Ta Herrera's First Person Report from Salem Witches Cup

 

You Gotta Hang on Tight at 30mph!!

 

 

Ignoring forbidding black thunderheads and NOAA’s small craft advisory (my Giant TCR Advanced 1 is, after all, a size Medium/Large), I headed down to Salem, MA on Wednesday Aug. 6 to contest the Salem Witches’ Cup Classic with the Pro/1/2/3 field.  One of the oldest on the New England circuit, this race orbits the Salem Common, a triangular patch of grass where in a bygone era colonists grazed their cattle, townsfolk hurled rotten produce at ne’er-do-wells detained in the stocks, and many purported witches met a grisly fate without the benefit of due process.

On this fine (and thunderstorm-free!) evening, however, a beer garden was constructed on the Common, and the feature spectacle consisted of 85 riders repeatedly circumnavigating this patch of turf for 60 minutes – a race that made up in speed and aggression what it lacked in duration.  Like the Maine thunderstorms I left behind, the “call-ups” were ominous: one by one, the race M.C. called forward a slew of riders and listed their exploits: National criterium champion! National cyclocross champion! Professional criterium specialist! National time trial champion! Junior national champion! Best sprinter in New England, etc.   By the time he was done, 16 of the top riders, who didn’t really need the help, occupied pole positions in a race where position is paramount; as the rich get richer, the fast get faster…

 

In the vortex of racing fury, nothing really goes through one’s mind other than “get that inside line!”, “move up now!,” “on that wheel!”, and an occasional “oh &$*%!” in response to a nearby crash.  Budgeting my tolerance for pain, I didn’t allow myself to look at the lap cards for the first 15 minutes.  When I finally did, they read “44” – this seemed like a large number, but the laps melted away and I managed to achieve a certain zen peace amidst the unique mayhem that is criterium racing. We rode 58 laps around the Common, at a blistering average speed of 29.9mph; several laps cracked 32.5mph.  At the end of the day, the usual suspects garnered the podium spots and most of the cash, and I finished 34^th out of 85 starters.  This may seem a “pack fodder” finish, but since only 64 actually finished the race I felt a certain sense of accomplishment and belonging in the ranks of the fast guys

 

From the outside (or the beer garden), this whole enterprise may have seemed like some legal form of torture, strangely and voluntarily embarked upon.  But for me it was an elixir of speed, which – like the civilians with their ice-cold, intoxicating brews – I gladly gulped down.  Privileged to fly the colors of Downeast Racing in such elite company, I am counting the days until I can do so again, at the Lewiston Balloon Festival Criterium on August 17.  Good luck to the DER guys who climb hills, in their next effort at the Tokeneke Road Race.

 

Results and photos can be found here:

http://www.road-results.com/race/4847#cat48348