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This race is really epic and a great experience. I entered it with limited training (new baby, third child, 3 months ago, say no more), but glad to have been able to do the event.
80 riders started.
Stage 1. TT – 5.7 miles.
The first 2.3 miles is a dragging climb – then fairly flat, though the recently chip sealed road sucked momentum on the flat section. In the last 1k theres a sudden dip with a descent and a quick steep ascent – thanks to Jeff for the warning on that. I rode my Cervelo S2 with Reynolds 46UL clinchers for this and all stages. I hit the start line and off i went – settled into a good rhythm on the climb. I began to gain time on the guy ahead on the climb. On the flatter section, though he drifted out of sight and i saw him pass a few riders up the road. I think i may have played it a bit safe on the flat section. I hit the dip, geared down to maintain speed out of the dip and dragged myself up the last 500m to the finish. I’ve only ever done this and one other TT – the TT in last years Fitchburg stage race, where i was 38th in the cat 4 TT. So in this one i was 28th in cat 3, with a time of 15.29. I take this as an improvement for me as it would have been 2nd in the cat 4 field.
Stage 2. Circuit race. 72 mles
3.75 laps of about 20 mile circuit with a climb at the beginning of the loop. First climb was neutral. Second and third climbs i was 4th to the top, just outside of KOM points. The descent from the hill was great fun – nice wide road, fast. I seem to be getting faster at descending, which must mean i’m getting fatter… The fourth and last time up the hill and those who had conserved the prior loops put a push on. Some gaps appeared in the field and i was behind a small gap, but got back up to the front without difficulty. Finished in the front group, not in a good position to sprint – 33rd place, but moved up to 25th on GC.
Stage 3. Mad River Road race. – 70 (hard) miles
and so the fun began. We were going along comfortably when about 7 riders split and broke away after about 15 miles. With such a long arduous stage ahead, no-one was too concerned. But then the 40+ field had a break also and we were neutralized to let them, and the rest of the 40+ thru. This resulted in about a 5min headstart for the cat 3 break away as we were neutralized at a near standstill. I heard someone ask the yellow jersey holder what he thought – “I dont care” he responded – confident or resigned – i couldnt tell. Onwards we went to the first major climb – Middlebury gap. Held the pace with the yellow jersey pack fine to the top. The descent was fast and twisty and the crosswind didnt suit my deep rims much. The chase was on though and the speed on the descent and thereafter was high, needing effort not to get dropped on this section. Next a shorter climb followed by a 2.5km dirt section (this was fun…in retrospect!) – thanks to Dave Smallwood for advice on this one – didnt hit any potholes, puncture, or lose a bottle. We ploughed on untill we hit the last 10 miles – “baby gap” then the Appalacian gap (finishing with 20% gradient). Baby gap was fine – kept with the pace fine. Finally up to App gap. Was conscious here that my longest training ride was about 50 or 60 miles without any real climbing, so didnt want to go too far into the red here and end up walking! So I held the front chase group for about half the climb. Then the front runners including the yellow jersey and Stephen Pierce from Cambridge Bicycles (in 3rd after stage 2) really turned the screw – trying to salvage some time on the break away. The field broke in pieces – I held a steady pace to come in 27th, 1:40 back on yellow. The breakaway had been partly caught, but Ryan Short had gained 1:40 on Victor Taormina to take yellow, with a minute gap+, with only a crit to go – all over?…. As for me i was now 22nd on GC, 7 seconds out of the top 20.
Stage 4. Burlington Criterium.
This is where thngs went awry for me. I tried to line up at the front, but the staging area was so wide that the 65 remaining riders were lined up in three rows. They dropped the rope and we scrambled to a second staging area! Two riders went down in this part of the “race”! I had been swallowed up in the scramble (think i might have to practice this bit at the black friday sales) and was now toward the back. Big problem. We took off. Ordinarily at this point i would push my way up the field, but the pace was really really fast and almost immediately cracks appeared in the back 10 – 15 riders. I couldnt believe i’d ended up in this situation. The pace was too fast to bridge and my race was pretty much done. I was pulled about mid-way and walked away in disbelief, wondering how much a used Cervelo would get on Craigslist. Then i went back to see who or what what was driving the speed of the crit… So… Victor Taormina started over a minute back on Ryan Short – impossible to get back in a crit right? — wrong – Victor and two others broke away and LAPPED the field! Ryan made a valiant effort to break away and get some time back with a few laps to go, but it was too late – the yellow jersey had been reclaimed in dramatic (and a little superhuman) fashion – what a race!
As for me – the crit blew my GC position back from 22nd to 31st of 80 starters, but still a respectable result with the limited training i was able to do, and a great experience – an epic race. Congrats to the winner – out of this world performance and congrats to our other BRC representatives at the race – Julian Eliz and Dave Anderson – with great performances from both of them.
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