Spring time at Ninigret RI generally means nasty conditions for bike racing and after the Chris Hinds "Sunshine Criterium" at Ninigret two weeks previously actually lived up to its intentionally ironic name, there was little chance the Arc-en-ciel sponsored Rick Newhouse memorial race would also luck out with the weather. As per usual, it was a cold, rainy, and windy day at Ninigret but nowhere near as bad as was predicted. The Jens Factor was never worse than JF3.
Arc-en-ciel racing put on a full slate of races with proceeds from the race going to their former teammate's family. Considering the predicted weather, the early season schedule, and competion from other races, the turn out was good with about 160 participants.
Category 5: The day started with 15 Cat 5s. Three or four of them seemed to do the bulk of the work setting the pace at the front of the field while everyone else was along for the ride. That isn't atypical for a Cat 5 race where no one has much, if any, tactical experience. For Alejandro Cifuentes and Anthony Clark, it worked out well placing 1st and 2nd after doing way more than their share of the work throughout the race. One other rider set the pace for 4 laps in one long pull but over extended himself and couldn't recover as the race went past him. After the race I tried to explain that he should take shorter pulls and not wear himself out past the point of no return like that. I think he got it. Hopefully we will see him at the races again.
Masters55: 10 Riders took the line in the 55plus race including former national champion Mark Hagen (CCB). Hagen and Ed Deming (Mystic Velo) got away off the front of the race in the first half of the 55 minute race while the chase group was trimmed to 4 including Demings two Mystic Velo teammates, Jim Themig and Chip O'Lari, who obviously weren't going to chase. Hagen and Deming built up a lead of a couple of minutes by the end of the race. Knowing that Hagen is a time trial specialist, and a very good one, we all expected that he would try to drop Deming before the finish but it didn't happen. At the finish, Deming came around Hagen to take the win.
Cat 3/4: Within the first 10 minutes of the 55 minute race, Scott Glowa (Svelte Cycles) and Gary Aspnes (Horst-Benidorm) took a flier off the front of the field to shake things up. Aspnes has been on great form recently and rode away from the field at the Myles Standish Road Race the previous week. But in my memory Glowa has never been a break away type rider. He will be from now on, at least on flat courses like Ninigret. Working together, they built up about a minute lead which is approaching half a lap on the 0.9 mile Ninigret loop. Geoff Williams and his tream mates from Providence Velo tried to real the break back in but without success. Both leaders had one teammate in the field to help control the pace. After the race, several riders mentioned how Spike McLaughlin (Horst) did an especially good job blocking for the breakaway. It isn't often you hear other racers compliment someone's blocking so he must have been doing something right out there. At the finish, after about 45 minutes of two man team trialing, Glowa outsprinted Aspnes for the win by less than a bike length.
Masters45: I could try to tell you what happened in this one, but I'd rather link you to the race winner, Dave "Solobreak" Foley (BOB), so you can get the first hand version . I'll just say that he played it perfectly, getting everyone else to watch him roll away from the break away in the closing seconds of the race. Well done!
Masters35: When David Potter (Arc-en-ciel), Tyler Monroe (CCB), and Tom Francis (Bikebarn) took off the front it looked like it was going to be for the long hall. They built up ove a minute lead by working smoothly together throughout the race. Ciaran Mangan (CCB) tried to get across in the closing laps without dragging anyone along with him but his move was shut down when the host club (Arc-en-ciel) went to the front and picked up the pace to ensure that 4th place would be that easy to snag. David Potter took the sprint from 200 yards out to give the host club the victory while Tom Francis took second, Monroe third. Ernie Tautkus, who had won three prime sprints for 6-packs of Newport Storm earlier in the day took the field sprint for 4th.
Pro1,2,3: This was the third race of the day for a few of the riders including Tautkus and Aspnes as well as a couple of the Arc-en-ciel riders. Surprisingly, this was not an especially tactical race. It stayed together from start to finish with no serious break attempts. The finish was a mass gallup to the line that crossed most of the width of the road. Squirting through the flailing bikes to resach the line first was 16-year old Evan Kirk (CLNoonan). A split second (literally 0.1 seconds according to the official results) was Ryan Serbel (CCNS) followed by the man of the day, Ernie Tautkus (CCNS) just another 0.1 seconds behind. It is worth noting that Evan Kirk was sprinting on restricted junior gears which equate to something like a 45x12 tooth combination (or 3.75 revolutions of the back wheel for each turn of the pedals) while the older riders where probably in or near their max gear, typically 53x11 (almost 5 revs per turn of the pedals). I don't want Evans head to swell up as big as his hair so don't tell him I said so, but I think we might be looking at a real prospect here.
Women and Juniors: The women and juniors took the line together to start the race but after some discussion and a quick vote on the stasrt line they opted to race separately, starting with a one-minute gap between them. This didn't stop them from catching and passing each other but both fields were small enough (8 and 15 riders that it wasn't a problem). Both races came down to two person duels. In the women's race, it was between Anna Barensfeld (Ladies First Racing) and Silke Wunderwald (Kenda). They lapped everyone except Kimberly Edwards (CVC). At the finish Silke passed Anna for the win with Kimberly less than a minute back for third. In the Juniors race, it came down to the McCormack twins, Cameron and Brendan (both Hot Tubes). Peter Vollers Jr and his Killington Mountain School teammates hung in with the McCormacks for a while, but they couldn't contain them for the whole race. The twins would replay their sprint from the previous week at Myles Standish and the result would be the same with Cameron just edging out Brendan by less than half a bike length.
I have a couple of weeks off from announcing now so maybe I'll do a little racing myself. I never did make it to Wells Ave last week as threatened in the previous post. I'll either try to get there again this weekend or I'll do something I haven't done in about 20 years - a mountain bike race. Paul Curley is promoting a new race at Massasoit State Park near Taunton on Saturday. That should be fun even though my MTB is a 20 year old totally rigid (except for the loose headset) beast. The thing should be in the recycle bin at the dump, not in a race. I am thinking about getting a new MTB so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know in the comments. 29er? Full suspension or not? Frame material? Brands? Deals?
Showing posts with label Ninigret. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ninigret. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
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).
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).
Thursday, April 23, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Here we go, here we go, here we go again
The 2008 bike racing season starts this weekend. Sure, there were a few training races and there have been two weeks of "real races" so far, but I didn't ride in or announce at any of those so they don't count. This weekend I break out the speakers and the microphone (and all the parts that go in between) for the first time in 2008.
It all starts Saturday with the Rick Newhouse Criterium on the bike race course at Ninigret State Park in Charlestown RI. Rick Newhouse was a member of the Arc-en-ciel Racing Team out of Rhode Island who died of cancer a couple of years ago. The feature race of the day started last year with a memorial parade lap lead by Rick's wife. I hope they do it again. The proceeds go to support the family Rick left behind.
The course alone makes this race unique in New England because it was made specifically for racing bikes. It is a perfectly flat paved loop with lots of little turns thrown in to make it somewhat interesting. The wind is usually blowing like hell off the ocean there in April and its usually raining whenever I am there. As I recall it was the only place that I ever experienced a Cat III field forming echelons. Very Belgian. They didn't last long though because the longest straightaway is only a few hundred yards long then suddenly you were going 10 miles per hour faster with the wind. At least the poor fool on the point didn't have to take the brunt of the wind for too long. On the bright side, there is absolutely no traffic to contend with and no potholes. And there is a nice covered wooden structure that I can do the announcing from, so no matter how bad the weather gets, I can stay dry if not warm. The forecast for Saturday was good last I checked.
Then, Sunday is the Doyenne of New England (Doyenne means something like grand old lady in Belgium and France) . They call the Liege-Bastogne-Liege Race "La Doyenne" because it is the oldest of the classics. The Myles Standish Road Race is one of the oldest in New England and within one lap you will be certain that the roads haven't been paved since before the race was first conceived by the Mass Bay Road Club years and years ago. My dad took me to see the Myles Standish Road Race when I was about 10 years old. It was the first bike race I ever saw. That was about 33 years ago and I am pretty sure the roads haven't been paved since. I would like to say that seeing the race inspired me, but I didn't enter a bike race myself for at least another 12 years after that. These things take time. Bring your strongest wheels and maybe leave the tires a few pounds light. It's going to be a little bit like Paris Roubaix. Flats will happen, things will break, and water bottles will fly so bend those cages down extra tight if you don't want to loose yours. That is unless they are those new fangled carbon fiber cages in which case a wrap or two of duct tape around the bottle would be a better choice.
Race promoter Bill Sykes altered the route last year so that the finish line is in a safer place. The short uphill finish helps keep the top speeds down a little bit. It probably favors the all rounder with some extra leg strength over the pure sprinter or pure climber.
The Myles Standish race got a reputation over the years as being a bit dicey, especially the finish. But that was on the old course with the finish line way out on the back roads. Since the dam at East Head Pond broke through a few years ago, the course has been shortened and the finish moved. The finish used to be on a wide open windy stretch of road after a couple of rolling hills. It seemed that when there was a tailwind finish the front of the pack would wind up too early and fade before the line. This left them fading back in anaerobic agony as the second wave accelerated to top speed. That two way traffic is what I always thought caused the crashes. And the fact that almost no one had sprinted at 38 mph for 6 months didn't help either. SQUIRRELY!! If the wind was blowing the other way (a headwind finish), the top speeds were more reasonable and the sprints were safer. You just looked for any wheel you could hide behind until you had to make a move. But what do I know, I never won it.
Then, as soon as the last race is over, it's off to Logan Airport for my flight to Amsterdam. I'm going to see the Fleche Wallonne race in Belgium on Wednesday and hopefully fit in a little riding in the heartland of bike racing. I will try to take some pictures for the next post.
It all starts Saturday with the Rick Newhouse Criterium on the bike race course at Ninigret State Park in Charlestown RI. Rick Newhouse was a member of the Arc-en-ciel Racing Team out of Rhode Island who died of cancer a couple of years ago. The feature race of the day started last year with a memorial parade lap lead by Rick's wife. I hope they do it again. The proceeds go to support the family Rick left behind.
The course alone makes this race unique in New England because it was made specifically for racing bikes. It is a perfectly flat paved loop with lots of little turns thrown in to make it somewhat interesting. The wind is usually blowing like hell off the ocean there in April and its usually raining whenever I am there. As I recall it was the only place that I ever experienced a Cat III field forming echelons. Very Belgian. They didn't last long though because the longest straightaway is only a few hundred yards long then suddenly you were going 10 miles per hour faster with the wind. At least the poor fool on the point didn't have to take the brunt of the wind for too long. On the bright side, there is absolutely no traffic to contend with and no potholes. And there is a nice covered wooden structure that I can do the announcing from, so no matter how bad the weather gets, I can stay dry if not warm. The forecast for Saturday was good last I checked.
Then, Sunday is the Doyenne of New England (Doyenne means something like grand old lady in Belgium and France) . They call the Liege-Bastogne-Liege Race "La Doyenne" because it is the oldest of the classics. The Myles Standish Road Race is one of the oldest in New England and within one lap you will be certain that the roads haven't been paved since before the race was first conceived by the Mass Bay Road Club years and years ago. My dad took me to see the Myles Standish Road Race when I was about 10 years old. It was the first bike race I ever saw. That was about 33 years ago and I am pretty sure the roads haven't been paved since. I would like to say that seeing the race inspired me, but I didn't enter a bike race myself for at least another 12 years after that. These things take time. Bring your strongest wheels and maybe leave the tires a few pounds light. It's going to be a little bit like Paris Roubaix. Flats will happen, things will break, and water bottles will fly so bend those cages down extra tight if you don't want to loose yours. That is unless they are those new fangled carbon fiber cages in which case a wrap or two of duct tape around the bottle would be a better choice.
Race promoter Bill Sykes altered the route last year so that the finish line is in a safer place. The short uphill finish helps keep the top speeds down a little bit. It probably favors the all rounder with some extra leg strength over the pure sprinter or pure climber.
The Myles Standish race got a reputation over the years as being a bit dicey, especially the finish. But that was on the old course with the finish line way out on the back roads. Since the dam at East Head Pond broke through a few years ago, the course has been shortened and the finish moved. The finish used to be on a wide open windy stretch of road after a couple of rolling hills. It seemed that when there was a tailwind finish the front of the pack would wind up too early and fade before the line. This left them fading back in anaerobic agony as the second wave accelerated to top speed. That two way traffic is what I always thought caused the crashes. And the fact that almost no one had sprinted at 38 mph for 6 months didn't help either. SQUIRRELY!! If the wind was blowing the other way (a headwind finish), the top speeds were more reasonable and the sprints were safer. You just looked for any wheel you could hide behind until you had to make a move. But what do I know, I never won it.
Then, as soon as the last race is over, it's off to Logan Airport for my flight to Amsterdam. I'm going to see the Fleche Wallonne race in Belgium on Wednesday and hopefully fit in a little riding in the heartland of bike racing. I will try to take some pictures for the next post.
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