT!

Three-letter ToC race report: DNF.

Slightly longer addendum: Worked hard a lot in the wind. My legs hurt.

My favorite comment from the race communique:

"Rider #209 is disqualified for using an audio playback device during the event, second offense, and for littering."

Another rider succumbs to the effervescent vocal stylings of Justin Beiber.

Just home from ToC. My first stage race was lots of fun. And, although my body held-up better than I expected, I really just peg'd a decent TT on Friday and Basso'd my top-10 position over Stage 2 and 3 by racing as hard and smart as I could. Well, Saturday wasn't so smart, as position was a battle and totally my fault for getting stuffed at the back of the pack for too long, but I managed to move-up half-way into the race and, if not for a small mechanical, I would have been reasonably well-positioned at the base of DKC. But, I climbed Devil's Kitchen fairly quick, so not too much time lost in the GC. Positioning was much better today... thanks especially to Jules, Patrick, as well as from Ryan's brother Kyle. Even positioning doesn't help if you can't hang with the lead tempo. And I couldn't hang with it. Jules and I worked with another fellow and then another and another to reattach to the chase group that Ryan was in at that point.

With 12 or 15 in that group staying together through some small rollers and some descending for good while, the 2nd KOM climb loomed and broke it apart with Ryan doing well to separate from everyone, except maybe one other rider. Ryan was looking fresh on that climb, a sign of things to come. I was not too far back and chased another guy who eventually caught on to Ryan and the guy with him. I struggled like a badly gored hound to catch-on and finally did. I was thinking 2 Kissenas in a 4-man chase group was a good thing, but then I realized that I was just a carcass of a rider hanging on the back. There were a few rotations with Setanta guy being captain-like making a plan and asking all of us to agree. There was a little more rotating, then Ryan started to kick.

The kick became a flight and it was damn fun to watch. I sat back while the chasers pondered Ryan's departure. Setanta guy made another plan. I said nothing, but when they started rotation hard, I announced that I had no intention of chasing my teammate, they said that was proper and did not fuss. I was a little worried that Tarmac riders would approach from the rear, but looking back revealed a vast uninhabited roadway, so I didn't worry about that too much just keeping occasional checks in the rear-view.

So, Ryan was still making his way and edging out-of-view. I began to worry that the strong TT guy in the chase was going to pull Ryan back --when this guy noticed I wasn't coming around and the other guys weren't coming around-- he said "I'll take a longer pull, I feel good" --he then started hammering pretty hard. But that was too late to cut very much into Ryan's gap. I kept looking ahead and barely catching glimpses of Ryan's signature out-of-the saddle sway. It was a massively long and strong attack... staying out front miles and miles, like 10 miles. Ramping-up onto the run to the finish, Setanta guy accelerated away from the other chasers and I was on his wheel... I saw Ryan right at the finish line, so I tried to accelerate around Setanta, but both legs went into full cramp, kept pedaling, made a shifting error, and looked like total dork going 9mph over the line.

And I got 9th on the stage, 8th in the GC.

Ryan will report his report. I'll just say he was a very spirited racer and I hope to get some of that kind of attacking in my racing in the near future.

Watching all the flurries of Kissena attacks yesterday and today was really magnificent. Today was especially excellent as the early Tarmac moves were eventually Tar-smacked as Kissena romped the team competition.

The climbs were horrible. The descents were really fun.

There are lots of things to tell, but it's all a bit of a blur.

Sorry this report is so long.

-Norm

Congrats on the team win. Your time was best of all the cat 4 teams competing. Very impressive. Although having ridden with most of you this past year, it doesn't surprise me either. Wicked strong, you are (Yoda meets Will Hunting)...

Way to go, fellas. Been watching for the results online every afternoon - major, major props for a phenomenal result at a tough-ass race!!

Cycled to work this morning. 1.8 miles, no 24% gradients.


Jeff W- your mini report is too harsh on yourself. You/John/Stephane split the pack BEFORE the first climb. Instead of DNF your result should say 'DTP' (decimated the peloton). Definitely worthy of upgrade points.

Well, this got long but its a story that must be told because I doubt the guys that rode in support of our “protected riders” this weekend (me, Norm, Jules) will publicly claim the credit they deserve.

To start, I want to echo something Yacks said in the Park race thred:

" I think this speaks to the nature of this club. There is a great deal of selfless enthusiasm on this team... " This phenomenon was never easier to see than in the Catskills this weekend.

Early in Stage 3 Tarmac and Foundation sent guys up the road. One of the Tarmac guys was GC 11th. It was an early move that no one felt worth any attention. But it felt wrong to me. Warren St. John from Teany said "leave it, we want the other GC guys to chase." But it wasn't happening. The GC guys were all sitting in comfortably and Tarmac and Foundation were at the front just pleased as punch to be soft pedaling. I know from racing Tarmac that they have multiple beasts on their squad. And the gap opened up quick – I mean these guys were gone.

Now, I entered stage 3 with a bit of a chip on my shoulder. I’ve done well in this race in the past, I worked my ass off for it this year, and I hadn't done all that well on the first two stages. With hopes of any notable GC placing gone, my only priority was to race like a motherfucker on Stage 3. I knew I didn’t have the legs to beat some of these guys, but I was willing to take the fight to them and go down swinging. So, in that mood it was hard to stomach watching a race develop where our rivals got to dictate a nice easy pace and send a guy up the GC while everybody else just took it easy. I ran this by Jules and he agreed.

I kept hearing from Kissena riders - “just tell us what you want.” “Is it time to go?” I can’t tell you how awesome it is to see teammates who are in their own right stronger than 70% of the field chomping at the bit to bury themselves to shut down a threat in mile 5 with a huge day looming in front of them.

I gave the word and Jeff O, John M, Jeff W, and Stephane went to the front and the pace just rocketed. Guys were like “what the hell is happening?” For the next ten minutes Kissena absolutely drilled it and cut the lion’s share of the break’s huge gap. The breakaway riders then got picked off one by one after the climbs started. I know that this chase was a big part of the reason some of our guys didn’t get over the climbs very well, and some didn’t finish. But I figured out later that sending the guys up the road was part of Tarmac’s plan to snatch the team GC, and making the race that hard early not only helped us win that, but it paid off for me and Norm later on.

The race shattered immediately on the first KOM, a long killer of a climb undulating between 5 and 12 percent for about half an hour. I got popped from the lead group of 7 near the top. I waited a little for the chase group behind me, and it gradually assembled as Norm described.

On the second KOM climb I went to the front with the intention of setting a pace that would shed of few of the cracked riders in our group, and I sort of accidentally found myself all alone. One guy bridged and I saw Norm trying to bridge with another guy so I told the other guy to wait and we did.

The look on Norm’s face made it clear that he was digging DEEP. I think his successful bridge attempt was really just a willingness to suffer more than the guys he left behind. It was awesome having him there.

The rest of it played out largely as Norm described in his report. I looked at the group I was in, guessed that they would out-sprint me but couldn’t climb with me, and I said screw it. I’m going. For the next ten miles I rode harder than I have ever ridden in my life. I stayed in the drops, sprinted over the tops of the rollers, and just suffered. I blew by Harry Zernike from Teany, who had been popped from the lead group. Thinking now that I had a chance to take 6th on the stage and maybe ride myself back into the top 10 GC, I never let up.

I have never experienced the physical feeling I had at the finish. I curled up into the fetal position just gasping for breath. I felt like I was on another planet. Norm finished about 25 seconds behind me and collapsed over his bike next to me in basically the same state. Jules came in a little after that and did the same.

In the end I wish I could have delivered better results for all the work everyone did for us. But I have no problem admitting that I’m just not as strong as those guys on the podium. Team GC and a couple of top tens may be less than we had hoped for, but the way we got there was awesome, and I wouldn’t trade it for any amount of greater Cat 4 glory.

Amen! From a guy who just joined, I am in total awe of you guys - a team full of seriously strong men willing to be selfless during the race and full of good humor when the pain is done. Adam came across the finish line either about to barf of laughing at the absurdity of the pain we'd all just suffered. Perhaps both.

To echo Ryan's post; when Ryan told me to relay the word to the guys to chase, I think Malcomson got to the front to start working *before* I'd made it up to 5th wheel. The guys were like coiled springs waiting to unleash the orange haze of pain. The peloton literally groaned as it stretched out into a thin line with our guys on the front. It was awesome. Can't wait to get done with a day at work and write my full report.

When are the celebratory drinks?

@Adam: I was very, very tired last night when I posted my three-letter report, and so I left a lot out.

Yeah, as Ryan said, on stage three we let a break get out there right after the pace car ended the neutral roll-out. I was right behind Patrick when he blasted up to try to chase into it, so I figured this was a great opportunity for Kissena to take a backseat in the peleton. All of a sudden, the pace started to get really painful and so I drifted out of line to see who was up front and it was Jeff O. So I rode up to him and told him we have a Kissena up in the break. So he pulled off. Stephane did the same thing and we pulled him off.

Oops. I think that was kind of my bad.

So after some intelligence gathering in the front of the pack, we came to the realization that there were TWO Tarmacs in the break. Not good. And what's more, Patrick was in no-man's land between the break and the peleton, and the break was WAAAY up the road, seemingly all of a sudden. After Jeff O. (and I think John too?) went back and consulted with Ryan, they came back to the front with instructions to bring it back.

So the three of us, plus Peter Bysshe (nice guy!) from Bicycle Depot fucking drilled it all the way to the descent. And then we fucking drilled it on the descent. That was a long, steep, FAST descent and we were basically hammering all the way down it, in a kind of loose rotation, only tucking in for the steepest parts. The break was out of sight. So we get to the bottom and we turn left onto a country road with lots of rollers. One after the other. More rolls than a bakery, and I suspect the Devil made them in his Kitchen. And so we fucking drilled it some more. John, Jeff O., and I were starting to get pretty tired on all those little climbs and that's when Stephane came up and began to take pulls. Goddamn that hurt. We had to tell him to smooth it out a little because we (at least I) was having trouble keeping his wheel and we (at least I) was worried I'd caca, mixing with the DZ Nuts to form some kind of napalm latte in my chamois. This went on without any help from any other team (Bysshe was only helping on the descent, probably just to keep himself safe at the front) for what seemed to my sore legs to be a very long time. And finally, a couple miles before the KOM hill began, some of the other stronger riders took over, and I finally gave up the ghost just as the KOM hill started.

Now, I went into that stage really sore from the previous day's suffering, which involved a 10-minute, 3-man break (through more rollers), culminating in horrid full-leg cramps BEFORE the Devil's Kitchen climb. So I knew it was going to be a bad day for me no matter what. And so about halfway through our chase for the breakaway, I knew the jig was going to be up as soon as we hit the KOM climb, and so I just resolved that I'd give it all up at the front and pull off at the feed zone, which, mercilessly, was LONG after the KOM came and went.

And so I can honestly say, I'm more satisfied having DNF'd and DTP'd rather than sitting in and finishing 44th.

Inspiring job by all of you guys.

Great work all around. We may not always be the best in a rave but we are by far the best TEAM around. All for one...
I say that we GET racing for what it is. We know we'renot prison, but we enjoy it all the same.

postscript: thank you Ryan --for organizing the team cottage, food, etc., in addition to keeping a leaderly eye on the race plans both on and off the road. Well done.

Also Patrick, thanks so much for piloting a few of us up in the shuttle craft.

And then there's Stéphane "I would like to touch the nostrils" Geist... thank you for being Stéphane.

Oh and Patrick was on the food supply beat as well... thanks!

Firstly a big Thanks to Ryan for organizing a house for all of us, cooking and making it an awesome weekend. Everything worked out just fine

As for Joes and my Cat 3 race...

It was hard. In the time trial we were both without aerobars, Joe finished just over 28min while I did 28.20. I went too hard in the beginning... then I pushed it even harder towards the middle, and finished off as hard as I possibly could at the end. This will be the first race that I'm giving a "perceived effort" of 10/10. I crossed the finish line, fell on the grass, couldn't control my breathing for a good 3 minutes and kept tasting my lunch in my mouth. Not good! All that gave me 49th place

For day 2 my goal was to not have to walk devils kitch. I rode the first 20 miles near the back of the group and it felt rather fast, moved up during the feed zone and everything seemed to magically slow down... Silly mistake on my part riding in the back. Joe was in a break for about 25 miles at this point, he will have to tell us what that was like. At devils everything fell apart, I blocked everything out of my mind and just counted 1-2 to keep the pedals turning. Got over and into a group of 10 guys. We caught 4 that were up the road and saw that there were 3 more ahead of us but no one was eager to chase them as it was 4k to go. With about 1.5k to go I attack out of a corner, extend my gap on the little uphill and finish strong with about a 10 second gap. I though I got 4th but turns out there were 6 guys up the road! Bummer. Joe had problems with shifting going up devils.. he later punished himself by doing it twice. I moved up to 20th overall and our plan for stage 3 was to get me into the top 10.

Day 3 comes around and I felt better then the past two days. 4 guys went off early (all great TT'ists) and soon they had a gap of 45 seconds. I saw a westwood guy move up on the right side and roll off the front, so I did the same on the left and we started working together. We had 2 other guys that tagged along, BH & a college guy (forgot what school) They weren't working so I asked them to twice and they replied with a stiff "NO". I got angry and started attacking them, loosing the only other guy who was working but keeping the two of 'em. After 5 or 6 attacks I gave up and we rolled down the long decent together getting caught near the bottom. When the first KOM climb came about I struggled a lot. Joe looked great and I eventually made it up to his group. I thought there would be at least 20 guys ahead of us but it turned out to only be 10 looking at the results. About 3k from the second KOM I got a flat...

*Joe got off his bike and was telling me to take it..* Pro as shit. Thanks again for that man

The wheel van was right behind us so I just got a wheel; bummer it had only a 25t cassette that wasn't shifting perfectly therefore not letting me stay in the 25t ring. Joe got me back to our field after waiting for me and we rode for another few k's together. When the second long climb came (the one you could see all the way to the top) I gave up physically and mentally and knew I wasn't going to be able to crank that out on a 23. I told Joe to go and he rode on while I had a *nice* walk. The groups of fallen riders came behind and I tried sticking with them, however at that point I couldn't pedal anymore. Kept getting passed and finished 19 minutes behind. I fell back to 40 something overall, but took Joe's time on the final stage and added it to my previous Stage 1 & 2 times and it turns out I would have only moved up to 18th if I somehow made it to the finish with them. I'm glad I didn't destroy myself for 2 positions

If I decide to do this race next year it will be with a 32t touring cassette. Our yellow Jersey had it as did a few others. No shame in that.

I'm glad all the climbing is done and over with, it will be a while before I go on anything above 5%

Congrats to all the 4's who did excellent in the team competition and in their placings

This is all so awesome. Well done to the 4's - Ryan, for kicking so much tail and Norm (can we call Norm our Jens Voigt or does someone else already have that honor?) for reaching into the valise of courage again and again. Props. And high 5's to all the 4's (see what did there?) for being a superteam.

In the 3's, Woj and Joe - awesome efforts.

So Aero...

That is the least Jeff-Owens picture of Jeff Owens I've ever seen. Leroy would bark.

Love the pain face...