So I have Dan and Ashley in my car to make the 4/5 race on Saturday. Anyone else?

I am looking for a ride to Monday's Somerville race.

135!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! field, pays 20 deep.

Had to bail on Killington trip.

Registered for Saturdays 4/5s, preparing the kracken

I can take 1 to Somerville. Liz will be with us and we'll bring Luka back.
Let me know who wants the spot.

Anyone else want Bound Brook (2 spots available)?

I"ll take a spot to Bound Brook and need a spot to Somerville.

Can someone coordinate who is going and who's car?

I think I have Whitey and Vlad on sunday and who called dibs on monday ? Vlad? Malcolmson?

Anyone on Saturday?

Mike are you driving?

@ Eric/Vlad. Vlad posted first—all yours Vlad.
Still looking for ride Monday then.

I was thinking I'd ride out to Friday night criterium... anyone else planning on racing?

Dan Hubbard and Jeff White are doing manville. Go crush it.

Can anyone racing the crits this weekend meet up.in prospect for some openers tomorrow evening?

I'm signed up for Saturday at Branch Brook. I can fit 3 people if needed. I'm coming back to BK right after the 4/5 race.

10 of us in the 4/5 at Branch Brook, poke over to that thread so we can talk specific strategery.

I can drive, I will try to organize some rides around lunchtime.

Rene wins field sprint via ragot leadout. Great team racing all around.

A crash took down some of our guys in the 4/5 race, everyone is ok. Mattie took 4th via conrad / andy leadout.

Edit: whitey started the leadout from the corner.

Oh that's just super!

Hills of Somerset RR report:

JP and I lined up with about 100 other racers for a rolling fast 80-mile RR through the Jersey Hills with more than a few real-deal pros. Knowing I was down on fitness, I had to race smart. Which means, get my ass near-ish the front and stay there. I was glad I did it too. Narrow, winding roads, blind sweeping turns that had a bad habit of sneaking up on me who was about 40 riders back. I was able to minimize the amount of "interval training" I had to do in this race.

The eyes and brain were on full crit mode though. Looking ahead, shooting gaps, anticipating bottle necks, shifting in advance of the rollers to keep it smooth. And for 90 minutes it worked like a charm. Guys were getting backed up in tight "crit" corners and having to break suddenly, then sprint forward on out of the saddle rollers. In one case on a stiffer/steeper roller that came out of a slow 90 degree right turn, I found myself losing position dangerously fast. I didn't panic though, and didn't try to beat my neighbor to the top. I would need that energy later, and could see the road tilted down again where I could catch my breath and the draft of the pack again.

All too soon though, a 2-3 minute stair-step climb stepped right up in my face and said, "beeyotch...what you got?" And it was game-on. I was drifting back, but soon I ran out of riders. I was OTB about 1/2 way up the climb. No trickery and racing smarts would have saved me there. The weakness in the legs was on full-display. After the caravan rolled past, with big mini-bus drivers asking if I wanted to climb off and ride in A/C comfort (no way dude, must keep riding), and getting lost multiple times, I finally made my way back to the start-finish.

JP had a more successful day, although he was disappointed to come detached at the day's main obstacle. A 6-7 minute beast of a climb that was steep as all get-out. I'll let him tell more about his race.

That sounds awesome Marc & JP. From what I hear, that race is the 1 reason I want to get the cat 2 upgrade.


Also - If anyone needs a ride to bound brook tomorrow I have an empty car. Let me know, email or call.

mperlberg@gmail.com

347-757-0888

Chest bumps to Ragot/White/Rene!
I'm still in the hunt for a ride to the three race at the Tour of Somerville.

Alternately, anyone interested in riding over GW to race?

4Th for RAGOT today.

Nice!

Chest Bumps for ALL!

PARKING FOR TOUR OF SOMERVILLE!

It can get confusing. My recommendation is to park in the Bank of America Parking Lot at northwest corner of north bridge street and West High Street in Somerville. You can find it on the map. It's on the edge of the race course and near registration, the finish, and entertainment.

It's also the parking lot I'll be shooting for.

John what time would you ride if you were cycling? I might go for a pootle tomorrow over the GW

Great work guys. Hopefully we can do us proud tomorrow here at Killington - the climbs on this last stage are really no joke.

Race report.

Got second into first turn, a compound right left turn. Stayed in top 5 or 10 for the whole race. Went into some moves but nothing happening. I could take the corners faster and smoother than almost anyone, so I could create gaps or close them easily.

With 4 to go Mike finally showed himself at the front and attacked. One Guy went with. Then after a lap Robert Mecca tried to get across. Then a six cycles Guy went. So I hit it hard and blew by the six Guy, then Mecca then got to Mike as he dropped the other Guy. Mike was gassed it seemed but I yelled at him "this is the race, find it." Or something like that. He got going. We got caught by two more good riders (Zeb Nellesson) one of them. We should have been able to stay away.

We got caught.

I slotted back into 5th or so.

Bell lap.

I am 5th wheel on the back stretch - long and fast. Two turns left. I can take them fast. I figure first out of them wins. I followed a big Guy that muscled his way in front of me and thus went into turn 5 in 4th place.

He let open a gap. I jumped around and went from turn 6 but the gap was too big. I got pipped by a Guy who hung on my wheel to the line as I drove it home.

I think that if I didn't make the move with Mike, winning was more of a probable outcome. It took a bit out of me I guess.

Bertucco watched it all and can comment too.

Tomorrow is time to win at Somerville.

We pre-drove the final climb of the stage tonight. Oh My Fucking God. That last 6 miles is no joke. Whoever wins that stage is going to be due some serious respect.

Bound Brook Pro 1-2 race. I wish I had a power meter running to impress you all with my hardman stats, because I'm sure they had to be insane. Why am I so sure?

Well, lets consider a few of the facts. The juniors raced 15 miles, Cat 3s raced 20, 35+ masters also 20 and our race was 40 miles. But the most telling sign of the day? And what you are about to read is not hyperbolic. It is true and it was real. The entire race, with the exception of accordion-bunching for the corners, was single file. On the long back stretch of sun-blazed road, this is what I saw. The underside of the dudes saddle, with about half his rear wheel. Tongue hanging out, hanging on for dear life lap after lap after lap.

Hardest race of the year for me. But awesome-ish, for me, all things considered (namely my outstanding FTP of 245 watts, LT of 260...don't be jealous, yo, you got race a long time to rock the power numbers like I do!). Around 95 riders lined up for one of the more technical crits of the year. Turns 1 and 2 are a quick right left that you could sail through if you were top 10, but everyone else had to hammer the breaks and do interval training.

More than the turns in and of themselves, it was what followed the turns that made this course so demanding. There were 7 turns separated by blazing hot, long wide stretches of road. So the hammer-heads at the front sail through the tricky turns, ramp up the power on the straights and everyone else is in pure misery.

Got a fair start, and did my best to pick my lines wisely. Keep the speed up, the breaking to a minimum and pedal as much as I could through the turns. And for 23 of 37 laps all was okay--Sarah reports I didn't have my cock-eyed crooked head-ugly racing face on either. But then guys in front of me started to pop, I was able to jump around a few of them, but I had been racing 1 hour at what I'm sure was VO2 max watts for me and I lost the packs wheel. Sad but true. Like yesterday, I could only fake my way around the course for so long.

Sarah reports that at the time the field was chasing a 15-rider breakaway especially hard around that time and lots of riders started blowing. Luke Keough of Team Mountain Khakis, done. Max Korus of Kenda 5 hour Energy, nada. Two team Somerville dudes, where like chill'n in the grass in lazy boy recliners by the time I was yanked off the course (11 laps to go), who knows how long they lasted. The end reminded me of a cyclocross race, I managed to hold my own for about 3 laps solo and for 2 of those laps, I was praying to the officials, "please yank me, please pull me from this goddamned corner of hell that I'm in." I could have quit, on my own, but 1) I don't do that and 2) maybe I would get a pro-rated finishing placing for making it close-ish to the end of the race with the bunch. I like to see my name in lights, what can I say.

Posted By: eragot
Bertucco watched it all and can comment too.

I think a lot can be learned from this race. We can talk about these things, and we can "workshop" them to death, but nothing is going to substitute for the real thing! And today's course was definitely the real thing. Hopefully, everyone has some good takeaways from the experience. Think about today critically. What did you do right? What could be improved upon? Many of you have a nice chance to give it another go tomorrow in downtown Somerville (course update, the homestretch has been repaved! woot woot!)

Back to today...

I'm really impressed with Ragot's riding this year. In years past, he's driven me kind of nuts for his affinity for the back of the pack, but this year he's right where he needs to be. Namely, AT THE FRONT.

Watching their race unfold, you could see it plain as day. The difference was not subtle. Ragot and the 10 or 15 at the front, riding high tempo. The back of the pack was a totally different picture. VO2 max. Tongues hanging low, guys struggling to close gaps.

I have to say, when I heard this, "we started the race at the back," it was kind of like a dagger to my crit-loving, workshop hosting, mentoring heart.

Tomorrow's race is not as technical as today's, but....PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE...

...don't start at the back of the pack!

Racing from the back A@

I race from both places... but the crit thing works better from the front

Posted By: eragot
I race from both places... but the crit thing works better from the front

correction, you ride at the back, you race at the front. :-)

Good luck tomorrow. I'll probably be warming up while you all are actually racing so I will shout at you now:

GO KISSENA!
MOVE UP!
WORK TOGETHER!
C'MON [INSERT NAME]!
YOU'VE GOT A GAP!

Saturdays winner scheming with the turtle.

Tour of Somerville and overall weekend recap.

Driving to Somerville, with my dog in the backseat and my wife in the passenger, bike still in the trunk from Bound Brook's torture-fest, I was tired but feeling good. Something so nice about the rhythm of race after race after race. So uncomplicated, so calming. Sure, I was tired, but getting to spend 3 days in a row with my wife and my dog, racing my bike? It's pretty much the dream for me. Us nurses have wackadoo schedules, and it's not that often where our days off coincide.

We get to the course and the search for parking begins. One quick u-turn, and a left turn into an "exit only" parking area, and we found ourselves a nice shady spot. This was after leaving our apartment where we scored a parking spot literally in front of our entrance yesterday. I don't know about you, but all this logistical good karma made me feel really good about what was to come.

Hooked up with JP during the Cat 3 race, for our usual out of town country road warm-up. JPs good to warm up with because he likes to crank it and has no problem dishing out the watts. At one point I dropped into his draft and came around for a little sprint effort. I barely came around him. Uh-oh. So much for good karma. No matter, good warm-up = good race. JP really wanted to get in a breakaway, and despite my skepticism, I agree. Of course with just the two of us, we'd need allies. Fortunately, Team AXA has a handful of good guys and I chased down the red-headed irish(?) guy before the race and told him our idea. He and his team were on board.

At the start, I wanted to practice what I preach. Not only did I need a smooth, quick start to ease myself into the race, rather than chasing from behind, but I thought maybe our stud cat 3 squad would be watching and wanted to be a good example. I look around for JP and I see him jawboning with some Axa dudes in the way-way back. JP consider this your tongue lashing. Obviously, you got to where you needed to be when you needed to be, but while I was cruising pretty comfortably the first 8 laps, I have a feeling you were working harder than you needed to.

Back stretch was a wicked head-wind, but when I had a clear shot at the front, I took my chance and launched up the right side. Two guys were off the front already. I kept the power on, but honestly, the field was on me quick. I don't think they were even breathing hard. Woops, well, I tried. If I had me some Perlberg/Vlad/Ragot legs it would have been devastating. Sigh. Next year.

With about 9 laps to go, I took another shot off the front. Also failed to create much ruckus. JP took his shots too. We briefly connected after I lost my water bottle and he gave me one of his, but other than that moment there were just too damn many people, bunching curb to curb to coordinate more than we did. The race was pretty fast, but it became a battle of "avoid the swarm" with 5 laps to go.

This is probably the hardest part of crit racing at an event like Somerville. Too short, too non-technical a course to truly thin the field out. And so, how do you place? It's hard, but with a few more watts to spare, this situation would have been much more manageable. As it was, I finished with the bunch, near the back I suspect.

And so at the end of the 3 days of fantastic racing with 2 DNFs and 1 pack finish, how is it that I can be happy with the weekend? Well, other than the awesome Penny and Sarah time, I got in some great high speed training that will serve as an excellent early summer building block as I eventually return to form.

And so as you consider your own weekend races, I encourage you to step back from the results sheet and look at all you "won" this weekend weather you placed or not. This is just the start of summer racing, there's more to come and to look forward to!