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Last Update: 6-May-07
Race Results Archive,
1999-2005
******* 2005
Race Season *******
65) BRC/Slick Willy Cyclocross,
November 20, 2005. First traditional style ‘cross race on a ‘cross bike. Gorgeous day, course wet only in few spots. No mud other than juicy cinder track section that could be hammered at 20+ mph. Did no tapering for this race. Did hardest 40k rollerski session on Friday and still feeling it big time Sunday before the race. Did lukewarm warmup, never made it once around course before lining up at start. All the 35+ and 45+ masters went off in one huge wave. I started in back row not knowing how I’d do technically or aerobically. Sold myself short again, but I didn’t mind. Was caught behind a large plug of many slower riders for the first lap until things thinned out. For the rest of the 45 minute race I was picking off riders, sometimes two or three at a time. Nobody passed me and stayed past me best I can remember, but that’s what happens when you start at the back of the pack. Course was non-technical, containing only one set of short barriers and a short staircase to hop up. The steep hillclimb was ridden by most, and I found those that ran lost time. I found the course non-intimidating for a first time CX-er. No crashes, but I did hit another rider’s bike pretty hard who went down right in front of me. Was wicked fun, HR goes redlined and stays there until crossing finish. I would definitely do this race again.
7 laps, about 48 minutes
25th Masters 35+
64) Mt Greylock Hillclimb Time Trail, N.
October 2, 2005. First race in a month. Basically took the month of September off
from training after the Green Mountain Stage Race at the beginning of the month. No focused intensity rides or intervals. Did get lots of volume in, particularly
mountain biking in
Time: 0:45:10 (3:05 back
overall)
1/37 Men 40+
4/133 Overall
63) Green Mountain Stage Race (GMSR), Vermont
September 2-5, 2005.
My first stage race. First crit
too. Was on the fence deciding whether
to sign up or not until my friend Jason signed up and convinced me it would be
fun. So with a couple weeks to go and
the Cat 4/5 field quickly filling, I jumped on board. I felt my prospects were good for placing
well in the general classification (GC), but there was that pesky detail of the
downtown
63a) Egan’s Big World Prologue. 8.2 mile mass start hillclimb. Not a time trial, not a race against clock, but a race for points. First gets 50, second gets 49, and so on. I felt I had a very good chance at winning this one. First couple miles is neutral, then racing begins on gentle grade. With about 2.5 miles to go, the grade becomes nasty steep. One batch of riders disappears from the front, another moves in. Slowly, riders fade away from the front until only one remains in front of me. My plan was to hold second place until only a little bit of climb remained and then pop for a win. However, with about a mile to go, I cracked instead. Immediately, another rider comes around me to trail the leader. There was nothing I could do. I blew up so bad that a second rider passed me before the finish, and a third was nipping at my heels when I crossed the line. Turns out the first guy to pass me (Fred Thomas) took the win by just a few seconds and was in yellow the next day. This started me off in 4th place for the GC.
4/92
starters (91 finishers)
47
points out of 50 possible
58
seconds back from leader, 11 seconds from stage podium
63b) Roxbury Circuit Race. A long 72.5 mile race, nearly two full laps around a 37.5 mile course with an 800ft climb per lap. A slightly warm day, and with no help in the feed zone, I was forced to carry three water bottles. We start with a mile or so neutral, then racing begins. The start is mostly flat punctuated with occasional downhills. There were several narrow bridges to cross. Three miles into the race, an oncoming idiot in a truck decides he’s going to cross a narrow bridge the same time my field does. The results were disastrous. Many riders piled into the steel guardrail and truck. Three were transported away by ambulance. On was critically injured with numerous factures. I narrowly escaped this mess, and I was extremely tense for the remaining 69 miles of this race. There were a couple loose cannon riders in our field too. Really had to be ready at all times for something bad to happen. Anyway, this was a sprinters stage, being mostly flat and sprint points up for grabs. My goal was to finish with the lead pack to take maximum finishing points and not worry about bonus points for placing. I didn’t want to get tangled up in finishing sprint crashes that I heard were common in this stage. Coming into the last few miles, I felt the early signs of cramping setting in. Not good I thought, as I might lose the lead train and be in rougher shape for the mountains stage the next day. With a couple miles to go, I asked the race leader if he was interested in making a break for it to avoid the sprint melee. He was not interested. There was a strong headwind for the 10 miles or so leading to the finish, so I had no chance of going it alone. So with 2k to go, I move to the front and put the hammer down. Not a break attempt, just a stay out of trouble as long as I can attempt. I held the lead until about 1k to go. All the sprinters were strung out in a long line behind me. I’m sure they were thinking thank you very much. By 1k, I was toast and sprinters started coming around. I grabbed wheels as they did. This worked better than I had planned. Just as I reached the finish with 6 guys in front of me, I heard that horrible sound of metal on pavement again right behind me. Any further back, I could have been caught in another wreck. No serious injuries from that one I’m aware of. This dropped me to 5th place in the GC.
7/91
starters (82 finishers)
104
points out of 125 possible
Same
time as leader, approx 3:03:03 race duration
63c)
Sugarbush Resort Mad
2/82
starters (76 finishers)
118
points out of 125 possible
1
second back, approx 3:13:13 race duration
63d)
3/71
starters (32 finishers not pulled)
116
points out of 130 possible
Same
time as leader, approx 35:12 race duration
Recap: In a nutshell, the prologue was the most disappointing, as I expected to win or at least podium. The first stage outcome was pleasant, as I survived a sprinters race without losing much ground in the GC and avoided the crashes. The second stage was most important, and one I knew going into this race would be my pivotal day. Placing second here moved me up to the GC podium. I also enjoyed the second stage the most. No tension in this race, as the mountains really thinned things out and there weren’t 80 guys jockeying for that perfect position for sprint points. Ironically, my most satisfying stage was the downtown crit. This was my most feared race, and the stage that was holding me back from doing the GMSR to begin with. Not only did I find the crit much less scary than I imagined, I seemed to thrive in it. Finishing third here clinched a 2nd place in the GC. I won $30 for 2nd in the road race, $20 for 3rd in the crit, and $170 for 2nd in the GC. $220 for the weekend was about enough to cover gas for the ride home at $3.29/gal. Total GC points were 409 for Fred, the GC winner, 386 for me, and 355 for Kevin in 3rd place. The weekend was fabulously fun, and the whether could not have been better. I now should have enough racing experience to upgrade to Cat 4 next year. This will allow me to race in masters categories. Jason also did well, avoiding a few crashes in his Cat 4/5 33-under field and experienced no mishaps. He placed 31 in his GC, earning points in each stage.
62) Mt. Washington Hill Climb Road Race, 33rd Annual, NH
August 20, 2005. The forecast called for chance of
rain, chilly, and maybe windy. We got
two of the three. The rain held off
until nearly everybody finished the race.
After a so-so night’s sleep (maybe a couple hours worth), we got
to the race early this time. Checked in,
chatted with a few people, then got in a good 30+ minute warmup with a two
brief intervals. I wanted to get to the
line early, as I knew Ned Overend and Tyler Hamilton were going to be
there. Ned and Tyler slipped under the
line just moments before the race start, with
Time: 1:09:32 (18:21 back
overall)
4/140 40-44 Male
25/561 Finishers Overall
61) Mt Agamenticus Time-Trial, 2nd Annual, USCF, S.
August 14, 2005. Hard training week going into this
race. Wicked hard Wednesday night Exeter
Cycles ride, then hard lunch MTB ride on Thursday. Went easy Friday and Saturday, but still had
sore glutes and hamstrings Sunday morning before the race. Maybe yard work on Saturday did this. With a late 10:42 starting time, I was able
to get in a good warmup. It was hot
inland, but the wind seemed to be coming off the ocean so it was cooler in S.
Berwick. Riders went off every 30
seconds. I go off into the stiff
headwind for the first 3-4 miles.
Didn’t expect beating last year’s time in rain with
tailwind. I pass first rider on flat
part. Then a modest climb begins, maybe
200ft vert, before the course loses the vertical on a hill that turns to stony
washboard gravel. You hit this stuff
wicked fast, 30+ mph, and think you are either going to vibrate right off the
road or flat. I did neither, and in fact
kept the power down. I passed another
rider at a scary speed differential. The
gravel road was closed to oncoming traffic this time, so we could take the
whole road to find the best bits. The
fast gravel gives way to steep climbing gravel.
The first 200ft of the 500ft finishing climb is on dirt. The 23mm tires would slip if I stood, so this
had to be handled the seated spinning way.
Passed another rider on this part.
When pavement is reached again, the left is taken to the summit. Here another 300ft is gained, at times
approaching 14% grade. I used my granny
for this. Most others had standard road
gearing. I finished 15 seconds slower
than the year before, which I didn’t think was bad considering the
unfavorable wind this year. Most of the
Boston Scientific elite and masters teams were there as well as other very fast
guys. Race was extremely well organized
with many volunteers at all the right places.
Won a $50 gift certificate for Wheel Power bike shop in
Time: 23:10
2/35 35-44 Male (8 sec back)
11/89 Men Overall
August 7, 2005. My
fifth real road race on a perfect day. I
decided a few days earlier to do this race the day after Equinox in preparation
for the Green Mountain Stage Race in a month.
There, the prologue is a monster climb, then circuit race the next
day. For Bow, I signed up Cat 5,
35+. After reviewing the course profile
online, I thought this would be an easy win with fresh legs (a climber’s
course). But my legs weren’t going
to be fresh, so I didn’t really know how it would go. Course contained a big 500ft climb per lap,
with 893 feet total climbing per lap.
Cat 5’s do three 10.6 mile laps, and my start time was 8:40am when
it was still nice and cool out. I did a
very light 4 mile warm-up doing laps in the parking lot. The first lap of the race was uneventful,
very easy pace. Then on the climb
beginning the second lap, two guys from the same team attack on the steepest
part of the hill and draw a gap. I was
feeling ok, but I had already picked out where I was going to go for it about 3
miles out from the finish on the last lap.
But these guys were strong, and I figured what he heck, I’m here
to race, so let’s see what they got.
I came to the front of the pack of 50+ riders and chased these two down
before the top. I thought I was bringing
the whole pack with me, but to my surprise, only two others came with me. So now we’re 5 riders well off the
front with miles of rolling downhill and almost two laps to go. I asked the two that attacked if they were
going for it, they said yep, so I went to the front to work. We held the pack off on the rolling descent,
sometimes only 20 seconds back as the motorcycle escort would inform us. But one of the guys blew a sharp left turn
(fortunately just mowed grass, no crash) and never got back on. Now we had 4.
Then there are a couple more small climbs to the start/finish where I
think we dropped another rider, so now there are just three of us with a whole
lap to go. Coming through the finish
area and beginning the 500ft climb, the two riders I was working with had
trouble staying with me. I slowed a few
times to let them get back on. But I was
worried that the advantage we had was quickly dwindling, and we lose time to
the pack on the descent. So I took a
gamble and went for it alone. I got as
much time on the remainder of the climb as possible and tried not to blow up on
the long descent with 8 miles to go. Now
I had my own personal motorcycle escort behind and a car in front. Really cool I thought in my anaerobic
daze. Every couple miles, the escort
would let me know my time split, but I was nervous and kept looking back
anyway. After the race, the escort
kindly talked to me about this, said no need, and every time I look back I
wavered in my line. I’ll be more
trusting next time. But anyway, I never
saw the pack again, and after the last two or three small climbs back to the
finish area I had a sizeable lead on those chasing. I do like finishes where you can just roll
through for the win. In sprint finishes
I have to get out of everybody’s way.
This was my most fun road race.
Did some real racing and had to work hard a long time for this win,
unlike the Monson win a few weeks earlier.
I did get called a “sandbagger” at least 20 times before and
after this race though. USCF rules
require 10 races experience to upgrade to Cat 4. I now have 5 and a few Loudon training races,
so I’m close. After
Time: 1:27
1/42 Cat 5, 35+ (won by 50sec)
59) Mt Equinox Hillclimb, 2nd Annual,
August 6, 2005. Two-day race weekend, so was extra
careful tapering for Equinox this year.
Legs felt good warming up, temps were ideal, skies were clear. Did a somewhat brief 6 mile, 20 minute
warm-up. New for the climb this year was
a $500 cash prime for fastest first mile.
After seeing some of the fast names this drew in, I decided not to go
for it and just enjoy the climb and go for good overall finish. I went off with the first wave of 29 and
under and Top Notch (<50 minutes last year) riders. Many guys bolted at the gun, and I just
watched. I was still in view of the
three or so riders duking it out for the first mile. I passed several guys that gave up before the
first mile marker, and a couple more after it.
Then I held my place for the remaining 3+ miles of the climb, with at
least one rider never far behind or in front of me. My heart rate ran low for much of the race,
dropping as low as 166bpm. Only towards
the end did I get up much above 170bpm.
With a finish almost a minute slower than last year, I was a little
disappointed. I did not expect to do as
well as last year, as I felt that was a stellar effort. But a whole minute slower was a big lump to
swallow. I did eat a monstrous meal late
the night before at The Old Tavern in
Time: 43:03 (4:20 back)
3/39 Men 40-49
9/150 Finishers Overall
58) Mt Ascutney Hillclimb, 6th Annual,
July 23, 2005. Near perfect day. Just a tad warm for an overheater like
myself. Just right for most. I had hoped to break 30 minutes, as I failed
to finish in less than 30 minutes in two previous training climbs. PR set in 2004 is 29:16. Did about a 6 mile warmup, moderate intensity
with one good sustained burst. Legs felt
good, but continuing recent trend of low HR relative to effort. All pre-registered 35-44 year olds went off
in second wave. I popped off front like
usual, and this time I stayed there for the entire climb. Couple riders clung to my wheel for first
mile or so. Felt pretty good during the
climb, but ran much lower than usual HR.
Finished in 29:26, 10 seconds slower than my PR last year. Very happy with the result. Turns out another rider in my age class
registered same day as race, so he was placed in a fifth wave. He finished much quicker than I, so I ended
up second for age class. A 17 year old
took the overall win - very impressive.
Kerry Litka set a new women’s record at 31:40, crushing her own
record from the year before. I used my
Trek 5900 with 34:32 minimum gearing.
Bike now has custom chain minder to ward off those dreaded big ring to
bottom bracket chain drops. There is one
stretch on Ascutney where big ring is needed.
Last year I didn’t dare use it and spun out in 34t granny
ring. After Ascutney race, Jason, Glen
and I did a big
Time: 29:26 (10sec slower than
PR)
2/67 35-44
10/184 Overall
57) NH Cycling Club NHIS Training Series,
June 30, 2005. Oval course. First
time on NASCAR 1-mile main oval. Rode
with B’s to provide lead-out support for Jason who struggled on oval week
before. Temps dropped to reasonable,
stiff headwind on turns 1/2. A’s
and B’s did 30 laps, every third lap for points. First couple points laps I lost Jason on
leadout, others grabbing my wheel instead.
Being my first time teaming like this, I found it hard to be correctly positioned
in time for the leadout, which made it almost impossible for Jason to stay on
my wheel behind me. After a few
attempts, we did a couple laps where we got it right. We’d stay to the outside where I was
forced to take some wind, then with half lap (half mile) to go, we’d take
off. Being a strong time-trialer, the
pack let us go that early thinking we’d have no chance. But twice we drew huge gaps, getting Jason a
first one time and a second another time when a third guy jumped on
Jason’s wheel for the ride to the line.
Jason got 6 points for the night, bumping him back up to 2nd in the
B’s points standings. I got 6
points too, but points were not my objective for the night. We lapped the C’s two or three times,
but the A’s never caught us (they usually do catch the B’s). Wicked fun, and I provided huge leadouts for
9 of the 10 sprint laps. Each leadout
was a VO2max effort, reaching 95-99% MHR on most of the sprints.
B-race: 6 Points
Time: 1:11:20, Avg Speed about 25.3mph
June 18, 2005. Did this race totally on a whim. Forecast was for cool, potentially wet weather. I decided to try it after getting up early and checking online that precip was moving out. My goal was to get a good training ride in and gain race experience for upgrade to Cat 4. Having done intervals on Wednesday, which went terrible due to a lingering head cold, I really didn’t plan on being a contender in this race. I did not warm up before the race, anticipating a slow start. Temp was cool, just above 60 to start. Raced with the 30+ Cat 4/5 group, around 70-80 riders to start. I sat in first 48 miles of this race, at times heart rate falling below 100bpm on the descents. The course heads out about 10 miles to a ~23 mile loop that is done twice. The finish is not at the start, but out on this loop part way up a fairly steep climb. It was nice to ride through the finish first to set up some strategy, even though I wasn’t planning on doing much. During the last 8 miles of the race, things heated up. Many times riders, usually not more than two, would go off the front. It seemed one time a solo flyer got away with his team very effectively blocking. I was boxed in further back, unable to get out. Very frustrating. I eventually got through this blockade, about the same time we overtook the under-30’s. The lone flyer was reeled in. I stayed with the front few guys for the rest of the race, often out in front for extended periods of time, but the pace was not hard. I did not want to get boxed in again. Despite hurting from intervals on Wednesday, sitting in much of the race left my legs feeling pretty decent. Finally we reach the right-hand turn that commences the 305 foot climb to the finish. The climb goes something like this (per Polar altimeter data): About 200 feet are gained in the first half mile or so, and then the climb tapers off to almost being flat, but still gaining for half a mile. Then with less than 400m to go, the climb gains another 100ft of vertical at a very steep pitch. My plan was to not drop the pack up the first steep part, to relinquish the lead and draft on the flat if the pace was high enough to keep the sprinters at bay, then pop on the last steep part. This was the advice racing sage Keith gave me prior to the race. The plan worked marvelously. I was able to draft two riders at very high pace on the flattish part. I doubt I could have pulled at that pace (25mph slight uphill) AND then sprint the last 400m at a steep pitch for a win. As we came out of the flat part into the final steep part, the lead guy was spent. Gio in second got the same draft I did in third. Gio takes off. Now I’m totally redlined, thinking that second ain’t so bad when I came to this race with no expectations. With about 100m to go in pure hillclimb mode, Gio faded ever so slightly. I kept the power up, drawing a comfortable gap before crossing the line at 185bpm, my 100% max HR. Being my fourth road race, I’m learning when it’s important to be at the front and when break attempts should be addressed. At Sunapee a couple weeks earlier, I was chasing everything, as I was hoping to win, and I was dead by the finish. Not much sticks, so it’s better to just sit tight and save it for the end if going for a win. Almost felt guilty taking this win because it seemed like I did so little to earn it.
Time: 2:28:28
1/68 Men Cat 4/5 30+
55)
June 11, 2005. It seems every season I have to have at least one bad
race. Well, I hope this was it for
2005. 24 hours before race start, I came
down with a cold. To make matters worse,
it was predicted to be extremely hot race day, probably around 90F at race
start, extremely humid, and chance for thunderstorms. I fair far worse than most in the heat. Given this double whammy, I debated not even
driving 5 hours for this 1 hour sufferfest.
But I figured I paid for the race, paid for B&B, so I might as well
head over and do it. My expectations
warming up for the event were very low.
I was more worried about the heat than being sick. I did a very light warm up so as to not raise
my core temp before the big climb. I
lined up mid-pack with the 40-49 year olds.
Our wave goes off 10 minutes back from first wave. It took me 30 seconds or so to work my way to
the front. It was easy to pop off the
front. After a half mile or so of
holding a big gap, I thought to myself that there weren’t any strong
riders like last year that hung on to my wheel in the wind. However, as I made my way up towards the toll
house, first one rider comes around, then another. My HR was continuing to climb, but I could
tell my pace was slowing. The heat was
doing this. In a lab environment TT
study I did at UNH this winter, I learned I can reach dangerously high core
body temp in as little as 20 minutes in 95F heat at low humidity. The conditions today were worse than
that. After passing the toll house, one
more rider in my age group passed me, but there were no more after him. By now I was passing numerous 30+ age riders
who started 5 minutes earlier. I settled
into a thermally limited pace for the rest of the climb and comfortably held
onto 4th place in my age division. Based
on early season benchmarks, I anticipated beating last year’s PR of 50:26
on Whiteface by at least 30 seconds, with a slight chance this could give me an
overall win. 50:26 was good for 2nd
overall last year with that tough wind.
No wind tonight, but the heat was a far bigger factor than cold wind was
last year. As I approached the summit,
thunder and lightning were getting scary close.
Many riders had to finish with spectacular lightning going on. Never rained hard on the mountain, but spots
near the bottom got wet. I chose the
safety of a metal shield around me, not one propped under me like a lightning
rod, for the descent. Driving down
instead of riding down was a major disappointment. A few brave souls did ride back down.
Time: 54:04
4/78 40-49
12/206 Overall (5:52 back)
May 21, 2005.
Forecast was iffy with cold temps and rain, but the rain held off. Starting temp was just above 50F. The Cat 4/5 race ran two 23 mile hilly laps
around
Time: 1:52:58
22/77 Men Cat 4/5
53) Watershed Wahoo, EFTA New England Championship Series
#1,
May 15, 2005. It was supposed to rain the night before and day of the race. The rain never materialized until nearly everybody was off the course. Course was even dusty during the mass starts. Having properly tapered for this race, I felt good warming up 20 minutes before start time. Temp was in low 50’s, a little humid, which was perfect for an over-heater like me. The Senior-1s go off first, the Senior-2s a minute later, then the Vet-1s and Vet-2s in the next wave. The recent creation of separate Vet 1/2 categories put me in Vet 2, being 42 years old. As usual, I was timid on the messy 300ft descent and fell back to mid pack. This results in a 15 second hit worse case. Problem was, starting with Vet 1 and 2’s together made it hard to tell who I needed to stay ahead of. Some of my competition was now in the younger Vet 1 category, but I generally go for overall place anyway. Plus, we immediately began overtaking the slower Senoir-2s, making it impossible to tell who was who. I rode with my Polar S725 HR monitor this time, so I let it be my pacing guide. I kept the intensity constant and just kept picking riders off, having no idea if others in my category pulled away or not. Half way around the last lap I still felt strong, so I picked up the pace a bit to use what I had left. My legs immediately retaliated with some “you can’t do that” cramping warnings. I kept the power where it was at up the 300ft grind to the finish. I was somewhat surprised to find a couple of my toughest competitors not already up there. It was just starting to sprinkle as I finished. It then rained harder for 30 minutes or so, then back off for the awards. Very strong expert field was present, including Ben Moody, Noah Taylor, and Jon Hamblen. Also racing from BAE Systems was Steve, Mike, Randy, Emily, and Rob. A good race day.
Time: 1:45:09 (new PR for this
course)
1/12 Expert Vet2 (42-49) (won by 1:40)
9/64 Overall Expert Men
Ski-5)
March 5, 2005. 44.4km freestyle. Very cold overnight left my skis a bit slow
for the race start. I started on the
line this time, as I was in the second wave.
My double pole abilities were lacking, so I still fell back on the long
uphill double pole start. Once on the
trail, I quickly settled into a groove.
However, by the time I hit the second large climb, my asthma was giving
me serious trouble. Felt like I had a
gorilla sitting on my chest, things were so tight. The combination of cold air and extremely low
humidity was the root cause. These
conditions are the worst for those who suffer from exercise induced
asthma. I backed way down. Had no choice. I finished the first lap suffering this way
and skied much of the second lap at reduced capacity. Many skiers passed me during this period of
time. With about half a lap to go before
finishing, my lungs started coming back around and I picked up the pace. The snow temp was coming into my wax temp
range too. With a couple of crashes
right in front of me, I picked up a couple spots in the last few
kilometers. I finished strong, putting
good distance on the several guys that were right behind me. Overall a disappointing result, but this
course was not “killer” like Sugarloaf or
Time: 2:54:59 (50:00 back
overall)
12/20 Male 40-44
105/166 Overall
Ski-4) Weston Training Series,
February 22, 2005. 6km freestyle at night. Some recent snow left the course fairly soft, and just a tad thin in a couple spots. This time highest points skiers were seeded first, putting me at the back, having done only one race out of the series. Also, due to recent starting difficulties, we were required to double pole over the starting hill. Tough. Was stuck behind a bulge of skiers for two full laps before I could work around them. I then opened up, stringing out the pack of eight or so skiers, one staying right on my heels. He stayed there for the remaining two laps, and I was redlined like never before. Thought for sure I’d blow up before the end, but he didn’t have enough to come around me for the sprint finish. Five skiers finished within eight seconds behind me. Averaged 174bpm heartrate for the race, maxing at 182 crossing the finish. Analyzing the Polar S725 data that evening, I noticed my heart rate plummeted 82 bpm in 45 seconds, 61 bpm in 10 seconds after stopping. Did a total of 40km that evening with Arvid, which was many laps on the 1.5km course.
Time: 0:20:17 (3:15 back
overall)
15/39 Overall
Ski-3) Sugarloaf Marathon, Sugarloaf
February 12, 2005. 46km freestyle. Snowed for 36 hours before this race, dumping
20” of new snow on the course. The
groomers worked all night to pack it down, but the new snow didn’t have
enough time to firm up. Brett and I hit
the racer’s pasta dinner Friday night before the race. Ate way too much, as the pasta and bread were
very good. Likewise race day morning,
the Diamond Corner B&B breakfast was custom made for an endurance event:
baked oatmeal with yogurt, plus a side dish of granola oats/cranberries. Very good stuff. Temperatures ranged 17-25 during the race,
and I used Fast Wax Tan HF over Swix Violet.
Partly sunny skies, and a bit breezy.
Skis were slower than some, faster than some. After a brief, low intensity warmup, we (all
25k/50k/men/women) line up on a lake.
One giant wave goes off, I starting in third row. Big mistake.
There were several bottlenecks where the race literally became stop and
go. First one coming off lake onto
narrow trail, then each steep pitch for the first few kilometers. Eventually I pass numerous skiers and it
thins out some. I settle in with about 4
other guys moving at a pace I felt comfortable with. Then we hit “the wall.” 500 feet of climbing, nearly monotonically,
and steep. Two of the guys dropped, one
split off the front, and the last I stayed with on and off the rest of the
race. His skis were wicked fast on the
descents, so he’d pass me, but then I’d take him on the next
climb. This went on for good part of the
race. Then on the wall second time
around (two 23km laps), he drops me as I start having groin muscle spasms. I backed down, drank a lot of Gatorade from
my Camelbak, recovered some, then began picking the pace back up for the last
5-6km. My goals for this marathon were
to not finish last in age class, and to finish better than 3.5 hours. I was pretty sure guys in my age class were
well behind me, so I had that covered at this point, but the 3.5 hour goal was
looking grim. I picked the pace up as
much as I could without cramping. Within
2km to go, I saw the guy I was trading places with much of the race ahead of
me. I was gaining on him fast. Nearly took him at the finish, where he came
through 8 seconds ahead of me. So I just
squeaked in under 3.5 hours, and 4 guys my age finished behind me. In fact, a whole pack of skiers came through
only 4-6 minutes behind me. Overall,
this marathon went much better than
Time: 3:26:38 (51:44 back overall)
10/14 Male 40-44
39/72 Overall
Ski-2) Weston Training Series,
February 1, 2005. 7.2km freestyle at night. First time to Weston. With abundant snow, everything was open and
groomed, although Arvid and I stuck only to the 2.4km course. Did a few laps with some intensity as a
warmup. Still feeling my legs from a
brutal ski two days earlier at
Time: 0:24:35 (3:54 back
overall)
22/49 Overall
******* 2004
Race Season *******
52) Mt Greylock Hillclimb Time Trail, USCF Sanctioned, N.
October 3, 2004. The bad weather spell has been
broken. Heavy rain overnight cleared out
of the area early enough for the roads to dry up before race start. After three races in a row in rain or in mud
following rain, I finally get a dry one.
It was a picture perfect autumn day, calm winds, a bit chilly, but
brilliantly sunny. In fact, I got
sunburned (in October!). Fall colors
were just beginning to show. After a
respectable warm-up, I lined up for a 10:18am start time. My goal was simple: Beat last year’s time of 46:47 (in
pouring rain on heavy bike) and win Cat 5.
My legs weren’t particularly fresh having trained too hard
Wednesday and Thursday, and my weight was up a few pounds since slacking off
after
Time: 0:45:07 (6:00 back
overall)
1/42 Men’s Cat 5
8/121 Overall
51) Second Start MTB Race, EFTA New England
Championship Series #8,
September 19, 2004. Seems to be a pattern here –
racing in remnants of hurricanes or the day after they move through. Ivan dumped about 2.5” of rain on
Time: 1:53:26 (3:00 back)
4/14 35-44 Expert Veteran Men
12/47 Overall Expert Men
August 21, 2004. The forecast for the Mt Washington
summit for Saturday morning was dead on:
Cold, windy, and rainy. I pretty
much gave up any hope of setting an official PR today (I had set a PR of
1:07:46 in a practice climb in perfect weather a month earlier). We got to the mountain late. There was a long line of cars on Rt 16
waiting to get into the staging area. I
was running out of warm-up time, so I jumped out and rode bike to registration
to grab number and RF tag. Cathy
continued driving up to the summit.
Warm-up consisted of about 6 miles at moderate pace with one brief
interval on Rt 16, much less than I had wanted.
I shed all long layers at the starting line. The Top Notch wave went off with the cannon
about 5 minutes behind schedule, enough delay to start getting cold. I head out with the front of the Top Notch
pack, going to the right of the toll booth island. I fell into about 12th place as the pitch ramped
up. Over the next mile or so, a few more
riders came around me. My goal was to
finish in the top 20 this time around and forget about a PR with the crazy
weather. I was sitting at around 17th or
18th place for the next couple of miles when another rider passed me near the
half-way point. However, a rider ahead
of me had a mechanical of some sort and was walking down. From this point on, no others passed. The battery in my HRM was dying, but when it
worked, my HR was running extremely low, 160-168bpm, which also happened at the
Mt “A” TT the week before.
But today I felt good, no asthma, and perceived effort was modest. The first 4 miles were quite calm. Being low on the mountain and below tree line
kept the wind at bay. Plus it’s
all paved. At 3.8 miles, I was well on
my way to setting a PR with a best half-way time ever. But near the area called “The
Horn,” we ran into a vicious headwind.
Plus we had the gravel “5 Mile Grade” section to deal with
simultaneously. One climber likened the
gravel surface to silly putty. It
wasn’t sloppy, but it sure had a lot of resistance as your 23mm tires
made a nice track in it. At times, the
rain really stung in the face, plus my ears were freezing. After enduring an eternity of this suffering,
the surface finally turns back to pavement.
We get a couple little snippets of tailwind as the road meanders, but
mostly head or cross wind. The
visibility at this point was so poor, maybe less than 40 feet. But I could hear the crowd up top. At one point, I almost turned into one of the
parking lots when the spectators pointed out the correct direction up. The final 22% pitch wasn’t that
bad. My strength was still good and I
hammered it out of the saddle without taking the switchbacks fat. I didn’t know just how close the next
few riders were behind me for most of the second half since visibility was so
poor, but I knew they were close because I could hear the spectators cheer
right away again after I passed. My HRM was
too intermittent to pace myself, so I paced myself by how many seconds would go
by before I’d hear cheering again.
This worked well as I stayed 43 seconds ahead of the next finisher
behind me (first female finisher). When
I looked at current conditions in the visitor center, the winds were gusting
35-50mph, and the temp was about 50 degrees, not much colder than below, which
is rare. Before today, I had never
finished better than 32nd overall on
Time: 1:10:01 (11:11 back
overall)
4/133 40-44 Male
17/538 Finishers Overall
49) Mt Agamenticus Time-Trial, USCF Inaugural Event, S.
August 15, 2004. The race organizers describe the 7.4 mile paved/gravel course this way: “Could be muddy, might be dusty, probably be bumpy... Are you up for the challenge? Leave your expensive trick equipment at home! No TT bars will be allowed and fragile wheels are discouraged on this scenic, quirky, and tough course.” The remnants of hurricane Charley moved in overnight. Not much wind, just rain. The 1.4 mile gravel section was muddy. I used my Dean road bike with a triple and 23mm tires. I took the PowerTap wheel off the night before so I wouldn’t risk contaminating it with water (an earlier generation problem). It was cool and drizzly for the TT. During the warmup for my 8:28am start time, I noticed I couldn’t get my HR up. Touch of asthma too. Don’t know why, as I felt I tapered perfectly for this event. As I started the TT, I found it extremely hard to get my HR above threshold (around 167bpm), or in other words, perceived exertion was very high relative to my heart rate. I kept putting the power down though. I found the first downhill section of yellowish gravel to be a bit squirrelly and backed off. The grayish gravel beginning the 500ft climb to the summit was much more firm. Towards the end I was able to get my HR up to 171, but I have averaged higher than this on the longer Ascutney TT. I averaged 165bpm for the Agamenticus TT, the lowest of any TT I’ve done. Still placed well however, but next year I’ll have a baseline to compare myself against. This was a fun course that throws a bit of everything at you: flat pavement, rough muddy gravel, and sustained steep grades. You could be a good flat time-trialer and get clobbered on the hill, or you could be a mountain goat and get whooped on the flat. Mountain bike or cyclocross skills will give you confidence on the squirrelly dirt sections. The TT was a good broad test of fitness and skill. I saw full suspension mountain bikes, hardtails, ‘cross and road bikes on the course. The event was very well organized, and the course was well marshalled. Turn-out was good despite crappy weather and first-time event. Looking forward to trying this one again next year.
Time: 22:55 (0:27 back)
1/22 40-49 Male
2/56 Finishers Overall
48) Mt Equinox Hillclimb, Inaugural Event,
August 7, 2004. After learning my lesson on Ascutney,
I began my taper for Equinox a little earlier.
Legs felt fully fresh in the morning.
Temps were very chilly, probably in 40’s. Fog enveloped the base of the mountain,
clouds shrouded the summit. Partly sunny
in between. After a somewhat brief 6
mile, moderate warm-up, I felt ready.
Lined up with the 49 and under’s.
The starting gun misfired, but we went anyway. Like on Whiteface, I popped well of the front
and I felt I wasn’t even going hard.
Maybe at mile one, Bill Emerson (overall winner) passes me. Benoit Fradette was close behind me for much
of the climb, but with a mile or so to go he came by slowly. I was pretty near max’d out, and since
4th place guy was way back, I felt quite comfortable taking 3rd
place. The famed 28% grade section just
wasn’t there, but the inside edges of the hairpin switchbacks were nasty
steep. Other than one brief downhill,
the climb is a pretty steady 10-14% grind.
Just like
Time: 42:09 (1:18 back)
2/23 40-49
3/74 Finishers Overall
47) Mt Ascutney Hillclimb, 5th Annual,
July 24, 2004. Was raining when I left home at 6:30am, but was clear and drying when I got to Ascutney. Perfect temp for hillclimb. During warmup, I could feel my legs were not fresh. Hard training rides on Tues/Wed were too close to Sat with only two days to taper/recover. In first quarter mile of hillclimb, guys I thought I should’ve been able to stay with dropped me. Couldn’t get HR up to where I wanted it for <30 minute effort. I was not only worried about missing setting a PR today, but maybe not even finishing under 30 minutes. The race organizers placed me in the 35-44 wave even though I requested the <30 minute first wave when I registered. They fixed this for me before the race, and now I thought I would let everybody down. I did manage to beat my PR by 14 seconds (and 38 sec faster than last year on same Trek 5900), but I placed much lower in both age and overall than in previous years. This was mostly due to a number of Pro/1/2 riders showing up. Some of the Luois Garneau guys were there, and so was Peter Hult, who set a new course record of 24:50. Unbelievable. This climb seemed to hurt more than I recall. Glen and I did the post hillclimb loop out to Okemo Mtn for some more climbing action. Set a PR here too, at 31:54. Not that impressive unless you consider that the only times I climb Okemo are after time-trialing Ascutney. In other words, my legs are toast by the time I ride out to Okemo. I used my cross bike with disk brakes for this ride with 39x34 lowest ratio, but surprisingly it didn’t seem like too big a gear. About 70 miles and 6500+ feet of vertical for the day. My legs had nary a twitch left in them by the time we wrapped up the day’s cycling.
Time: 29:16 (PR, 29:30 in 2001)
4/48 35-44
12/167 Overall
46)
June 19, 2004. Was rainy and warm leading up to this event. As the rain cleared out late in the day, the
temperature dropped and a nasty wind out of the west picked up. The first 3 miles of the climb heads directly
west, into the wind. I do like cool
temps, but the wind dashed any hopes of hitting a new PR. It was rumored that it was 50 degrees with 50
mph gusts up top. So at 5:30, the 29 and
under’s go off, 5 minutes later, the 30-39’s go off, and my wave of
40-49’s 5 minutes after that. Like
last year, I bolted at the start and drew a huge gap from the pack. Didn’t intend to, just didn’t
think I was going that hard. After about
the first mile, I began to suffer driving into that nasty wind. I looked back and freaked. The pack of 91 other riders was on my
wheel! Thought I was doomed. I picked the pace up a bit, taking two riders
with me. One asked if we could work
together (at 9mph!), and I said ok. But
when I let him up front, the pace slowed too much. At around the 4 to 5 mile mark, the road
begins to head mostly south, so now there was a crosswind. The climb became each rider vs. gravity. There was no refuge in hugging another’s
wheel. So I stood up, and hammered for
about 30 seconds, drawing a 200ft gap. I
now was able to grow the gap with the same effort before dropping the other
two. At this point I knew I would take
first for the age category, but I would have to wait until the barbeque back at
the bottom after the race to see how I did overall. The summit was much colder than 50 degrees I
think. You could see your breath. The wind was maybe a steady 25mph, with gusts
to 40mph by my estimate. It was so cold
that race officials started letting riders ride back down before many climbers
had even finished. View from top was
best yet, simply spectacular. No speed
records going down. The wind was just
too unpredictable. Best hillclimb to
date.
Time: 50:26 (PR, 51:03 in 2003)
1/92 40-49 (won by 1:39)
2/233 Overall (2:21 back)
45) The Pinnacle, EFTA New England Championship Series
#4, Newport, NH
June 13, 2004. Absolutely perfect weather weekend, temps in 70’s,
dry, sunny. Rained a lot late in week
though. Decided Saturday to race Sunday
morning even though I didn’t execute a proper recovery taper for fresh
legs. Thought a two-lap, 16 mile race
couldn’t be that hard, it would be fun.
Took Dean Colonel with semi-knobby twister pro tubeless tires. Lined up, feeling good about the race, not
really worrying about outcome, other than I “just” wanted a podium
finish. Well, less than a mile into the
race, I knew I was in trouble. Already
getting dropped by top guys in my field.
Then we hit the singletrack. The
course was about 80% rock and root infested singletrack. Many areas had a thin film of black brownie
mix thrown in for good measure. I went
over the bars once, into a tree another time.
Tore clothing, cracked helmet, and wore a hole through my newest pair of
gloves. Just brutal. Averaged only 8 mph on this course. After race, everybody generally concurred
that the new, singletrack expanded course was wicked fun but wicked hard to
race. Nearly everybody had a story to
tell. My legs weren’t quite up to
par, but even with completely fresh legs, I wouldn’t have done well. Still a fun way to spend a perfect Sunday
morning and get in an excellent workout (minus the cuts and bruises). Took a couple days to recover from this one.
Time: 1:58:27
7/17 Expert Veteran Men (35-44)
24/62 Overall Expert Men
44) Watershed Wahoo, EFTA New England Championship Series
#1, Auburn, NH
May 16, 2004. Rainy 60 degree day.
Was supposed to dry up. Did a
negligible warm-up. Was really worried
about the drive-train sucking up in mud like it did in SoCal in February. Was worried about glasses fogging over. After the Senior II’s took off in front
of us and a bunch of them piled in right after the start, I knew this
wasn’t going to be an easy race. I
never had a good race in rain. That
changed today. The Veterans go off
next. I end up mid pack on a narrow
two-track descent chock full of brownie mix covered embedded rocks. Miraculously, nobody went down. Slowly over the first lap I picked off the
riders in my wave that got a jump. Even
passed a couple riders on the descent known as “the chute” at
speeds which great bodily harm seemed eminent.
By the second lap, I had picked off many of the riders from the first
two waves. By the time I came to the
chute the second time, I was by myself and no-braked the descent. Was pure adrenaline delight. Never mind I couldn’t see through the
mud on my glasses by this point. I let
up some on laps three and four so I wouldn’t blow up before the end, but
I was still having fun lapping the other riders on the course. Maybe it was the racer being carried out on a
stretcher that slowed me down.
Don’t know. Had many close
calls at very high speeds myself.
Anyway, I get to the 300+ foot climb to the finish after lap four, and I
was worried I let up too much that my field would catch back up to me. Didn’t happen this time. Won by two minutes, setting a new PR for this
course by over six minutes (in muddy conditions to boot!), and having my best
overall finish in a MTB race to date.
New tubeless Continental Twister Pro’s worked very well. The rain may have been a blessing in disguise
in my case, as it knocked the pollen count and temperature down. Asthma and heat exhaustion were factors in
previous poor results. Won a nice crystal-like
award. At the awards, Jack Chapman
mentioned that three riders were transported by ambulance to the hospital.
Time: 1:45:53 (PR for this
course)
1/21 Expert Veteran Men (35-44)
4/70 Overall Expert Men
43) NH Cycling Club NHIS Training Series,
May 6, 2004. Frontier course. Small
circuit, about 1 mile loop on side of hill with gradual climb to sprint
line. Couple of moderately tight
downhill turns. Did 21 laps. First time riding in the A pack. Very fast hold on for dear life pace. Thought I took one of the sprints with 9 laps
to go, but three guys had already snuck off the front. Very hard to keep track of whose in front on
such a small course with four simultaneous groups (A, B, C, and first-timer D
groups) sprinting for points and getting strung out all over the place.
A-race: No Points
Time: 0:53:20, Avg Speed about 23.8mph
42) Rock and Road
May 2, 2004. Woke up, still very nice weather out, and decided to try
this nearby race. Thought maybe a
no-stress race would be fun, and this time I would stick to my plan I had for
Time: 0:54:50
1/38 Men Cat 5
41) Jiminy
May 1, 2004. My first real road race.
Jiminy Peak Road Race is considered a
Time: 2:22:57
6/80 Men Cat 4/5
February 7, 2004. 50km freestyle.
My first ski race, and my most tortuous sufferfest to date. As a newbie skate skier, I really
didn’t know what I was getting into here.
There is some consensus that the
Time: 3:48:04 (1:28:46 back
overall)
10/10 Male 40-44 (3 DNFs)
62/65 Overall
******* 2003
Race Season *******
40) Iron Cross Cyclocross Race,
October 19, 2003. Touted as “the longest, toughest, baddest
‘cross race in the
Time: 3:49:34
5/69 Men Overall, 19 min, 31 sec back
39) Mt. Greylock Hill Climb Road Race, N. Adams, MA
September 28, 2003. Finally get to do this grass-rootsy hillclimb. About 32 brave souls showed up to hammer up
Mt Greylock in pouring rain. Times were
a little slower than average, but I beat my practice time on a lighter bike by
a few minutes. I just couldn’t
bring my Trek 5900 out there in that slop.
It was raining so hard that at one point near the top of the mountain
water about 4” deep was rushing down the road. Every time I stood to hammer, the rear wheel
would slip. I placed first in my age
class out of unknown number. Was much
colder and windy up top, and had the AMC shelter not been open, I would have
froze. Had to get a ride down with some
race volunteers. Peter Hult was there,
and of course, won by a large margin.
Time: 46:47
3/32? Overall, about 6 minutes back
38) Mt. Ascutney Hill Climb Road Race,
July 26, 2003. 5 seconds slower than last year on 4 lb lighter Trek 5900
bike. Was shooting for sub 29 minute
time, so a little disappointed. Still
managed 3rd for the 35-44 year old age class, and beat a competitor that beat
me good on Whiteface where I had a good ride. Nobody older than me beat
me, so I shouldn’t whine too much.
5th overall is best placing to date on this hill. Nice day for the
race, nearly ideal. Did 60 mile loop including climb up nearby Okemo Mtn
after race with Joey B. About 6500 feet of vertical for the day.
Time: 29:54
3/45 35-44 Men
5/139 Overall, 4 min, 11 sec back
37) Wachusett Mountain Hill Climb Series #1, USCF
Sanctioned,
July 23, 2003. Approx. 1200 feet of climbing in 4.1 miles up
Time: 18:37
7/31 Overall, 2 min, 30 sec back
36) NH Cycling Club NHIS Training Series, USCF
Sanctioned,
July 3, 2003. Second time to the track.
Raced on the “road” course at the NH International Speedway,
the site of NASCAR races. Stayed with
the “B” category with full-blown head cold going on, a total of 15
laps for around 23 miles. Won the points
race. Laps 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 are
points laps. Laps 9 and 15 were double
points, or 6-4-2 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd over line. I took lap 3 with huge solo lead, did not
contest lap 6, broke away on lap 7 and took double points on lap 9 with even
bigger lead, backed off a while to let pack catch up, but a chaser reached me
first and said “let’s go.”
So we held a huge lead rest of race, he let me take 12th lap, I let him
take final 15th lap. Score board said I
had 13 points, but they either didn’t count lap 12 due to bad crash at
finish line or missed us way out front.
Will probably race with the A’s next time. Average speed was about 24.0 mph.
B-race: Won with 13 points total
24.0mph avg, 36.5 mph max
35) Bear Brook Challenge, EFTA New England Championship
Series #5, Allenstown, NH
June 29, 2003. Finally get to race my favorite riding spot again. Was very hot day and I didn’t know at
the time I was coming down with a cold.
Was miserable race experience.
New Michelin tubeless tires did not hook up at all. Probably ran way too much air (35F/40R). Went down twice, bloodying up both legs. Then heat took toll and I had to back way
off. I was in podium position before
backing off, but many riders blasted past me in last half of last lap. July 27 Postscript: Actually was coming down with cold that
degenerated into bronchitis.
Didn’t know I was getting sick during the race. Was on antibiotics for 10 days, really
putting a dent in the training plan to peak for Mt Washington Hillclimb in
August.
Time: 1:57:59
6/15 Expert Men 35-44
23/49 Overall Expert
34) Whiteface Mountain Hill Climb, 2nd Annual,
June 21, 2003. 3502 feet of climbing in 8.0 miles up
Time: 51:03
2/98 40-49 Men
7/253 Overall, 3 min, 53 sec back
33) Wachusett Mountain Hill Climb Series #1, USCF Sanctioned, Westminster,
MA
May 28, 2003. Approx. 1200 feet of climbing in 4.1 miles up
Time: 18:51
9/59 Overall, 2 min, 33 sec back
32) Watershed Wahoo, EFTA New England Championship Series #2, Auburn, NH
May 18, 2003. Perfect 70 degree day for race. Flatted bad first lap. Lousy Hutchinson Python tires that screwed up
my first MTB race last season bit me again.
They went in the trash. Going to
have to look into tubeless setup. After
losing 6-8 minutes figuring out whether tire was salvageable or not (1/2”
gash) and then fixing it, I committed to remainder of the race, although at a
less than enthusiastic pace. Still
finished mid-field at 8th out of 23.
Actual riding time was 1:46:50, which would have put me in 1st place
Expert Veteran, 5th place overall. The
2002 national cyclocross champion Jonathan Page from team Prime Alliance showed
up for this race and set new course record.
Time: 1:53:27
8/23 Expert Men 35-44
19/59 Overall Expert
31) NH Cycling Club NHIS Training Series, USCF
Sanctioned,
May 15, 2003. First criterium style road race. Raced on the “road” course at the
NH International Speedway, the site of NASCAR races. Cool place to race bicycles. Wide, smooth surfaces, and even hills on the
road course which leaves the main oval.
Raced in the “B” category, a total of 15 laps for around 23
miles. Took second in total points
(every third lap is points sprint lap), won first sprint on third lap, and won
the sprint to the finish with a huge gap.
Will probably race with the A’s next time. Most of the race was quite slow, the
A’s average around 25 mph.
B-race: 2nd place
with 15 points total
22.6 mph avg, 34.0 mph max
******* 2002 Race Season *******
30) Mt. Washington Hill Climb Road Race, NH
August 24, 2002. Third year on the “rock pile”. Dubbed
the “toughest hill climb in America:” 4727 ft of vertical in 7.6
miles, 12 % average grade, 22% maximum grade near top. This year, near
zero wind, resulting in both men’s and women’s records being shattered.
Title sponsor handed over two $5000 checks. This year I geared the Dean
El Diente down to a 28 front, 25 back. I ran 30/25 last year. Still
seemed like a big gear to push, as most of my training for the past year has
taken on a very high cadence. Finished 23 seconds slower than last
year. Good climb, but just shy of the podium.
Time: 1:09:11
5/128 Men 40-44
33/537 Overall Finishers
29) Landmine Mountain, EFTA New England Championship Series #6, Hingham, MA
August 11, 2002. Perhaps one my most unpleasant races to date.
Temps in the humid 90’s and no water on the course, again! This was
a long 28.3 mile race on a very technical course one respectable ~150ft climb
and four or five lesser climbs per lap. Experts did five laps. I
became overheated and dehydrated by the end of the third lap and nearly bagged
it on the four lap when a female rider passed me. I stuck it out though,
still got a few points for 6th place. I estimate there were 25 expert
veterans at the start line, but only 15 results posted. That’s a
40% attrition rate! I talked to numerous riders that dropped out due to
heat exhaustion. My observation of the expert vets that beat me is that
the smaller a guy you are, the less impact heat has on your performance.
If it weren’t for the heat, this would have been a very fun course to
race.
Time: 2:47:35
6/15 Expert Veteran Men (35-44)
24/49 Overall Expert Class
28) Wachusett Mountain Hill Climb Series #3, USCF Sanctioned,
July 31, 2002. 90 degrees and breezy. Times were slower on
average. Mine was off 9 seconds from my best. This was fast enough
to take 3rd place though. A couple of the faster Cat 1/2 riders
didn’t show up, which always helps too. Did customary Longsjo loop
with second summit climb after the time-trial.
Time: 18:51
3/42 Overall, 34 seconds back
27) Mt. Ascutney Hill Climb Road Race,
July 27, 2002. 19 seconds slower than last year, but just squeezed out
2nd place this year over 3rd last year for the 35-44 year old age class.
Dropped one place overall to 7th place. Nice day for the race, a little
warm and muggy. Did 60 mile loop including climb up nearby Okemo Mtn
after race with another competitor. Over 6300 feet of vertical for the
day.
Time: 29:49
2/52 35-44 Men
7/151 Overall, 4 min, 20 sec back
26) All Out in Moody Park, EFTA New England Championship Series #5,
Claremont, NH
July 14, 2002. Near opposite conditions from last year’s mud.
This year: dust bowl with zero mud and no water station on course. I
became dehydrated 3/5 of the way into race and had to back off, settling for a
4th place finish. The next morning I was still hacking up black
stuff. Other than the dust and lack of water, it was a super race, one of
the most fun courses on the EFTA circuit. No dabs for the entire race
except for coming up the back side of the “gravity cavity.” I
so no one make it up that loose sand.
Time: 1:54:55
4/15 Expert Veteran Men (35-44)
15/52 Overall Expert Class
25) Whiteface Mountain Hill Climb, 1st Annual,
June 22, 2002. 3502 feet of climbing in 8.0 miles up
Time: 52:10
4/47 30-39 Men
12/169 Overall, 7 min, 8 sec back
24) Wachusett Mountain Hill Climb Series #2, USCF Sanctioned,
June 19, 2002. Took a huge 40 seconds off time from three weeks
earlier. Speculation suggests not making two mistakes (braking on only
switchback, almost missing left turn to summit), slightly more favorable wind
(as if that matters at 9 mph), and warming up with more intensity may have
contributed to the improvement. Seems everybody’s times were a
little faster, I gained only 9 seconds on the winning time.
Time: 18:42
10/57 Overall, 2 min, 3 sec back
23) Bradbury Mountain Challenge, EFTA New England Championship Series #3,
Pownal, ME
June 2, 2002. Last year all over again. While queuing up at the
start, it thundered, hailed, and poured on us. Rain promptly stopped, but
not before turning the course into brownie mix. Only difference from last
year: The race director had us experts do the full three-lap race.
Result was less than stellar, due in part to racing Hutchinson Pythons.
They are NOT a good mud tire. Paramedics were busy at this race.
Time: 2:46:52
5/21 Expert Veteran Men (35-44)
29/66 Overall Expert Class
22) Wachusett Mountain Hill Climb Series #1, USCF Sanctioned,
May 29, 2002. Approx. 1200 feet of climbing in 4.1 miles up
Time: 19:22
12/60 Overall, 2 min, 12 sec back
21) Watershed Wahoo, EFTA New England Championship Series #2,
May 19, 2002. Same four-lap, 27 mile race as last year. Snowed day
before, so course was very wet. Broke away with two others from start,
and dropped them after two laps. Held first place spot for most of
race. Kept the Hutchinson Pythons that flatted in previous race (good
gamble). Tires feel like an inch of well damped suspension, great for
fast gravely course. Coming down with a cold earlier in week may have
been a good thing, slowing me down just enough to fully recover from perpetual
hard riding. I won $60 for riding my bike. Wahoo!!
Time: 1:51:54
1/17 Expert Veteran Men (35-44)
5/46 Overall Expert Class
20) Spring Boogie, EFTA New England Championship Series #1, Burrillville, RI
April 28, 2002. Pouring rain, 40 degrees, brownie mix course.
Flatted at end of first lap. Forgot to throw spare tube in
Camelbak. Joined two others who just flatted in same spot walking out of
woods. Appears to have been tiny puncture. First race on Hutchinson
Pythons made me suspicious though. First mishap in 20 races.
Time: DNF
******* 2001 Race Season
*******
19) 2nd Start Enduro, EFTA New England Championship Series,
October 14, 2001. Very challenging dirt bike course. Drizzly, many
slippery rock gardens. Foggy glasses and starting 90 riders back made for
a tough race. Raced Ellsworth full-suspension for first time.
Conclusion: Not a good XC race bike. Bottom bracket sits full
2” higher than my hardtails, making tight trail work cumbersome.
Inefficiencies in simple single-pivot design meant more work required
too. Best to reserve the Ellsworth for all-day epics, my main intent for
the bike.
Time: 2:41:47
5/33 Expert Veteran Men (35-44)
12/88 Overall Expert Class
18)
September 30, 2001. 50 miles with 8100 feet of steep climbing makes this
the grand daddy of races in the EFTA series. Had repeat perfect weather
of last year – heavy frost on ground but warming to sunny 60 by
mid-day. Course was slower this year with more singletrack. Took
one nasty wrong turn that cost me at least five minutes. Talked to some
riders after the race that were lost for 45 minutes and dropped out of
race. Many poorly marked turns and intersections.
Time: 5:04:56
3/33 Expert Veteran Men (35-44)
10/107 Overall Expert Class
10/650 Riders Starting Race
17) Horror at Harding Hill, EFTA New England Championship Series, Sunapee,
NH
September 23, 2001. Picture perfect
Time: 1:53:16
9/22 Expert Veteran Men (35-44)
24/55 Overall Expert Class
16) Big Bang, EFTA New England Championship Series,
September 9, 2001. Two wrong turns, one high-speed crash, broken rear
spoke, and a broken pedal –- still took 2nd place Expert Vet (1st place
finisher races pro on the NORBA circuit). Experts did two laps for a
total of about 22 miles.
Time: 2:11:44
2/16 Expert Veteran Men (35-44)
13/55 Overall Expert Class
15) Mt. Washington Hill Climb Road Race, NH
August 25, 2001. Second time on the “rock pile”, first time
in “Top Notch” category, podium finish. Dubbed as toughest
hill climb in
Time: 1:08:48
3/92 Veteran Men (35-39)
32/528 Overall Finishers
14) The Pinnacle,
August 12, 2001. Four 4 mile laps. Course consisted of 570 foot
climb in 2 miles and steep descent in 1.6 miles. Very fun course with
technical climbing and descending. No mud!
Time: 1:43:00
3/7 Expert Veteran (35-44)
10/23 Overall Expert Class
13) Mt. Ascutney Hill Climb Road Race,
July 28, 2001. 2250 feet vertical in 3.7 miles. First 1.25 miles
has sustained 19% grade sections, which were very demoralizing. Did much
better than last year’s time of 34:38. Four pound lighter bike,
four pound lighter body, no tools/Camelbak/water, and stronger legs makes the
difference. The Dean El Diente exceeded my expectations in climbing
efficiency.
Time: 0:29:30
3/63 Male 35-44
6/168 Overall Finishers
12) All Out In Moody Park, EFTA New England Championship Series, Claremont,
NH
July 15, 2001. Five 4 mile laps. Several hundred feet of climbing
per lap. Snotty, rooty, singletrack downhill. Nice high speed jump
near top of course. The “gravity cavity” was a real
hoot. Go from 10 to 40 mph in two seconds. Crashed into a female
sport rider that stop in fear on a slippery bridge. Finished 1 second
behind 2nd place.
Time: 1:52:41
3/16 Expert Veteran (35-44)
19/56 Overall Expert Class
11)
June 3, 2001. Two 9 mile laps in 50 degree drizzle. Mostly brownie
mix as it rained 2”-3” in the 36 hours right up to the start of the
race. Many of the climbs on the small mountain were fights against
torrents of water. My Average speed was only 6.8 mph. Not many
people finished this race. Many gave up after the first lap or broke
stuff. Approximately 50% of the second lap was a hike-a-bike
effort. It was just easier and faster to hike the knee deep goo in many
places than try to ride it and be surprised by what lurks inside.
Time: 2:33:44
4/13 Expert Veteran (35-44)
25/47 Overall Expert Class
10) Watershed Wahoo, EFTA New England Championship Series,
May 20, 2001. Four 6.5 mile laps. Mostly gravel two-track, 500 feet
vertical per lap, FAST! Advertised as a speedfest, I thought of it more
as an anaerobic pukefest. Finish consisted of a sprint between third
place finisher and myself up steep 300 foot Tower Hill.
Time: 1:51:55
4/21 Expert Veteran (35-44)
14/58 Overall Expert Class
9) Spring Boogie, EFTA New England Championship Series, Burrillville, RI
April 29, 2001. Four 6.5 mile laps. Stone walls, bottomless mud pits,
river crossing, and bumpy virgin singletrack made for a body pounding
race. Seemed fast, but average speed just under 10 mph. Third ride
ever on new Dean Colonel bike, first ride this season on it. Got lucky,
everything seemed to be pretty well dialed in. Only complaint:
Ritchey Pro pedals don’t do so well in mud.
Time: 2:36:06
5/27 Expert Veteran (35-44)
22/85 Overall Expert Class
******* 2000 Race Season
*******
8)
October 1, 2000. Tough. Started at 6:30 am, barely enough light,
frost on ground. 7300 ft vertical, 51+ miles through mountainous central
Time: 5:02:24
9/35 Expert Veteran (35-44)
20/104 Overall Expert Class
21/600 Overall
7) Horror at Harding Hill, EFTA
September 24, 2000. Drizzle conditions. Three laps for about 15
miles total. Major mud. Lost shoe in one of the mud bogs.
This was my third Eastern Fat Tire Association (EFTA) race and it gave me
enough promotion points to bump me into expert class. Used Trek hardtail
since course was not too rough.
Time: 1:31:55
1/28 Sport Veteran (35-44)
2/95 Overall Sport Class
6) Mt. Washington Hill Climb
August 19, 2000. Grand daddy of hill climbs in the East. 4727 ft of
vertical in 7.6 miles. 12.5 % average grade, 22% maximum grade near
top. Finish in less than 1:20 puts me in the “Top Notch,”
first rider wave class (with Olympians) for next year’s race.
Perfect day for race, around 60 at base, 39 at summit. Used Specialized
Allez road bike, triple ring crank with 26-tooth granny up front, and up
to 25-tooth cog in back.
Time: 1:14:49
13/100 Male 35-39
64/611 Overall
5) Hillsboro Classic, EFTA New England Championship Series
August 6, 2000. Second EFTA race, long 32 miles with climbs from
Hades. 3000+ feet vertical in mountainous southern NH. Mix of
single and two track, mud everywhere. Organizers said it rained everyday
in July except for one prior to the race. Raced Giant dualie which served
me well on the long, rocky descents.
Time: 2:43:22
1/63 Sport Veteran (35-44)
2/165 Overall Sport Class
32/441 Overall
4) Mt. Ascutney Hill Climb
July 29, 2000. 2250 feet vertical in 3.7 miles. First 1.25 miles at
19% grade, which was very demoralizing. Even though this race is half the
vertical and distance, it is harder than the
Time: 0:34:38
9/33 Male 35-44
21/90 Overall Finishers
3) Mount Snow, NORBA National Championship Series
June 23, 2000. Second race of the 2000 season. Sport class, two
laps, 1260 feet vertical per lap. The single track descent was brownie
mix covered roots, rocks, and slosh pits. Saw one rider take a header and
nearly submersed himself and bike in a mud hole. Never saw so many
endo’s in one day before. Raced Giant FS, which definitely smoothed
out the rooty, rocky descent.
Time: 1:39:18
2/73 Sport Master (35-44)
2) Bear Brook Classic, EFTA
June 11, 2000. First EFTA sanctioned race. 24 miles of mostly
single track at 10,000 acre
Time: 2:11:28
4/43 Sport Veteran (35-44)
12/132 Overall Sport Class
******* 1999 Race Season
*******
1)
August 21, 1999. First race. Beginner class, one lap, 1369 feet
vertical per lap. It rained all night the night before and during the
race. Mount snow is infamous for it’s slime covered roots in good
conditions. Didn’t do as well as I expected. The result
prompted me to buy a road bike and grow some legs and lungs.
Time: 0:57:02
7/45 Beginner Master (35-44)
