My Superweek hath cometh

One week from now, I’ll have had five days of racing: Exeter Criterium and the Fitchburg Longsjo Cycling Classic. Jelly legs to come.

Exeter finished up about 24 hours ago.  This was my first Pro/1/2/3 race I’ve done this season (not including Collegiate A races, which are technically Pro/1/2/3 races).  1 hour. 80 starters. 27 mph average.  Pain.Pain.Pain.  Tons of pros at the race: Ted King, Adam Myerson, Justin Spinelli, Jonathan Page, etc. etc. 

All of us GLV guys lost the Race-Before-the-Race and started at the back of the field – not a good situation.  I was in decent position nestled in the middle of the pack after weaseling my way up after 2 laps.  A crash happened just a few riders ahead and AJ had no choice but to run right into it.  I was right behind him and (like at Nationals) I was forced to slam on the breaks and Tokyo Drift around the mess to the left.  Tristan immediately commented on the move, and it was after that that he and I were totally screwed – we were at the back once again and moving up proved to be next to impossible.  We ended up hanging on until the end.  After taking a look at the results, however, it looks like Keith and I finished 3rd and 4th out of the select few Cat. 3s that finished.  End result was that Keith and I finished 41st and 45th, respectively. 


While I’m looking forward to Fitchburg, I’m disappointed about the upcoming race for a few reason.  The stage race is unequivocally the cornerstone of cycling racing in New England, but the fields are small this year.  Normally by now the Men 4 field has been full for a few weeks and the Men 3 isn’t even at 100 riders yet.  Sure, the economy is down, but hat better way is there to try and make some money while having fun than by racing?  You may dish out the entry fee and not make a dime of it back, but you’re going to have fun racing a top-notch NRC event.

The second reason for my disappointment goes towards my team.  I love the guys and gals on the squad, but our showing at Fitchburg is weak, at best.  At the moment, only Chris and I are signed up to race.  I understand that people have jobs and other commitments, but we’ve been talking about having a large team at the 2010 Fitchburg for the last year – more than enough time to save money, train, and request time off.  Just three more guys in the Men 3 field on our team would offer us a controlling race aspects and the ability to duke it out against the likes of Colavita and the teams from NY.  People are consistently sorry they aren’t able to do it – maybe next year.  Chris and I are strong racers, but more importantly we’re both smart racers and Connecticut Stage race proved that we work well together.