5th Amgraph Three Village Tour Road Race, Masters 45+ (Cat 1-4)

Masters 45+ (Cat 1-4), 40 Miles
Baltic, CT
Saturday, June 26, 2010

My trusty teammate Julian and I traveled to south eastern Connecticut for this race. The course was a 10 mile loop we would race 4 times. The online course description was a bit worrisome. It stated: “There is a steady incline at the start of the race that will take you into a three hill climb. At the top of each hill there will be a flat before the beginning of the next hill, this part of the race is 1 mile.” and the description continues, “…there is one sharp right hand turn where the riders have been clocked in excess of 50 mph by the State Trooper escort.” And this was just in the first few miles before the major climb. “Potash Hill Road is the road that has the major climb of the race, while it’s not that long (.5 mile) it is quite steep.” The race guide suggests, “39×25 gearing will be small enough for most riders (90%).”

It was a hot, dry morning when we rolled off the start line and up the three hill climb. I was the only BRC member in the 45+ race. Julian, who is nowhere near his mid-40’s, was doing the Category 4 race. There were many familiar faces and uniforms in my race. I’ve been racing against these same guys for months. We hit the Potash Hill climb and a few riders dropped away, but I kept up okay. The course was rolling and we hammered along at a very fast pace. As we rolled past the start finish for the beginning of lap 2, the guy in front of me drifted onto the yellow line were there were several orange cones. He almost crashed and sent one cone in front of me. I was able to avoid it but this just added to my stress level.

Going up Potash Hill for the second time, more guys were dropping away and at the top of the hill a small gap opened between me and the back of the peleton. I was at my limit and I could not close it and watched in horror as they slowly pulled away. Shortly thereafter, John of Team 545 Velo joined me and we rode hard together lamenting our predicament. We rode 2 laps together taking turns into the wind. I thought we’d race into the finish together but on the final lap he began to cramp so I rode ahead to get 35th place.

It was another humbling race against these experienced and super fit Cat 1, 2, 3 racers. If I can just eek out a little improvement I should be able to keep up with the leaders. In the weekly FLAT Wells Ave “A” criterium race I have no problem keeping up. In fact the day after this road race I kept up at Wells as we raced 36 miles at 26.3 mph. Add in some hills and it’s another matter.