Yarmouth Clam Festival

This was the 29th annual bike race at the Yarmouth Clam Festival (although the Clam Festival started 44 years ago based on the banner above). By my rough calculation, that means the first race was held in 1981. A lot has changed in bike racing since then. The sound at the start of a race is dominated by the clunk of cleats locking into pedals instead of the sound of riders muttering and cursing as they reach down to tighten toe straps. Entry fees have tripled but prize lists haven't. The USCF is now USA Cycling. Bikes are made of crabon fiber, not many are made of steel anymore. And pre-registration is more often done by computer now than by envelope. Fortunately, in this crazy world where constant change is the one thing you can rely on, the Yarmouth Clam Festival Bike Race has hardly changed at all. It is still a barn burner of a race and it's still supported by the locals like no other race around.

This year's event started on a somber note with a memorial lap for a member of the local cycling community, Carrie Girod. She was killed by a motor vehicle while cycling on vacation in Seattle just a week before the race. She had been a member of the Portland Velo Club, the host club of the race, and a friend of many of those in attendance. I don't know more details of the accident beyond that, but it should serve as reminder of the dangers cyclists encounter each time we ride on the roads with the big steel boxes. Soap box time: If I were king, I would make it illegal to send or read text messages while driving. It's probably to late to keep people from talking on the phone while driving, that's just too ingrained in people now to stop, but maybe it isn't too late to put an end to the unnecessary and extremely selfish act of typing while driving. And I would also make it illegal to where headphones/earbuds while cycling. That is just dumb too. Anyway, back to the race -

After one complete 3.6-mile memorial lap around Yarmouth, the racing began for both the men's and the women's fields. The men's field (Pro 1,2,3) was nearly full at close to 100 riders while the women's field was considerably smaller at about 25. But the race promoter still pays the women's prize list 10 deep and $750, just like the men's race. Last year's men's winner,Justin Spinelli was not present to defend, but Rebecca Wellons (NEBC) returned to try to make it back to back wins.

Once the racing was underway, there were primes every lap for both races thanks to the incredible support that the local residents and businesses have for this race. The crowds were 3 and 4 people deep through the center of town on both sides of the road and plenty of those people donated for primes. There was never less than $40 on a lap for each race and typically well over $100.

Dick Ring, "The Voice of New England Bike Racing" , was in the crowd but it didn't take much coaxing to get him to grab a microphone and join me on the stage. He hasn't lost a step even though he doesn't see as much of the racers as he did before his "retirement" from race announcing a few years ago. It was a great privilege for me to once again trade stories and banter with the master as the race progressed. The unfortunate thing is that I barely got to pay attention to the race while I was trying to keep up with him.

I remember that every lap was won by a solo break or a small group off the front but that the attacks didn't seem to last very long until Peter Bradshaw (Embrocation Cycling) took off in the men's race around half way through the ten lap race and Rebecca Wellons did the same in the women's race. Peter got some company soon after but Rebecca did not. She went on to bag the primes for several laps earning a couple hundred extra dollars and then soloed in for the win a minute ahead of the rest of the field. Her victory salute included a letter C for Carrie with her right hand. Maybe she could teach young Mr. Cavendish a thing or two about appropriate and respectful victory salutes. Anna McLoon (Alturum Cycling) was second and Danielle Ruane (Sunapee) was third more than half a minute in front of the rest of the field which sprinted down the finishing strait to claim the rest of the prize money.

In the men's race, Bradshaw, who was the world champion bike messenger a few years ago, got some company when Damien Colfer, Ryan Fleming (Met Life), Morgan MacLeod (Bowdoin College), and Dan Vallaincourt (Colavita) pulled up alongside. They rode together as temporary team mates and established a solid but not insurmountable lead by working well together. Vallaincourt was on the front more often than not when they came through the start/finish area and was awarded most of the primes.

Bradshaw was the only one with much support behind in the field so blocking was not as much of a factor as it might have been. Instead, it was the power of the only full professional in the break, Vallaincourt, that drove the train and kept the break away. On the final lap, Bradshaw attacked the group and dropped most of them. But Vallaincourt caught back on and passed Bradshaw just before the finish line to take first prize by half a bike length (see picture below). Colfer crossed just seconds later followed by Fleming. The field charged down the final hill at well over 40 mph after already swarming MacLeod (who would finish 27th). Adam Myerson (Mountain Khakis) would taked the field sprint for 6th. Of note, Luke Keough (CLNoonan), winner of the previous day's race at Claremont (see previous post) would wind up his sprint on junior gears (45x12) and finish 9th. The downhill sprint and restricted gears put him at a big disadvantage, but he still pulled off a result in the money. Just wait until next year when the training wheels come off.

After the race, the top three women showed up promptly for the podium which is a big deal in Yarmouth because there actually are spectators who care there, but Bradshaw and Colfer apparently decided to take a warm down lap after the men's race and missed the whole thing. Vallaincourt is a pro on and off the bike and knew where to be and when to be there. For a short time the officials considered DQ'ing Bradshaw and Colfer for their transgression. Based on the picture of Bradshaw with a wad of cash at the Embrocation Cycling blog, I guess they didn't follow through on the threat. It sure does suck to be the announcer at a big race and have to plead over the PA for the podium to show up, but I wouldn't want to see them DQed after a great race either.

In addition to the prize list and primes, the winners also received an original painting from Joe Cousins, a local artist and one of the coordinators of the Clam Festival art show. Rebecca is going to need a bigger home if she wins another one. I am not sure, but I think it was Dan's first win at Yarmouth despite being from just down the road in Saco.

Here's a picture with Kristen Fortini (aka Mills), me, Dick Ring, and Joe Cousins at the finish line:

Thanks to Rose for snapping the pictures. After the race and some fried clams, Rose and I did a little sea kayaking nearby and had a great trip. I can't wait to go back next year for the racing and more fried clams.

You can find more pictures of the event at http://pa.photoshelter.com/gallery/Yarmouth-Clam-Festival-Pro-Cycling-Race-2009/G0000O0eaDw2jDNM/?_bqO=25&ppg=25&_bqH=eJxL9w02d0x0d3dKcQz29I0qzSj1KrPMNMjIiDewMjG1MjK1snKP93SxdTcAAn.D1ESXcqMsFz9ftQCQqJq7Z7y7o4.Pa1AkNkUACo4a9Q--

8th Annual Claremont Criterium, July 18th, 2009

The 8th annual Claremont Criterium saw racing on the same downtown course as previous editions, but with a new finish line. The organizers decided to move the finish away from the park and put it right in the thick of the downtown businesses. Fortunately, many of those businesses donated cash and gift certificates for primes making this “the prime heavy criterium” as the promoter, Kevin Ondre, has dubbed the race. And he is right, I don’t recall giving out so many cash, merchandise, and gift certificate primes in a race in seven years of announcing as I did at this one. I was either ringing the prime bell or making sure that the prime sponsors got some publicity for their donations on every lap and since the course is only 0.45 miles long and lap times were often under a minute, the action kept coming fast. I had little time for journalistic note keeping for the blog, but here is what I've got:

Kids Races
We started the afternoon schedule with two heats of 300 yard sprints for the kids under 10 years of age. It was a great way to start the day and all the kids seemed to have a good time. Hopefully we will see some of them in junior races in the future when their training wheels come off.

Junior 10-14
Peter Vollers Jr. (Vollers Law/Start House) won two cash primes and then beat Owen McCullom in a two up sprint at the finish. McCullom (Team Placid Planet) is about a foot taller than PVJ and a year older but PVJ barely held him off.

Juniors 15-18
Joshua Leaman (Noreast) broke away solo about half way through the 30 minute race and looked good to go for the solo finish. But John Herrick and Chris McKenna (Woodstock Bicycle) put on the chase and got him with 4 laps to go. Somewhere out of site on the last lap, Leamann attacked the two and took the last portions of the final lap solo to win by several seconds. Herrick would outkick McKenna for second.

It was nice to see four young women compete in the race with the boys. They were racing for the same prize list so there were no prizes for the girls but, unofficially, Emily Curley (Gearworks) won the “girls’ race” by a lap.

Cat 5 19-34
The promoter decided to hold separate races for the Cat 5s based on age with the split at 35 years. This was probably a good idea as the course is fairly technical and larger fields of inexperienced riders would only lead to trouble. In the race for the younger Cat 5s, Ben Kramer (Sunapee) went solo from a field of about 10 riders with about 10 to go and looked good for the win but he was caught just after the final corner, about 300 yards before the finish, by Dustin Marshall. Marshall led it out and just edged out Kramer.

Cat 5 35plus
16 started the race for the older Cat 5s and it got whittled down to just 6 on the lead lap with 6 to go. That group included the only woman in the race, Carolyn Cole (Claremont Cycle Depot). She took the first prime of the race in the first half and was usually in the top three places throughout the race. She would finish fourth in the field sprint after Brice May, Alexander Gray, and Raymond Surell (in that order).

Masters 40 plus
One of the sponsors of the race was Vollers Law of Woodstock, Vermont. If that name sounds familiar, it is because it is the law firm of Peter Vollers, the former collegiate champion (at UMass in the mid 80s) and pro rider with Bill Sykes’s IME cycling team. He is still in great racing form as evidenced in the 40plus race where he broke away and took an uncontested solo win.

As the race announcer, I used the cash primes as an opportunity to give a shout out to the race sponsors by assigning each prime in the name of one of the sponsors. Most primes are awarded on the leader or lead group in the race, but when a lead is firmly established and there seems to be little else left for the field to race for, I start putting primes on the field to liven up the action. But that is actually bad news fo the field because that means that it seems like they are out of contention for the win.

Vollers got away with a solid gap on the field so I started ringing the bell for field primes. I credited the first one to Vollers Law. So, we had the first field prime sponsored by the guy that was riding away from them. Cruel? Maybe, but it got a laugh out of quite a few folks including Peter himself who told me later that he was cracking up on the bike while trying to concentrate on time trialing away from the field.

I guess the teasing got to the Sunapee guys because they eventually decided to put on a chase. Pat Ruane (Sunapee) came the closest to catching Vollers with Eric Pearce (Bethel) right with him. The official results indicate that they finished with the same time as Vollers but I think I remember a gap remaining at the finish. The rest of the field came in 21 seconds later.

Cat 4
Zach Labry (MIT) went off the front solo in the first half of the race and stayed out long enough to bag several primes. But then he got caught. He went again with about 8 to go in a do or die move. You got to give him credit for riding aggressively, but this time it would not be the “do” option. He was caught and went to the back of the field at the finish. At least he won a few primes while he was away. Bryon Lewis (Colavita) would take the field sprint win, followed by Alfred Bissell (Essex Velo), and Sam Van Kuren (Bikyle).

Pro 1,2,3
Adam Myerson (Mountain Khakis) was on the pre-registered list and he would have been the favorite to win but he must have extended his vacation by a day because we didn't see him this time. In years past he has done quite well at Claremont. Even without him, a strong field lined up for the feature race of the day. With the prime bell ringing nearly every other lap, and lap times well under a minute (the average speed must have been about 30 mph), the action kept coming with new breaks forming and getting caught constantly.

At one to go the field was all together. Luke Keough (CLNoonan) started the 90 degree left hand corner after the start/finish line in about 8th place, but by the time he was through that corner he was in second slot right behind Jake Hollenbach (CRCA). It would apparently stay that way until they came back into sight at the final corner 300 yards from the finish. Keough came around Hollenbach right after the corner and spun his junior restricted gear as fast as he could, with his head bobbing as fast as his legs were spinning. Most adult riders have about a 53x11 front/back gear combination. If I recall correctly, the max gear for a junior is something like a 45x12. That is a huge handicap for the younger rider when the speeds get over 30 mph. Considering that the average speed was near 30 mph, the sprint was probably close to 40 mph when it topped out.

Steve Stockwell (Sunapee) also came around Hollenbach as Hollenbach felt the pain of sprinting out of the saddle after leading out the last lap. Keough would pull away for the win with Stockwell behind, then Hollenbach maintained enough speed to hold on to third. Hollenbach was heard saying after the race, “I’ve got to get myself some of those junior gears.” Just wait and see what Keough does in the sprints next year when he will be 19 and on unrestricted gears.

New Britain July 12th, 2009

This race always gives me that déjà vu feeling because it is on the same one-mile course as the Nutmeg State Games held in June. Both Rick Comshaw (Nutmeg State Games) and Jose Aguilles ( New Britain Crit) put on great events and it is a great venue for a race. The main difference, at least from the point of view of those of us working on the race, is that the schedule is about three hours shorter for the New Britain Crit. Both races even had official photographers snapping shots of all the action. Here’s how it went.


Cat 5
As is often their custom, the Cat 5s took a very conservative approach to racing and stayed together for the whole affair. Walter Archer won the field sprint after 10 laps of pack riding at a comfortable pace.

Masters 55 and 65/70
Once again, just like at Attleboro, the older riders were asked to vote whether they wanted their own field, or to be combined with the 55s. They chose to consolidate. Douglas Adams (Mosaic Smalti) took both primes and the finish in close pack sprints with Clarence Ballard (Somerset).
In the 65s it was all David Burnett (Mystic Velo) who soloed off the front almost the entire race. He finished more than half a lap ahead.


Masters 45
They stayed together through the first half, but back to back primes near the half way point launched John Raheb (who won both primes) on a solo attack but he was caught about 4 laps later. Keith Ford (Sunapee) took a flier with 1 to go and held on to take the win by several seconds. Raheb somehow managed to take the field sprint for second after his solo efforts. As the field sprint wound up behind Ford, Mike Norton (Cyclonauts) hit the deck hard about 200 yards out after he pulled out of one of his pedals. He was in the front of the field but he was the only one that went down. He is going to need a new MCRA jersey and new shorts and a lot of peroxide (youch!!). I’ll be surprised if we see him this weekend in Claremont.

Masters 35
Steve Stockwell (Sunapee) took off about half way through the race and kept going. He got some company, then he got more and more as riders bridged from the field to the break. At some point the break got too big and fell apart. After they got caught by the field, Stockwell managed to keep going solo. He stayed away for a well deserved victory by 3 seconds.


Masters 30
I am not sure why the age graded categories now start at 30 plus. Why, back in my day sonny, a 34-year old was still young enough to go to the Tour de France and win (Grandpa Simpson voice). And since a 38 year old is currently in third place in La Grande Boucle, I’d say that a 34 year old should still race his category and not start sandbagging masters races until he is 35. Although, many in this race also did other races, so I suppose if nothing else, the race promoter's bottom line is benefited by the extra entry fees. But I digress.

Tim Unkhert tried to get away, as is his custom, but he got some company. Eric Brownell was one of those who bridged across, but he was the only one to stay away after the break reformed around Unkhert. At the end it was Brownell soloing off for about 3 laps and taking the victory. The Spooky Bikes duo of Colin Murphy and Ward Solar sprinted for second and third. Unkhert ended up 8th.

Cat 3

Ben Wolfe (Mystic) went from the gun, as is his custom, and took a $25 cash prime. He kept going with blocking help from team mate Evan Kirk (Mystic) back i nthe field. Both of these guys are only 15 or 16 years old and have only another 15 years to go until they can start sandbagging the masters races (OK, I’ll try to let it go now). Ben was caught, which won’t be his custom much longer. He went again at the last lap but got caught again. James Joseph (former Olympian from Guyana) (We Stand United) won it in a field sprint. Our race promoter, Jose, was in the field and finished a respectable 10th place representing the host Greater Hartford Cycling Club/Central Wheel. It can’t be easy to jump into a cat 3 race with no warm up and a body and mind full of stress from all the BS that comes the promoter’s way on race day. A top 10 finish is most impressive.

Juniors
David Gilchrist won the race in a field sprint. There really was no other likely outcome since the Mystic team had the field stacked and Gilchrist already won the Nutmeg State Games on the same course a month ago.


Women 4
Cesarina Bellahilla appeared to win the women’s race, but she was disqualified when the officials realized that she had an international license that equated to higher than category 4. The real winner of the race was Kristen Lotito (CRCA).

Pro 123
A group of 11 with most of the major teams represented got away early in the race but was brought back. The group of 11 fell apart as it was being caught but from it a smaller group developed with Skip Foley (360/Landry’s), Jermaine Burrows (We Stand United) and Franklin Burgos (Kraft Genie) establishing leads of almost 30 seconds. But Jake Keough (Kelly Benefit Strategies) rode chase tempo at the front and began to pull back the remainder of the break mostly by himself. Note that he didn’t chase when his brother, Luke (CLNoonan), was in the original move of 11. But he wasn’t going to let three amateurs have his lunch money if his brother wasn’t there, so he decided to chase.


He got help, maybe a little more than he wanted, when three guys from CCB – Amos Brumble, Will Dugan, and Aliksander Biliasuk. They chased and caught the 3 leaders with 10 to go making the lead group seven with plenty of horsepower to stay away. Melito Heredia (Innovation Bike) broke out of the field and into no man’s land. The CCB boys tried to gap Keough off the back of the break a couple of times but it didn’t work, he had enough in reserve to come back around each time. With 3 to go Brumble attacked for CCB. When he was pulled back, Dugan went. When he was caught it was Brumble again. It got confusing trying to track the action across the open ball field and behind the trees because Brumble and Dugan look exactly the same from half a mile away. Meanwhile, Bialasuk was the protected man for the finish. Brumble and Bialasuk exchanged places when Brumble was caught and Biliasuk barely maintained his lead to the end over the spent breakaways. Burrows sprinted right behind him for second with the gap only a couple of bike lengths. Skip Foley took third leaving Keough less lunch money than the former winner of the race probably had hoped for. Dugan followed, then Burgos.

Women Pro 123
You have to give Jose credit for having separate races for the women's categories, but only 8 riders signed up for this race despite a 10-deep prize list. Rebecca Wellons broke away after a few laps and road the rest of the race solo to victory. It was another case of daja vu all over again as she had done the exact same thing at the Nutmeg Games crit.

Because the 8 riders started the race at such a slow pace (about a minute slower per lap than most of the other races), the officials began to cut out laps to keep the next races on time. Some of the women seemed to get a little bit perturbed when the lap cards were dropping faster than (fill in your own analogy, it’s getting too late for me to think of one, let me know in the comments section what you came up with and I’ll edit it in another day). What they didn’t probably realize, at least during the race, is that although they were loosing laps, they were on the course for the full scheduled time.

There has to be a better way to run these small races so that the women get a better race out of it. Running as a points race has been suggested as has racing based on time instead of laps, which is essentially what happened here. But the women’s races are in the same catch 22 they have always been in – there aren’t enough women racers (much of the time) to have a proper race, but why should the women show up to race if they know they aren’t going to have a good event? How do we break that cycle? Or am I just mis-reading the situation.


Cat 4
Stayed together with a big field sprint which was won by Gary Birkamshaw (Mystic). As I recall, he pulled away from the field in full sprint without even standing up.

Attleboro Criterium, July 11, 2009

Promoter Sandy Martin pulled it off again and put on a fine race despite having little volunteer support and even less sponsorship. The course is a 1 kilometer four corner squished rectangle with a bit of an uphill every lap. Most of the corners aren't too tight but the first one after the start line does occasionally see riders overcook it and head onto the neighbor’s lawn at the apex of the corner. Here’s how the races went down:

Women Cats 3 and 4, and Women Masters 30 and Masters 45 (all fields together for separate prize lists)
The Cat 5 men often start a day’s racing off and it’s unusual to start a day with the women’s races. But that’s how Sandy Martin rolls so the women got top billing today. The combined field numbered about 25 riders and Frances Morrison proved herself to be one of the fastest by taking the first prime about 5 laps into the 25 lap race. Attrition started to take a toll at the back with brisk lap times around 1:34. About 18 or so of the women stayed on the lead lap and on the last lap it got strung out with some gaps. MaryAnn Martinez (Capital Velo) took the final sprint to win the 45 plus category and the race overall. Frances Morrison was second overall and first of the Cat 3 and 4 race, and Perri Mertens (Cambridge Bike) was first of the 30 plus race. Frances Morrison graciously donated her prime (a mini-pump) to be a prize for the kids grass crit since she “already has plenty of bike pumps”.

Unfortunately I could not follow the kids races while also announcing the big-kid races on the road so I don’t have any info on that. Hopefully a few of them will be back to compete on the road when they are big enough.


Masters 55 and 65
The two age groups were given the option to race together with separate prize lists or to keep two separate fields. The older guys were up for a challenge so the two fields were combined on the start line. That meant that both races would be doing 25 laps. James Themig (Mystic), Micky B (BOB), and David Burnette (Mystic) got away and stayed away. They lapped the field with about ten to go. Meanwhile, Mark Hagen (CCB) was hanging out in no man’s land chasing. He seemed to realize that he wasn’t going to catch or be caught and soloed the last 15 laps to take fourth overall. At one point he asked where all the primes were that I had promised on the start line, but I’m sorry, there are no primes for a solo rider in no man’s land. They all go to the break or to the field to liven things up.

Dusty Adams (Mosaic Smalti) took the field sprint which included the three riders on the lead lap so he got fourth in the 55s. The overall winner, Burnett, was in the 65s so Mickey B won the 55s with Themig second and Mark Hagen soling to third. Richard Martin (Masters Velo) was second in the 65s.

Masters 45
This 30 lap race started off at full throttle. They were riding hard for the opening half of the race but a group of 6 got away at 15 to go. But Dave Foley (BOB) brought it back all by himself with no apparent help from the rest as CCB and Sunapee sat on him. As I recall he even won an uncontested prime during the effort. He sat back after his work was done and recovered at the back for a lap or two. It stayed together until the end for a big field sprint. I thought I saw Mike Norton taking a close sprint but the official results indicate that Greg Melone (Gearworks) beat him in a photo finish. It's a good thing JD was there with the totally pro finish line camera set up. That’s probably not the result Foley had in mind when he was single handedly closing the gap.


Masters 35
All the big masters teams were well represented in this one including Sunapee, CCB, Team Fuji and Corner Cycle among others. They went fast from the start but that didn’t discourage the attacks. It did keep any of them from staying out there long until three of the more powerful teams were represented off the front. Ciaran Mangan (CCB), Pat Ruane (Sunapee), and Tobi Schultze (Team Fuji) took off. With three big teams up there, it fell to the guys from Corner Cycle to chase. They would put a rider on the front and try, Dave Foley-style, but either couldn’t break the strong blocking of the teams in the break or just didn’t want to commit enough legs to it. Kevin Hines (Corner Cycle) pulled the longest at the front but the blocking couldn’t be beat. Johnny Bold (Corner Cycle) then tried to go solo but couldn’t get across. Surprisingly, Mark McCormack (Team Fuji) didn’t try to go solo, but he did take the sprint for fourth place. Ruane won the sprint of the three breakaways followed closely by Schultze and Mangan.

Pro 123
This one was the Hot Tubes show from the start and no one else ever really had a chance. Gavin Mannion (Hot Tubes) and six team mates took the line using this race as final preparation for their trip to the Red River Stage Race in Kentucky, the only UCI stage race for juniors in the US. And they didn’t waste much time getting it going. Gavin, being on home turf, went first and then was joined by one, then another, then another of his team mates to make it a four man team time trial off the front. They easily lapped the field with 34 to go and plowed right through. Meanwhile, Peter Bradshaw (Embrocation), Skip Foley (Landry’s), and Peter Bell (Met Life) had formed a chase group off the front. Mark McCormack bridged up to the chase to make it four. But it all finished together after Hot Tubes set tempo for the last 20 laps or so and caught the four. They didn’t need to do that but it was probably good practice for the upcoming stage racing. Nathan Brown (Hot Tubes) took the field sprint to make it 1st through 5th places for the Hot Tubes team. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, they are all less than 19 years of age and riding on restricted junior gears. Mark McCormack was the best of the rest in 6th. Thanks to Mark for donating a big box of Clif shot and Fuji products for primes for races throughout the day.

Masters 30
This race was the only sleeper of the day because once Bill Yarbrody (NBX) took off up the road solo, no one really seemed to try. Tim Unkhert made a brief effort to chase but realized that studying for his graduate degree hasn’t helped maintain his cycling fitness any. He went back to the field and Yarbrody continued building his lead over a scattered field. Yarbrody lapped and then went through the field, then Unkhert broke away to join him. Unkhert just can’t help himself. The two worked together and stayed clear to the end. Just to confuse the spectators, Unkhert came across the line first to claim second place leaving it to Yarbrody to win the race solo a couple of seconds later.

Cat 3
Ben Wolf (Mystic) and Chris Bailey (Pedro’s) got away right after the start and built an 18 second gap before being joined by Mathew Spaits (Cambridge Bike). That break fell apart with 7 to go but Bailey carried on with a ten second lead. The field was lead, Foley-style, for four laps by Leo Deforges (Threshold Cycling) who then tried the solo bridge move. It’s tough to bridge after four laps on the front and unlikely to surprise anybody, but it kind of worked. He made it to within about 10 seconds at two laps to go with just Spaits on his wheel. Spaits and DesForges apparently talked on the back side of the course and had some arrangement that apparently one of them misheard. It was clear that DesForges was not pleased with the outcome when Spaits rode around him to take second place. Spaits said afterward that there was a misunderstanding on the road but it got worked out after the race and that all is now well with both of them. Hopefully DesForges had the same understanding.

Cat 4
It was the Scott Simmons story until the finish when he was beat by Steven Owens (Green Line Velo). Simmons ground a monster gear throughout the race to take all the primes and second place. He told me after the race he was turning a 56x11 most of the time, including the flat finishing strait. There was a slight tailwind on the finishing stretch, but 56x11?? Maybe if he didn’t mash such a huge gear his solo effort wouldn’t have gotten caught on the last half lap. It is amazing he held on for second.

Mystic Velo Crit - Ninigret, RI

Mystic Velo Criterium, June 20th, 2009 Ninigret, RI

The third “real race” of the season at Ninigret, not counting Wednesday weekly training races, was held under surprisingly good weather. It was even sunny for the first few moments of the first race of the day. Then the fog rolled in. Despite the thick weather, it never rained until the final race was over despite the forecasts and the reputation. Anyone who has been there knows to expect rain and wind no matter what time of year it is.

Cat 5, 34 years of age and less
A pack of ten started in the warm morning sunshine but during the first lap, the temperature dropped 10 degrees as the Ninigret fog rolled in. Eight of them stayed together to the end despite a couple of attacks by Connor Walsh (NEBC). Harris Navelski (Lindscott) lead out the sprint from a couple hundred yards and barely held on to beat Walsh by a couple of tire widths. It was close enough that we had to check the camera. George Lowe was third but not by much.

When Connor lined up for the Cat 4 race a little bit later in the day, the officials realized that something was wrong. He couldn’t have gotten an upgrade that fast without Diane Fortini being around. They checked the USCF via wireless web thingy and found that Connor is indeed a Cat 4. They let him finish the Cat 4 race, but DQed him from the Cat 5 race. He told me later that he thought it was a combined 4/5 race when he registered on-line. The DQ put Lowe into second and moved Matt Appleby into third. Connor gladly returned his 2nd place trophy when informed of the error.

Cat 5 35 plus
14 men and one brave woman started the 17 lap race in dense fog. By 11 to go, a lead group of 5 formed with Tim Curley, Chris Darling, Todd Samuelson, Mark Schleinitz and Vinny Defrancesca. As the remainder of the field exploded behind them, they became the biggest single group on the road. So does that make them a breakaway, or just a depleted field? I guess it’s a judgment call. If I was in the group of 5, I would prefer to think of it as the field. There’s too much pressure in being a breakaway.

Rebecca Lowe, the only woman in the group, held her own just behind the leaders. She spins a small gear. If she can develop the strength to push a bigger gear yet maintain the “suplesse” of a spinner, she might have potential to be a pretty good bike racer despite starting later in life than most.

The group of 5 stayed away and built a 25 second lead over the nearest straggler. A chase of three closed it some, but there wasn’t enough time left to get back up to the lead. Todd Samuelson narrowly won the long sprint over Chris Darling with Vinnie DeFrancesco third.

Cat 4
An escape of 4 riders got a 10 second lead in the first half of the race but it was caught. From that point on the field stayed together. Gary Birkamshaw lead out the sprint from the final corner and powered away from them sitting down. He got a 20 yard lead and held it without even standing up despite a furious out of the saddle sprint behind him.

Junior 10-12, 13-14
The cub juniors started under a controlled pace for the first 5 of 9 laps with coach/mentors from the Cyclonauts and CCB clubs riding along. They taught the kids to ride in a paceline and get used to being adjacent to other riders. I am sure they helped the kids with cornering also since the Ninigret course has 6 corners, some of them more than 90 degrees. This was the first time I had seen the kids start a race with a controlled pace and coaching. It seems like a great idea and can only lead to a better experience for all the kids and quicker development of their skills. Let’s do this at more races! The alternative is to have the 2 or three most experienced kids (i.e. those with parents or older siblings in the sport) take off and leave the rest behind to ride their own solo rides just to complete the distance. When that happens, they probably aren’t be too inspired to try again.

Once the gloves came off and the coaches moved aside for the final four laps, a lead group formed with Ian Keough, Peter Goguen, Ryan Walsh, and Brian Wolfe. The sprint came down to Wolfe and Goguen with Goguen taking it by just a few feet. Walsh rolled through a couple of seconds later, then Keough. Kara Mullaly won the girls race just seconds behind the lead group of boys.

Juniors 15-18
The host club, Mystic Velo, has had strong racers in the masters age groups for years, but last season they put together a team of juniors from the southeast Connecticut region. Unlike some of the powerhouse junior development teams, the Mystic Velo team is made of local kids without prior experience. It is a truly regional grassroots team. They didn’t seem to get a lot of results last year, but this season they have been on fire lead by Evan Kirk and David Gilchrist among others. They had four riders on the line for this one with Evan Kirk sitting it out waiting for the Cat 3 and Cat 1, 2, 3 races later in the day.

Connor Walsh (in his third race of the day) kept trying to attack at the front of the field but he appeared to be just having some fun as he knew he was greatly outnumbered by the Mystic boys and they were right on him every time he tried. Emily Curley (Gearworks) and the Mullaly sisters, Kelsea and Katy (Capital Velo Club) were able to stay with the boys and it was all together through 8 laps to go. David Gilchrist (Mystic) launched with 6 to go and bagged a $5 prime. He stayed away with a 22 second lead that shrunk to 8 seconds when Tommy Goguen (Minuteman) attacked. But John Harris (Mystic) stuck with Tommy and Tommy diverted his energy and added a lot of extra feet to his race trying to shake him when he should have been focused on his pursuit of Gilchrist. Gilchrist stayed away and Tommy got out sprinted for second by Harris, then Ian McFarland (Mystic) came in fourth solo. After almost losing her lead by refusing to pull through with Nate Etchells who was also trying to do the shake and bake like Tommy Goguen, Kelsea Mulally took the girls race ahead of Emily Curley. Emily had a chance while Kelsea slowed down. Emily told me to shush and not tip Kelsea off that she was sneaking up as they passed through the start/finish line. I was shushed by a fourteen year old!!

Cat 3
Little breaks rolled off the front but nobody was really getting away. This race had lots of masters racers in it getting a warm up before the age graded races start, maybe more than there were young guys who are trying to make it up the scale to Cat 1. The Gearworks team (Paul Curley, Tom Stevens, Bill Sawyer) took turns keeping the pace high. It all stayed together to the end with Mike Maloney (Cyclonauts) launching but getting caught with a lap and a half to go. Nice try, but it wasn’t for nothing as he did soften the field for his team mates by making the other teams chase. Ben Wolfe (Mystic) went to the front with Evan Kirk (Mystic) on his wheel a lap and a half before the finish but it was too early. Wolfe buried himself trying to keep Kirk at the front but they got swarmed with 1/3 of a lap to go. As they came out from behind the trees heading into the final corner the field was spread across the road with a few yellow and black Cyclonauts jerseys forming a new lead out train at the front. Two of them held on including Mike Norton who took the win followed by team mate Douglas McKeon. Paul Curley was third.

Masters 55/65
These races started with separate fields on the course at hte same time. The 55s stayed together despite some attacks from Mark Hagen (CCB). The 65s saw Richard Martin and MCRA champ David Burnett (Mystic) roll away early on. After a couple of primes, the 55s caught the 65 field with 12 to go and they raced together from then on.

Martin and Burnett sprinted like gentlemen drag racing from the final corner, no drafting, no games. Martin couldn't quite match the speed and Burnett won the sprint by a half bike length.

In the 55s, world champion track racer Chip Berezny (Bike Line) narrowly took the sprint with, I got to talk to Chip for a few minutes after the race and found out that he won his rainbow jersey in the scratch race for his age group last year in Australia after a couple of near misses the previous years.

Masters 45
This race stayed all together until 12 to go when a group of 5 rolled away. The group included Dave Solobreak Foley (BOB), Mike Norton (Cyclonauts), Todd Buckley (arc en Ciel), Sam Morse (Corner Cycle), and Gary Dalton. They worked well together until about 5 to go when they stopped cooperating. Mike Norton appeared to be the first to turn off the groupthink as he pulled out of the pace line from second place and dropped to the back of the group. Meanwhile, a chase of three formed from the front of the remaining field. When Norton dropped back, that left a gap behind Todd Buckley that Dalton would have to close. However, Buckley took off and extended his lead. He finished it solo while the remaining break of four fell apart completely. Meanwhile, the Gearworks train moved to the front of the field and started grabbing back time on the 4 scattered breakaways. Buckley finished strongly but exhausted to take the win solo by several seconds. Then Foley took second alone, with Morse a couple of bike lengths behind. Norton barely avoided getting caught by the hard charging field to take 5th.

35 plus
Mike Rowell (NEBC) took off from the gun and got a 25 second lead. He stayed out for several laps alone and took a $10 prime before being caught. Johnny Bold (Corner Cycle) took off into the lead from a small breakaway group that included Scott Giles (Velo Brew), David Potter (Arc en Ciel), Ciaran Mangan (CCB), Rick Kotch (Union Velo) and William Mark. Bold and Giles time trialed away and lapped the field with 3. They mixed into the field and for the most part stayed near the front. Mike Rowell took a dig for third off the front but got caught. Bold and Giles remained mixed in the field for a couple of laps and with 1.5 laps to go bold caught Giles napping. Giles was stuck in the middle of the field a few places behind Bold. Bold used the opportunity to attack and got an immediate gap over Giles. Giles took most of the next to last lap to pick his way through the field then turned on the after burners for the final half lap. He closed the gap on Bold on the finishing stretch but could not finish it off. He lost by just ½ a bike length after spotting Johnny Bold a couple of hundred yard lead with 1.5 laps to go.

Cat 1,2,3
This race went 41 laps for 35 miles. CLNoonan, CCB, and Indy Fab were represented along with regional micro-celebrity in the making Adam Myerson from the Mountain Khakis professional team. Since Adam was alone without team mates, it can be assumed that this race was not a priority of the Mountain Khakis team and Adam was primarily interested in getting in some training at race pace.

Emerson Oronte (Independent Fabrication), Amos Brumble (CCB), Alec Donahue (Spooky), and Tautkus (Exodus) formed a break early on. Ben Wolfe, a Cat 3 junior from Mystic Velo, tried to bridge but got caught by the field that wasn’t ready to let anything else go, especially a Cat 3 junior. The break stayed away thanks to cooperation between the breakaways and also the blocking of the Spooky team who still had several riders in the field. The lead was big enough that when splits were taken, it was from the back of the field to the front of the break. And the gap kept closing. With 4 laps to go Oronte crashed out of the break on the third corner. It happened at the worst possible time – one lap sooner and he could have gotten a free lap, one lap later and he would have only had 3 to go and it can be guessed that he would have finished solo in fourth since the chase group of 7 didn’t catch him until the last half lap. But he lost precious time as he circled his bike a couple of times and collected his thoughts before remounting and trying to hang on to his 4th place.

The chase caught him on the last half lap so a crash a lap later would probably have left him in fourth. Also, the remaining three riders in the break caught the back of the field in the half lap following his crash so presumably, if he hadn’t crashed when he did, he would have been riding in the field. When the break got close to the back of the field, Donahue’s Spooky team mates conspicuously dropped to the back of the pack ready to escort their “Dear Leader” anywhere he wanted to go. And he wanted to go to the front so they set up the train and led Donahue out for the win which he took by half a bike length over Tautkus followed by Brumble.

Luke Keough took the furious downwind sprint for fourth using junior gears amongst older riders in the chase group. He had noticed that other riders were in their 11 cogs for the sprint but he was restricted to junior gears which I think max out somewhere around a 46x12. Oronte rolled in at the back of the chase group to take 11th place. The prize money went to ten places so he probably had to go to the ATM to buy first aid gear for his road rash.

I found out later that he clipped his inside pedal on the pavement as he rounded the third corner on the course. His former team mates on the CLNoonan team said the abrasions on his hip looked very deep, but the results of Sundays Hoosatonic race indicate that he did pretty well there despite his injuries.

Luke Keough was the camera man for my in-race video camera. I will post excerpts when I get a chance to edit it down to a reasonable length (but I have said that before and still there are no race videos on the blog yet).

Nutmeg Classic Criterium and Whaling City Cyclone

Nutmeg State Games, New Britain
Results - http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2009/06/13-Nutmeg-Classic-Criterium.asp

With races scheduled for almost one complete lap around the analog clock, the Nutmeg Classic Criterium has to be the longest day of bike racing in New England. This race could only happen near the summer solstice or there wouldn’t be enough day light. Add to that a two and a half hour drive to get there by 7:00AM and I had my work cut out for me. As the announcer, I have to be coherent all day on the mic, manage all the primes, help keep the event on schedule, and various other tasks that always seem to come up. This time I even got to play neutral support mechanic a couple of times. All this is to say – I didn’t have time (or the energy by the end of the day) to take careful notes for the blog. And the video camera never left its hidey hole deep within the back of the truck. But here is what I’ve got for you. Sorry for any inaccuracies and omissions. I am sure I have mis-remembered a few things. Feel free to correct me i nthe comments. I promise to do better next time (Mystic Velo Crit tommorrow).

Cat 4/5 under 30
Despite a rather leisurely pace, the race stayed together for 15 laps until Colby Nordbloom (NHCC) tried to go solo with 5 laps to go. But he got caught at 2 to go and found a comfortable spot to sit in and recover as the field meandered around the 1 mile course another time. When the bell rang for the final lap, the field was still together and didn’t get moving until the sprint. Nessim Mezrrahi (Quad Cycles) took the sprint for first by a bike length. It was his next to last race before getting married (in two weeks) and moving to DC. Quad Cycles will miss him but some club in DC will be lucky to get him on board. Greg Vigneux (Spin Arts) was second followed by David Gilchrist (Mystic Velo). Gilchrist, the first of the finishers from the State of Connecticutt, won the pale blue Nutmeg State Games Jersey.

Cat 4
Evan Kirk (Mystic Velo) took the sprint win ahead of Mason Chen (Chesire) and Andrew Tucker (Quad Cycles). Evan made it two Nutmeg State Games jerseys for Mystic velo.

Cat 4/5 30plus
The day’s schedule was set up perfectly for those that wanted to do more than one race and the scissors were in high demand between races starting with several of the Cat 4s from the previous race.

They started the 20 lap race at a gentlemanly pace and stayed together through 13 to go when back to back to back primes sprung Rob Ehrman (Vision Quest). He kept going, working the lead up to 18 seconds. Nathan Turillo (Refunds Now) tried to bridge couldn’t make it across before dropping back to the field. The field started chasing with 3 to go and Ehrmann’s lead began to drop. He started the final lap with an 8 second lead. In the last half lap the margin was just a few seconds or a couple of first downs. As Ehrmann rounded the final corner and struggled to keep his legs turning to the finish line, the field was in full gallop. Ehrmann had just enough left in him to hold off the field and win by only 2 bike lengths.

The 55 plus and 65 plus fields raced at the same time with a 1 minute gap at the start. Unfortunately, it didn’t stay that way and keeping track those off the front and the back got a bit confusing. The lead groups of three in both races stayed separate, but the fields got mixed together. This wouldn’t have been a big problem except that the lapped riders caused the race volunteers to miss ringing the bell on the last lap. But these are gentlemen and the three gentlemen in each lead group decided on the road to ride one extra lap and have a proper sprint. Clarence Ballard (Somerset) won the 55s with Turgut Baliki (CTS) and Thomas Cormier (NHCC) right behind. In the 65s it was Ed Lang (NEBC) outsprinting John Auer (Somerset) and David Burnette (Mystic Velo).

45 Plus
After several small breaks were launched but couldn’t stay away, Stephen Gray (Bethel) won this one with Aubrey Gordon (Liberty Cycle) and Paul Curley (Gearworks) right behind.

40 Plus
Patrick Ruane (Sunapee) took the win with a solo break.

35 Plus
Patrick Ruane won his second race of the day coming out of a break of ten for another victory.

30 Plus

Patrick Ruane sat this one out to save a match or two for the pro race. This was a super aggressive race with lots of little breaks noodling off the front but the field wouldn’t let anything stick. Paul Richard (CCB) took the victory.

All the 20 mile races (30plus Cat 4/5, the Cat 4, the Masters 35 and the Masters 30) finished within 43 to 44 minutes. I would have epxected the Masters fields to be noticeably faster than the Cat 4 and 4/5 fields.

Cat 3
The field had to wait on the line for a few minutes before the start. In the mean time, I got a little bored so I decided to give them a first lap prime while they were waiting. I announced it on the line and rang the bell as soon as they were told to go by the oficial. This strung the field right out. Morgan Hiller (CLNoonan) took the prime then the race settled in to a more normal cadence. But soon the primes came fast and furious and lap times dropped to 2 minutes (30 mph on the 1 mile course). The large field of 70 or so wound it up and raced super fast in this race. Morgan Hiller busted a spoke toward the middle of the race and came in for a replacement which his younger brother got for him. He got back in before the free lap rule ended and found his place toward the front of the field. In the final sprint, Sergio Atocha (GS Gotham) took the sprint ahead of Hiller (CLNoonan) and Jurgen Neblong (Base 36). Worthy of note, 58 year old former Olympian for Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Gellineau (Team Squiggle), finished a very respectable 6th after already taking two 5 places and an eighth in the Masters races earlier in the day.

Women 30 plus and Women 40plus
These two groups raced as one pack of about 25 with separate prize lists. At the finish Rebecca Wellons outsprinted her NEBC team mate, Brook O’Connor. A couple of places back, Steph Chase (IBC) took first place in the 40plus.

Men Pro-1,2,3
A big field of more than 70 riders lined up eager for primes and prize money totaling well over $2000. Regional powerhouse teams from New England and New York were well represented with the notable absence of Robbie King and his Indy Fab squad. The racing came fast and furious with lap times occasionally going under 2 minutes (over 30 mph). After awarding 8 $100 primes, the field was strung out heading into the final laps but no move could make a lasting impression. That is until Craig Luekens (CCNS) and another rider (sorry I don’t have the name) established what looked like it could be the winning move with an 18 second gap. But with 4 laps to go CCB moved to the front and began an organized chase. Three and sometimes four CCBs dragged the field along, apparently without much help. from the rest of the field. They absolutely buried themselves to catch the break. Meanwhile, a series of crashes marred the final three laps with a few riders being taken out in each one. One of the riders later explained “people were sticking their wheels where they just didn’t belong”.

With only a couple hundred yards to the line for the finishing sprint, the CCB train caught and passed the 2 man breakaway at full gallup delivering their designated sprinter to the line with a clear shot and a full head of steam. It would be Colin Jaskiewicz’s day in the spotlight after the self less work from his CCB team mates. Those team mates included Will Dugan, Aliaksandre Bialiauski, Yahor Buben, and Dzmitri Buben. Dugan and Jaskiewicz are team mates at UVM as well as at CCB. Jaskiewicz is the current national collegiate criterium champion and Dugan is the national road race champion. Through in Jamie Driscoll, UVM’s collegiate Cyclocross champ, and you have an impressive school cycling team.

Women 3 and Women 4 raced together in one field with separate prize lists. Although there was some confusion at the finish when some of the women couldn’t see the lap cards, Frances Morrison (Mount Holyoke College) won the Cat 3 race and Pan Xieyuel (CRCA) was the first of the Cat 4s. I am sorry I don’t have more details on this race, my memory of that one is just a blur.

Women Pro-3
Rebecca Wellons (NEBC) broke away from the field to time trial away the last few laps of this one. Here is the finish line photo:

Whaling City Cyclone, June 14th, 2009
Results - http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2009/06/14-Whaling-City-Cyclone.asp

After early rains soaked the first few races of the day, race promoter Bill Humphries (aka the Bike Guy) got the weather he was hoping for. The skies dried out followed by the roads and a great day of racing was had by all except the Cat 5 field that had to race in the pouring rain. One of them even had a flashing red tail light on his bike.

The race schedule included all categories and most age groups but this report is going to be brief and limited to just the feature race of the day, Men Pro 1, 2, 3.

Many of the same riders who had competed the previous day were also present for the Whalng City Cyclone with the addition of the Independent Fabrications Team lead by last year’s winner Robbie King and Team Fuji lead by former national pro road race champion Mark McCormack. The CCB (Cycling Club of Basingstoke) was present after their win at the Nutmeg Classic the previous day.

With the prime bell going off frequently the speeds were high on this technical 6 corner course and the field was often strung out single file. Around half way through, Robbie King (Indy Fab) took a prime and kept going. This drew out Amos Brumble (CCB) and Ron Larose (CCNS). Dylan McNicholas (CCB) quickly joined giving CCB the tactical advantage in the break. With the two strongest teams in the race represented in the break, the blocking started and the lead group established a solid gap that approached half a lap of the 1 km course. At one point the gap came down a little bit and Will Dugan (CCB) jumped across to join his two team mates in the break giving CCB 3 out of 5. Robbie King kept sprinting for the primes, maybe realizing his chances in the finish were slim, and winning them. With 6, 5, 4, and 3 laps to go everyone in attendance who knows anything about tactics was wondering when CCB would begin to use their numerical advantage against Robbie and Ron. It was not until the final lap or so that the three CCB riders started attacking and making the other two chase. Larose cracked after one CCB attack but dangled in no man’s land long enough to take 5th place. The second attack went and King covered again. Heading into the final corner, CCB made their final move hoping that King was spent but he countered and blasted into the lead going up the uphill sprint. Dugan stayed right with him. Despite having been off the front for almost half the race, taking most of the primes from the breakaway, and covering strong attacks from McNicholas, Dugan and Brumble in the last lap, he held on to beat Dugan to the line by just inches. That’s two for two for Robbie at Whaling City. Robbie said after the race that he was glad Will wasn’t a little taller; he might have won with a bike throw. It was that close.

Myles Standish Circuit Race April 19th 2009

If any of you out there in the blogosphere have any influence with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), please use it to make them re-pave the roads in Myles Standish State Forest. If there was ever a more shovel ready project, I don’t know what it might be. The roads in MSSF are now, after this long winter, a complete disgrace. As a result, race promoter Bill Sykes made the difficult decision to move the race off of what was left of the traditional loop around the forest and move the race to the training race course around Charge Pond. It’s a 1.3 mile loop surrounded on one side by the pond and on the other by a camping area that is not yet open for the season. In short, it’s a great place for a training race, but kind of lackluster for one of the early season New England classics. It just isn’t the same without the possibility of someone taking a plunge into a recently thawed lake (yeah, it’s happened). But there really is no choice until the DCR paves the main loop around the forest.

It went pretty much like this:

Juniors 10-14 - Peter Goguen (Minuteman Road Club) won it in a break with Nate Morse (CLNoonan), Chris Worden and Peter Vollers Jr (Starthouse). All four young men have fathers who are either active or retired racers so it’s no surprise they formed the winning break. Peter has the extra benefit of having at least 3 older brothers who race as well (I’ve lost count of exactly how many bike racers that family has spawned).

Cat 5 – The 50 rider field limit suddenly looked like a good idea on the narrow roads and a full Cat 5 field this early in the season is a good sign for the future of the sport. Not much of note happened in the first 18 miles as the less experienced riders dropped off the back. Too bad they couldn’t stay in and finish, but this ain’t the marathon and the stragglers were pulled out by the officials. Anyone can ride 20 miles so there isn’t much pride to be had in simply finishing. About 36 riders finished in the field. As they passed through the start finish area to begin the last lap you could see the two BikeBarn guys, Andy Legan and Bill Kinney, making their way to the front with Bill keeping Andy out of the wind. Bill led Andy to the front and kept him there through most of the final lap but got slammed by the headwind on the backside of the course. Andy fended for himself from there and came around the final corner in second spot. He was gradually coming around the guy in first, Devin Riley, and had almost completed the pass when he inexplicably stopped pedaling with 30 yards to go. This allowed Riley to maintain his lead by just inches to the second cross walk which was the real finish line, not the first one that had been used during all four training races earlier in the season. Legan took home second prize and a valuable lesson – ALWAYS KNOW WHERE THE FINISH LINE IS.

Pro 1,2 – Mark McCormack (Team Fuji) and Jeff Craddock (CCB) took off early and worked smoothly together for several laps. They collected two $10 primes for their efforts, then they dropped back rather suddenly to the field losing a 30 second gap in just two laps. That’s weird, Markie and Craddock don’t just suddenly blow up like that. The field had split behind them but came back together as Frank McCormack pulled the field up. It was later theorized that Shawn McCormack (youngest of the three racing McCormack brothers) was the team leader for the day and since he didn’t make the break, Mark dropped back and Frankie pulled Shawn’s group up to the chase group. At the finish Shawn won after getting the best lead out in history from Mark, Craddock was second, and Frankie was third. Peter Vollers would later tell me how Frank and Mark can control a race so well that that their designated sprinter doesn’t have to do much in the race but sprint for the finish. Peter said they did it for him many times when they were together on the IME team in the 90s. Not to take anything away from Shawn who is obviously coming back into form after years off the bike, but apparently today was meant to be his day from the start.

Mas 45 – This one stayed together through the first half despite turning in the fastest lap times of the day including the previous Pro-1-2 race. The speed was due in large part to the very active Gearworks team that seemed to be constantly sending riders off the front. First to go was Tom (the Steamboat) Stevens. He went twice before Bob Bisson went twice. At the finish it was all together and Paul Curley (Gearworks) took the win from the final corner followed by Joe Rano (Bike Alley).

Juniors 15-18 Mystic Velo and CLNoonan made up half the field so they looked like favorites to win on the starting line. The field of 10 stayed together to the end. David Gilchrist (Mystic) led it out from the final corner and hung on to win with his team mate Ben Wolfe right behind in second. Chris Esposito, who came all the way from Maine, took home third place.
Masters 55- Mark Hagen (CCB), Dusty Adams (Mosaic Smalti) and a few other strong men took the line with a couple of first timers to make a field of 12. It didn’t take long to sort things out. One time heading up the strait to the start finish area Dusty had to shoo a turkey off the course as it almost got hit by the field trying to cross the road. They seem to be all of the forest these days, it must be mating season. After a bunch of accelerations and attacks mostly by Hagen, the top few came in together with Hagen taking the win followed right behind by Dusty Adams and Richard Cullen (Corner Cycle).

Cat 4 – The Cat 4 field was filled to the 50 rider limit but it didn’t take long to start shelling some off the back as the front of the field worked hard all race with some fast lap splits (around 3 minutes). Ryan Littlefield (Base 36) came to the front at the finish and stayed in the saddle to power up the slight hill for a win with the field unable to come around. On his wheel was Brett Walker (Hammer), then Greg Brown (Cape Cod Cyclists).

Mas 35 – This was another race that stayed together despite riding very hard. Ray Botelho (the One Man Wrecking Crew) and Eric Jensen (Bike Barn) always seemed to be at or near the front when the field came through the start finish. With 2.5 laps to go, Botelho took off from the front of the field and no one went with him. Jensen seemed to help him by sitting on whatever chase developed and then it got to the point where no one wanted to sacrifice their chance at second place so Botelho was gone to stay. He won by about 15 seconds followed by Paul Curley at the front of the field sprint, then Todd Rowell (NEBC).

Women – A field of about 13 started but they were of all different ability levels and ages ranging from Emily Curley (Gearworks) to Julie Lokhart (NEBC). After about 5 laps more or less together, 4 rolled off the front. Kristen Gohr and Lydia Mathger (both Colavita) along with Cathy Rowell (NEBC) and Carola Berger (Webcor) rode the remaining 12 laps together while the rest of the women formed small groups behind. Kristen Gohr won the halfway prime– she can sprint. At the finish Kristen led it out and took the win with her teammate Lydia right behind her, then Rowell and Berger followed right behind.

Cat 3 – This one was a barn burner because 17 Cat 3s decided to ride hard, really hard. They consistently rode the fastest laps of the day, even faster than the Pro -1-2 field. The Pros were turning in 3:00 minute laps. The Cat 3 field, dominated by the CLNoonan and NEBC teams with four riders each, was always below 3 minutes and commonly around 2:50 per lap. Somehow, Colin Huston (CLNoonan) and Kyle Smith (Cambridge Bike) went even faster and broke clear off the front. David Chiu (NEBC) didn’t wait long to jump on the train and leave the pack behind. With the two biggest teams in the race up front, Tom Middleton, the only rider in the race from the host Mass Bay/Bicycle Link Team, decided his best chance was to join the break. He later said it almost did him in making the bridge across, but he made it and recovered well enough to start taking his pulls. Meanwhile, the six NEBC and CLNoonan riders controlled the field for their team mates in the break. After a few laps Smith couldn’t maintain the pace of the break with only limited opportunities to rest and dropped back to the field. The remaining three stayed away and Huston led out the sprint all the way up the finishing strait and dropped Chiu and Middleton. Chiu managed to hold off Middleton then 30 seconds or so later, Paul Lynch (CLNoonan) won the field sprint for fourth.

David Potter was kind enough to be the in-race camera man for the day during the Masters 35 race. I’ll have some race video posted as soon as I figure out how to edit it down to a reasonable length. Check back soon.

Rick Newhouse Memorial Criterium Ninigret, RI, April 18th 2009

For four years now, the Arc en Ciel racing team has hosted a race at Ninigret State Park in early April to honor the memory of Rick Newhouse, a teammate who died of brain cancer a few years ago. This year they got unusually good weather for the event and reasonably good turnout despite being in direct competition with the now famous Tour of the Battenkill.
Other than occurring on the same day, the two races don’t have much in common. Ninigret is a perfectly flat 0.9 mile course purpose made for bike riding. There are lots of corners but no real technical challenges unless it is windy. With no vehicle traffic, the pavement stays in great shape. Could Battenkill and Ninigret be any more different?

Here’s what happened:

Cat 5 – A motley looking crew (not Crue) lined up at the start finish line. One guy had a blue skateboarding helmet on (but apparently ANSI approved). One guy had on layers of threadbare ripped t shirts that looked like a costume from the midnite showing of Rocky Horror. As Mimi the USCF official said, “Cat 5s, there so cute”. Once we got them going, the race stayed together until the half way prime. Cat 5s aren’t allowed to have primes of any value according to the rules, but we found some water bottles to give away. Skateboard helmet guy (Richard Woodland) won both primes, but the field came back together both times. After winning two primes he was the odds on favorite to win, but he didn’t factor in the sprint. Greg Louro (Bike Works) won it followed by Jay Zengobot (in the worn out t-shirts). He was informed by the officials after the race that his attire did not meet the USCF standards. If he keeps placing in the races, he should be picked up by a club before too long and be able to retire his t shirts for a club jersey before they get any thinner.

Cat 4 – This was a very active race with little breakaways heading off the front constantly. Rich Persons (Minuteman Road Club) was especially active early on. He must be the tallest rider in New England on his 65 cm Seven Cycles bike. He and Cicero got a 5-6 second gap before the first prime but junior Evan Kirk (Mystic Velo) bridged across the gap on the last half lap and kept going passing the break just before the long finishing strait. He rode away for the prime. Too bad the prize was a six pack of beer from race sponsor Newport Storm and he’s only 18 years old so it was given to his chaperone. He then won another prime as did his team mate David Gilchrist. His mom picked up his prime. Four guys from Bikeworks including the Phenix brothers set up the lead out train with 2 to go, but number three in the train couldn’t hold the wheel of his team mate and the lead out fell apart before the finishing strait. They got swarmed and Marshall Johnson (B rumble Bikes) took the win in a field sprint.

Masters 55 – Mark Hagen (CCB) split it apart early on with a starting group of about 10 riders dividing into two like a horny amoeba (I am not normally prone to such simile, but I like that one). Hagen took the primes but Richard Martin (Masters Racing) and Michael Miller (Masters Racing) hung with him. Miller mashed a huge gear while Hagen and Martin are spinners. At the finish Hagen took the win in a sprint. 67 year old Martin hung right on to the end. He already has 5,000 miles in his legs from a long winter in Florida. Even for a retiree, that doesn’t sound possible, but you have to believe his wife – she’s a USCF official.

Mas 45 – The feature of this race was the Gentlemen’s Vitality Prime, a prize package put together by Arc en Ciel rider Randy Rusk. As the story goes, Randy’s wife has insisted that he get rid of his collection of Playboy magazines so he donates a few from his collection every year to be part of a prime that also includes a 12-pack of Mountain Dew and a DVD of a bike race. It has been dubbed the Gentlemen’s Vitality Prime because that should be all you need to stay horny and alert through middle age. Hence, the prime is award only for the 45 and 35 plus races. By the way, the DVD in the 45 plus GVP was Tyler Hamilton’s winning ride at Liege Bastogne Liege. I guess Randy isn’t planning on watching Tyler anytime soon, the race being just one day after Tyler’s final exit from the sport due to doping charges (see previous post). Anyway, the prime was won by Duane Scofield (BOB). The sprint broke the pack up after they let the break of Eric Morro (BOB) and Todd Buckley (Arc en Ciel) go as they counter attacked after the prime. They had just a slight advantage when the third placed rider slipped out in a corner slowing the rest of the field momentarily. Officials put him back in after a free lap, but he succumbed to road rash and dropped out of the break, then out of the race completely. The gap for the two leaders went to 30 plus seconds with several Arc en Ciel riders in the field blocking the chase. Skip Foley saw the writing on the wall and tried to bridge with 3 laps to go but Paul Curley (GearWorks) and David Kellogg (Arc en Ciel) got on him. Foley gave up in frustration when they wouldn’t come around to take a pull but the effort broke the chase group down to 5 riders. Foley even rode off into the grass to force Curley to take the lead. Buckley took first with Morro right behind. About 30 seconds later the sprint for third went to Curley narrowly over Scofield after Scofield led it out. Foley didn’t even try.

Mas 35 – This one started to break up right away with groups all over the course. The lead group had nine including three from Arc en Ciel. It included Mathew Kressy (Millwork), Bill Yarbroudy (NBX), Bill Mark (NBX) , Michael Shireman (Union Velo), Peter Voller (Vollers Law), Todd Buckley (Arc en Ciel), Tobi Schultze (Fuji), and David Potter (Arc en Ciel) and Jason ?Hurd (Arc en Ciel). Yarbrody took off with about 8 laps to go and built up a 30 second lead on the break. He stayed away and lapped the remnants of the field (about 8 riders). He then went straight through them to finish solo. Kressey won the field sprint for second. Murat Altimbasak (Millwork) took the second gentlemens prime which had been put on the field earlier in the race. Thanks to Jason Hurd I will have some in-race footage from my handlebar mounted camera posted soon. I need to do some editing first. Check back soon.

P123 – Tim Unkert is the man. He might not always finish first, but he is always trying and always rides harder than anyone else (except maybe Yarbroudy). He started his first solo attack on the first lap and got a 20 second lead before getting some company. Buckley and Rusk, both in their second races of the day , caught up, then Skip Foley (360/Landry’s) and a few others bridged up. But it all came back together with 25 to go. Unkert went again solo again but got company from Buckley again and Adam Sullivan (Spooky). With 16 to go, it was all back together again. But Unkert was still shooting off the front every time the pace slowed a little. A break of 5 finally stayed away – Rusk, Unkert, Kressey, Vollers, while Jim Thomas (NEBC) bridged up last. Kressey led out the sprint from the last corner 500 meters out and held on aided by a tail-cross wind. Thomas was close behind, then Unkert, Vollers and Rusk all drag racing in the saddle to the finish, not really sprinting. Unkert, for all his efforts won primes for a stay at a bed and breakfast in Newport and 60 bucks, some beer, and third place in the race.

Juniors – Four junior racers showed up which is two more than last year. Ian McFarland (Mystic Velo), Peter Vollers Jr. (Vollers Law), Emily Curley (Gear Works), and Grace Vollers (Vollers Law) all raced for 30 minutes and it finished in that order.

Et tu Tyler?

I always wanted to believe Tyler was one of the good guys. The guy finished the Giro with a broken collarbone and then had to get caps on all his back teeth because he was constantly grinding them while trying to manage the pain in his shoulder for two weeks. That's one bad ass bike racer. Plus, he is one of our own being a Massachusetts native. I remember seeing him for the first time in his new Coors Light kit at the start line of the crit stage at Killington. He was just a wide eyed local kid lining up with the country's best. I don't have the team roster in front of me, but if memory serves he was riding in the same kit that race as Phinney (the elder), Moninger, and Knickman among others.

I kind of accepted his assertions that blood cell tests were fallible and since he was the first to get popped under a new test, I wanted to cut him some slack. In my real job (no, I'm not a full time bike race announcer or blogger) we do lots of lab analyses on water and soil samples and it isn't uncommon for there to be a mistake once in a while. Contaminants get detected in places that you know they can't be, why wouldn't it happen with blood too? And if someone had an axe to grind, it wouldn't be hard at all to put the proverbial thumb on the proverbial scale and make the test come out how they wanted it to.

But I had forgotten about the laundry list of doping related offenses and suspicions going back to 2003 or 04 until I read today's stories in Velonews and elsewhere. Each one had a list that would make Floyd Landis blush. Yeah, I'm gullible, I still kind of hope he is actually innocent too. The worst of it has got to be Tyler involving his ex-wife in the Operacion Puerto doping scheme. I guess that is what you have to do when everyone knows your dog's name (RIP Tugboat).

But, as it turns out, the offense that finally does Tyler in is the least offensive of them all. According to Tyler, he took an over the counter remedy for depression that includes a steroid with a very long name that I don't want to try to spell as a minor ingredient. Doctors quoted in the news articles say the stuff is banned in cycling, but of little to no use for either performance enhancement in sports or for alleviating depression. Tyler's story sounds plausible, but like I said, I'm gullible. I also think Lance might have beaten all the dopers in the peloton 7 times without resorting to the stuff himself.

My dad had a serious bout with depression for a while and it was triggered by some of the same things that seem to have gotten to Tyler. First, it runs in the family. Second, when your self identity is tied up with your career, you take a big hit when someone takes that career away. A layoff after 30 years of service to the company or a suspension imposed by the authorities have the same effect. I can't guess whether or not Tyler feels guilt about the things he has or has not done outside the rules of cycling, but feeling guilt probably doesn't help with depression any either.

The right medication can make a huge difference, I've seen that. I don't know what happens when you suddenly take the medication away but it sounds like trouble to me. I guy might make some bad decisions in order to feel better. But the best thing for my dad was to get back to work. He got a new job that he loved and his outlook changed dramatically for the better. He was himself again.

So, my recommendation to Tyler is to get back to work. But they aren't going to let him race again. That puts him in the perfect position to be the guy that cleans up cycling. We know there are still dopers out there and Tyler knows who they are. Much more importantly, he knows how they got that way and who got them that way. Assuming Tyler still has enough cash on hand that he doesn't need a paycheck for a while, he should make it his life's mission to strip away the drug culture from cycling and help to educate young riders coming up. Maybe this will give him enough sense of purpose and self-worth that the depression issues will get better. At the very least he owes it to all those fans that he apparently duped into financially supporting his legal fight during the hearings over the doping charges.

So, if you know Tyler, punch him in the arm real hard. You know, in the hurtz donut spot. He deserves it for being a schmuck and knowingly taking stuff that is banned and pulling our glorious sport through the ringer again. Then, try to convince him to do something productive with himself and start naming names. Then give him every opportunity to teach the kids coming up what will be in store for them if they dope.

Tyler can save the sport while he saves himself.

Two of these four brothers are going to the cyclocross world championships

Jesse, Luke, Nick, and Jake Keough

The two in the middle will be in Hoogerheide, Holland to contest the world cyclocross championships this weekend. Luke is in his final year as a junior (U19) and Nick is in his first year as an "under 23" (U23).

Luke was 10th last year at worlds and is looking to improve on that. He has done well in European cross races this season including top 5 placings against the very best in the world, not to mention first in the Verge New England Series despite being in Europe for most of the season. He went to Belgium in October and did several races before returning home for the US Championships where he finished in second place.

Nick hasn't done the Euro scene yet this year but is ready for the challenge. He won the Verge New England series for U23 and was second at Nat's for the U23. He is now ready to take his game to the Euro level.

What did you do with your life by the time you were 19? Did you compete in a world championship in anything? National spit ball championships? New England alphabet burping competition? State hot dog eating festival? Dunk the clown at the county fair? No? Me neither. These kids, and their brothers, are off to a huge head start on life. I'll admit it, I'm a bit jealous. Until I figure out what it is that I am world champion quality at, I'll just have to live vicariously through them.

Go Luke! Go Nick!