The original plan for the weekend of April 24-25 consisted of MIT's road race and the re-introduced Quabbin Reservoir RR. Unfortunately, I succumbed to laziness and the pile of school work...so I stayed local. As it turns out, this was a wise decision, as the Quabbin P/1/2/3 race sounded like a disaster. As I gleaned from the CB listserv, the pace vehicles took the peloton on a detour off course. Mayhem ensued, and the majority of the field was presumably DNF'd, although somehow they got placed. Sounds kind of hilarious, though...I almost regret missing it.
Instead, a contingent of Cornell riders rode out to Watkins Glen on Saturday to do some course reconnaissance for our race bid next year. For those not familiar with our schemes, we are renting the Watkins Glen International track for the team time trial and the finish of the road race.
Now imagine the grandstands packed with rabid collegiate cycling fans... With the exception of ~100m of pavement, the route is pretty great. Nothing too epic as far as climbing, but it's very scenic and has some interesting course elements like a dirt power climb and a state prison. With a >10% climb just several miles from the finish, the layout is perfect to set up some drama as the riders enter the Watkins Glen International track for the final drag to the line. We're pretty excited for the potential of that weekend.
All told, that was 71 miles for myself...while those who didn't drive halfway to WG ended up with 95. With the Binghamton Circuit race on Sunday, I figured I could do without those extra 24 miles.
On Sunday was the aforementioned circuit race...with the other 7 cat1/2/3's. Central NY events are notoriously under-attended among the cat 1/2's. I'm not sure if it's a function of population density or what...but it's nigh impossible to get a sizeable field in CNY. I guess I'm part of the problem, so I can't complain.
In any case, they lined us up with the Masters fields, which almost made it seem like a legitimately sized race. I was curious as to how a race like this would play out...do you go with attacks that are full of Masters racers? Does everyone sit around and wait for the young guys to make their moves? I guess it ultimately doesn't matter.
To contrast this race with every other one I've done in the last two years- usually I have a difficult time positioning myself near the front...I am most often found at last wheel when there's nothing going on. This time I couldn't get off the front. Myself and the other 1/2/3 young'ns were unofficially the pacesetters for the day. Or at least for 3 laps.
Cory Burns (former Fiodifrutta, now
Embrocation) was in our field, so everyone's eyes were fixed on what he was up to. He made a couple efforts on the short hill the first few times through, which most of us dutifully followed. Each time we lost a few more people until we finally had the break. Only 10 minutes in, we had 5 people clear. After a few more laps it was down to 4. Myself, Wayne Bray, Steve Sloan, and Cory- 4/6's of the cat 1/2/3's. Masters racers did their thing behind us.
We kept a good paceline over the next few laps to solidify the gap over what was left of the field. I kept looking at the lap cards, since I knew it was only a matter of time before the attacks started coming and my legs would pay for their effort on Saturday. Unfortunately I was looking at the wrong lap cards, and we were farther from finishing than I thought. Damn.
With three (actual) laps to go, Wayne attacked us and I was -- to quote the MAC cyclocross announcer -- "out the back faster than a bean burrito with a prune juice chaser". (Side note: the MAC needs a new color commentator). I was really feeling yesterday's effort and let them go ahead. As far as I was concerned, 4th place was good enough for me.
As we came down the hill to the backside of the loop, I could see the lead 3 about 150m ahead. From my vantage, it looked like Cory stood to put in another attack (into the headwind) when he went down in a heap. I got conflicting stories on the cause of the crash- it was either a chain slip or Cory just washed out his rear wheel. Steve went with him, and Wayne narrowly avoided the yard sale. Suddenly I went from fourth to second. As I passed through, I began to realize I probably would have been behind them in the crash had I managed to mark the attack. That would be the last thing I would have needed for me to further dislike road racing.
At this point there was no catching Wayne over the next couple of laps, so I checked my shoulder, dialed back the pace, and cruised in for my ill-deserved 2nd. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good!
Penn State ECCC easterns report soon.
All the disc wheels and dimpled shoe covers in the world won't help me now.
