masters 40 + Hillstown

57 miles race, 4 mile 10% climb at mile 20, with numerous grades to the finish. 70 degrees at start 83 degrees at the finish. Masters 40+

This race I was using as training for the MT Washington climb, and having done it before I know it has lots of fast descents at the start, not my favorite and the huge climb which breaks the field apart. Then its chasing and the grind to the finish.

This year was no different, except the roads on the decent were potholed and cracked after receiving 3 inches of rain in an hour the day before the race. I ended up in my usual spot at the back and found myself having to chase back on each time I would get stuck behind a guy who hit a hole and flatted. This happened 3 times at high speeds and was scary for both the recipient of the flat and those behind. I was extremely cautious and kept a gap which wasted energy but made me feel safer and more able to pick out the hazards easier.

At the climb I was once again at the back, wrong place to start. When it got steep there were the usual amounts of people who went too hard and exploded about a 1/3 of the way up. At 2/3 up I was hanging on for dear life and it got steeper and turned right and pop I started to drift back. I stayed about 10 meters back for a while but then started to cramp a bit and the gap got bigger. I could see the leaders hit the flatter section and really pull out a gap on me. It looked like about 25 guys. I was alone and chased but the cramp was not helping me. A little while later a guy caught me and I was able to rest a bit as we alternated pulls until 4 more caught us. We organized a pace line and were moving along well. Right after the feed zone at about mile 35 we caught 4 more that got dropped from the break. Then it seemed we were picking up 1 or 2 guys every few miles. The pace was still pretty quick but tough with a big headwind.

Just like last year I felt the race slowed as guys no longer wanted to work going up the last climb before the finish so I simply decided to TT the last 2 miles. A guy I had talked to at a few races had the same idea and left first. When I left a friend of mine, Adam also from Brookline, got on my wheel luckily. In the wind I got the gap but began to die. Adam would then take a pull and we alternated up to when we passed another racer from the break. At the right turn into the finishing straight we sprinted and I think Adam let me have it by an inch to be the best of the rest and place , ??? 20 something. …. Someday we will see the results.

I think Hillstown is one of the hardest races by far that I do each year. One of these times I will be able to make it with the lead group over the top. I am not disappointed as the pace was fast and there were more cat 2 guys there then 3s. Ave 22.5 from my computer.