My plan this year was to see how the TT went and then target stages 2 and 4, with a potential of going for the green jersey—a competition I finished 3rd in last year. The fields were different this year, with one straight Cat 4 field and a new 4/5 field instead of an age-differentiated Cat 4. The straight 4s were twice the size this year, with over 100 riders starting.
Stage 1:
I drove up to Waitsfield early on Friday morning to give plenty of time to eat, stretch the legs, and warm up before the TT. I felt pretty good during the warmup, which I mostly did on Rt. 100 and also on Lincoln Gap Road—a similar gradient to the climb at the beginning of the TT. Not long before my start time, I was riding out 100 and figured it was time to turn around and head for the line. The seconds ticked by quickly and I soon realized that I was going to be arriving much closer to my start time than anticipated. I cranked the speed up into the high 20s and screamed into the starting area 5 seconds after my start time (there was a 1.5 minute differential between the actual time of day and the start clock, which I should have known, but didn’t). They held me until the next 30-second guy went and then let me go after him.
Discouraged and heart-pounding, I kept myself from blowing up on the climb and then motored through the rolling finish. I consciously backed off the gas, knowing that I wouldn’t get the time back and that it wouldn’t make that much of a difference in the end. This year’s time: 17:52 (with about 35 seconds of ‘penalty time’). Last year’s time on the same course: 16:10. That time would have put me in 3rd this year. Not the best start…
Stage 2:
Having completely blown it in the TT, I decided to target green jersey points and a good finish today. Felt great and knew this was my kind of course. One relatively low grade climb and lots of rolling terrain usually make this race end in a bunch sprint. I contested the intermediate sprints, but mis-timed them and was just out of the points (there was a headwind on the finishing straight and the final 500 meters took forever). Before the second sprint, Julian did a great job of pulling a break back. I should have let him and others do the work, but I also helped reel them in, then found my legs feeling like jelly for the sprint. On the final lap, a rider near the front caused a massive crash on the climb. A group of about 20 riders were in front of it, but the rest of us had to stop and then chase. I worked with a highly unorganized group of 15 riders over the next 8 miles or so to catch back onto the leaders with about 3 miles left in the race. There was a lot of maneuvering for the sprint with 1K to go and I pulled around a few people to finish in 15th place with the same time. Half of the riders lost at least a minute that day, unfortunately including both Julian and Steven.
Stage 3:
Always a fun and epic day, the GMSR road race did not disappoint this year. I was still holding out some hope of green jersey points, so I contested the intermediate sprint at 14 miles. The peloton was so large that it was difficult to move forward, so I spent a few miles moving my way from mid-pack to the top 10. A few teams had well-organized leadouts and I was too tired from the effort to move forward to effectively contest the sprint. Not long before the Brandon Gap climb at ~25 miles, Julian headed off the front, presumably to try and bridge to a small group that had separated earlier (later, I learned that Julian did not know about the break!). The climb wasn’t terribly hard, but it was pretty long and hurt the whole peloton. I crested in the middle of the pack and then bombed down the descent like a 185-lb rider should.
The headwind was significant during our trudge North and we soon caught the break, not long before being neutralized as the juniors cruised by and we enjoyed the best pee break of all time at about mile 60. There is one wall before the dirt road section that must be 20% grade where they added a KOM this year. I was very glad to have last-minute purchased a 12-27 cassette the day before and I cruised past many riders swerving back-and-forth across the road to minimize the grade.
My goal at this point was to stick with the leaders over Baby Gap and through the beginning of App Gap. Despite screaming legs, I succeeded in staying with them until 3K to go, at which point I shifted into the 27 and took my time. I caught and passed a bunch of riders that had cracked from the front group and finished with a little sprint to beat one other rider before the finish. It was by far the best I’ve felt going up that beast of a climb and I think having a 27 made a big difference.
Stage 4:
I had visions of grandeur for this year’s crit, given my success in staying off the front last year. Julian was very kind to lend me his trainer as I had forgotten to bring mine. The warmup felt good and I made sure to line up early. 100 riders vying for position at the beginning was sure to be pandemonium. A few laps in, I was still connected to the leaders via a very strung-out line when I hit a pothole and my shifting went screwy. I slipped off the wheel in front and cut the course to have the SRAM guys take a look. They handed me a new wheel, but I was sent back with a chase group of 4 riders. There were over 30 laps to go still and I figured we had a chance to catch back on if we worked well together. The 5 of us pacelined for a bunch of laps until I noticed the rest of them slowing down and decided to launch forward in hopes of catching back on. I rode for a number of laps solo and got within 5 seconds of the lead group until a prime was called and they took off. I slowed and let the four guys catch back up. We continued to work together until the finish when I had good sprint and beat the rest of them out for 19th place. Only 24 riders finished the whole crit without being pulled out of 95 starters.
Lots of fun once again. I’m pretty sure it’s time to upgrade to Cat 3.
|
Contact BRC
with 
