TNR - A New Lease on Life

After a few weeks of sparse attendance at the weekly Tuesday Night Ride, Downeast Racing circled the wagons in an attempt to inject some new life into the TNR.  With a few strategic rally points identified, DER set out to drive the pace of the TNR without driving a wedge in the group.  Climbs were hard, the pacelines were well organized and we returned to Portland "Groupo Compacto".  DER is  looking forward to continuing to swell the ranks of the Tuesday Night peloton while maintaining the pace and intensity of this valuable weekly training ride.  We hope to see you out on the road next week!

4th weekend of the Scarborough Crit Series

The 4th event in the 2 month Scarborough Crit Series powered by Gorham Bike & Ski was another day for the hardmen of the peloton.  The 20 lap race started under a light rain and a north wind that chilled the group to the bone while awaiting the starting gun.  Downeast Racing was well represented with Joe Lynch, Peter Cole, Ta Hererra, Travis Kroot, Eliot Pitney, Matt Moon and team sponsor Zev Myerowitz proudly flying the blue and red.  Downeast Racing was quick to animate the racing, putting 3 members up the road in an early break.  Near the halfway point, series points leader Kroot attempted to bridge the gap, forcing Momentum's Eric Follen to take up the chase. The pace increased in the last 10 laps as Pitney, Moon and Kroot made the bridge and DER settled into a team time trial with 6 members in the break of 10.  Follen tried to shake loose of the break, and shed a few of the DER members, instead  Pitney went over the top with 5 to go and settled into TT mode, while the remainder of the DER members sat back and forced everyone else to chase.  With 2 to go the gap was holding stead at 15-20" and it looked like Pitney was going to be able to hold off the final charge.  Meanwhile the blue train in the break started to set up to take the remainder of the podium places, with Moon leading out sprinters Kroot and Herrara to the line.  It was an all Downeast Racing podium, with Kroot also grabbing the extra prime points on lap 10, increasing his points lead in the series in the process. With 3 events remaining in the series, DER will look to close out the month of May with strong Sunday showings.

ECCC Pro-1-2 Race Report: Scituate , RI

At the ECCC race in Scituate, RI, Mother Nature continued her cruel treatment of New England cyclist trying to have some fun racing a bike this spring. Big kudos to the 35 or so guys (including Downeast Racing's Travis Kroot, Hank Pfeifle, Dan Vaillancourt and Peter Cole) who lined up for the 3 x 24 mile circuit knowing full well that the misery index would be at 100%. Maybe the foul weather put some guys in a foul mood because the pace was punishing right from the gun with the initial undulating hills testing legs early. The ECCC race organizers cooked up a great course on narrow back roads through the Rhoade Island contryside. A big feature was the back to back mile long dirt road sections that had turned soft and slimy due to the persistent rain. If the tricky bike handling didn't get you, the elongated 400 watt demands on the thighs surely did. The dirt sections proved to be a big peloton reducer counting first Pfeifle and then Kroot among its victims. Peter's day came undone courtesy of a flat. The ever professional Vaillancourt stayed up front contributing to the annimated last lap. The 15 guys who made it through the various troubles approached the 300 meter 4% climb to the finish together where it became every man for himself. Dan - the sprinter in blue above - lunged on the pedals while his finely engineered Giant TCR Advanced 1 used all that force to propel Dan from 13th to 3rd in a most hard earned podium finish.

Racing this weekend - Can't wait

Yesterday I weighed myself when I woke up. 139.5 lbs. That's fighting weight. Racing the 1-2-3's at the 71 mile ECCC road race in Rhode Island with Dan, Travis, Matt, Peter Cole, maybe Eliot (new baby today??). The form is starting to flow in and all I want to do is race and go hard. Love that feeling. The weather says we'll probably get wet. Good. Even better if it's windy. To suffer is to enjoy but to make others suffer is, well, delicious.

Enjoying a slower pace

We are all in a rush.  We drive fast, we talk fast and we ride fast.  Put me in a group ride, even with the intentions of taking it easy and I naturally gravitate towards the front and up the pace.  It is how I am wired, competitve at every turn.  So when I set out to have a successful day at the Tour of Battenkill it was a 3 month effort focused on one goal.  Now that Battenkill is behind me, there is a void in my motivation. I need time to recharge the emotional batteries.   The draw of Killington hasn't taken hold yet (though it is starting to call my name) and the weekly racing circuit doesn't have enough excitement for me to get geared up for battle.  Instead of trying to push myself harder or faster, I prefer to go slower.  

I start commuting to work, 25 miles (at a minimum) each way. I now have an excuse for going slow.  "I'm wearing a 15 lbs backpack, I'm rolling heavy wheels... ", the list goes on.  I like to use the cyclocross bike paired with indestructible armadillo 28mm tires, courtesy of Gorham Bike & Ski, and take the road less traveled.  I forget about trying to PR a Strava segment or putting out a specific wattage, and I look for the enjoyment of powering myself through the Maine countryside.  I end up choosing roads that I would normally avoid, cruising dirt road sectors for the fun of it, and before I know it I've logged 70 miles in a day, smiling the entire way.

There is a simple satisfaction in starting and ending your day with a bike ride.  Catching the sunrise and/or sunset from the saddle provides a much needed moment of peace in an otherwise hectic fast paced life.  Next time you are caught up in the whirlwind that is life, slow down for a ride and re-explore those roads that you almost never ride.

The Push to Killington

The Killington Stage Race conducted over Memorial Day weekend in Killington, VT is a major objective for the Downeast Racing crew. In preparation for that event, we will focus our efforts on the 71 mile ECCC championship road race in Providence, RI (4/26), the Blue Hills Classic circuit race in Milton, MA (5/4) and the 69 mile Lake Sunapee road race in Sunapee, NH (5/17). We will let you know how it goes. You can also expect to see us at the Scarborough Crit Training Series - great bike handling and speed work training.

Biddeford TT Results (Maine TT Series #1)

http://www.allsportsevents.com/Results/triathlon_results/NorEasterTriathlon2014.html#/results::1397740201085

Here are last weekend's results of the first Maine TT Series race of the year conducted in Biddeford over an 11 mile course. Please note that Downeast Racing's very own Fred Thomas once again showed his TT prowess by recording the best time with a most rapid 27.2 mph average under difficult conditions - frigid, windy, raw. The rugged conditions of the day only increased for Fred when on the pedal home to Cape Elizabeth the skies opened up and dumped a cold persistent rain onto our now bedraggled friend. Victory may be sweet but, in this case, the welcoming embrace of a warm shower proved even better.

GVCC Blomfield, NY Circuit Race

Beautiful day in the Finger lakes of upstate NY.
This is my first time racing the road in upstate NY, where I spent my childhood.
I was in western NY as I had to travel into St. Catherines, Canada for the law component of my Professional Practice Exam. This must be passed for engineering licensure in Canada.
While I was in the area I visited my family near Canandaigua and found some fellow cyclist looking to ride hard. Thanks to the Genesse Valley Cycling Club who put the race on.

Hilly and windy, this would describe the biggest challengers of the P1, 2 race on Sunday.
With about 50 on the line it looked to be a restless day in the saddle. The course contained over 1000k climbing per lap/6 laps.

The race was Marshaled and really well organized which you cannot always assume will be the case. On top of this the boys were just a good bunch of friendly cyclist in the peleton, big bonus adding to the fun factor.

This is one of the climbs on course, these would split the peleton over and over. No Groupo Compacto today!

This turned out to be a really hard "April" race for me.
Meaning that I was seeing HR peaks around 189 bpm, mostly on some of the longer climbing sections when the boys decided this would be separation time.
I mustered a 16th, man that hurt at times.
I am simply Counting this effort as a "deposit in the bank."
Keep on Riding!

Myles Standish Race Report

 

Ta Herrera mixing it up 

Hank Pfeifle work done - coasting home

 

Ta and I ventured to Plymouth, MA to contest the 45+ Myles Standish road race. The race is conducted within the Myles Standish State Park which allows the benefit of racing on a closed course. Being only 4 laps of a 5 mile fairly flat circuit, the racing in all fields was fast and single file from the gun (very fun racing on a curvey narrow road). Our goal was to get one of us in a break and if that didn't happen, to keep things "compacto" so we could set Ta up for a sprint finish. A 3 man break did develop after lap 2 and when things were really winding up in lap 3 to reel them in, the race (and all other races) was neutralized due to a huge crash in the 4's field. I think every ambulance in the county came to scrap up the carnage - not pretty. So we were told to go back to the start/finish and wait for things to be cleaned up. We would do one lap to determine the results and the break was determined to be at 25 seconds. And wait we did - for 45 minutes. Unfortunately, many in our field had to leave, so the 45 starters was reduced to a field of about 30. One of those who couldn't stay was Eric Weinrich who was one of the guys in the break. Very unfortunate that his hard work would come to naught. The race resumed, with the 25 second lead reestablished, and I went to the front to be a worker bee trying to catch the 2 remaining escapees. No dice. Break out plan B which was to string things out fast going into the final corner (safer that way) about 400 meters from the finish, but I ran out of gas before the corner (uh-oh) so couldn't keep things single file as best for Ta. But Ta can maneuver through dicey situations like crazy (loves it!) and elbowed and banged his way to a hard fought 7th. Divorced from the mayhem, I rolled in at the back of the field. The venue was fun, the racing was fast and the guys all knew how to ride their bike - all in all a good day.

 

 



2nd week of the Crit Series

Week 2 of the Gorham Bike & Ski hosted Scarborough Crit series brought a few new faces and some nasty weather.  An unfortunate accident in the B race delayed the start of the A race, and as the group huddled to stay warm the sky  turned gray and the clouds began to open up.  Organizer Dave Palese kicked off the race with a bang and held a prime on the first lap.  Nothing like going from ice cold to flat out racing in a matter of meters.  With 4 members of Downeast Racing (Travis Kroot, Matt Moon, Dan Vaillancourt and Eliot Pitney) flying the blue colors, the team fired attack after attack until a move stuck. With the team represented in the first promising looking break, by Kroot and Vaillancourt, the race settled down and the gap grew.  Pitney was eager to join his DER teammates so he bridged across and the men in blue numbered 3 strong out of the 6 man break.  Dan drove the break hard into the driving wind and rain setting up Travis for the mid race points sprint.  The gap to the main field continued to grow with only Eric Follen able to bridge to the leading group of 6.  With Momentum now having 2 members in the break (Follen & Caron) Downeast Racing went on the attack again, sending riders up the road forcing the other to chase.  With 3 or 4 laps to go Eliot and Eric Follen of Momentum opened a slight gap on their breakaway companions.  Sharing the work load the 2 leaders pressed their advantage and with 1 lap to go they were comfortably ahead of the 5 remaining breakaway riders, and only a few hundred meters from lapping the main field.  On the bell lap Follen forced the pace on the back stretch trying to generate some separation, but Eliot clung to his wheel, forcing Eric to lead out the final 750 meters and placing himself in a fantastic position headed into the final sprint.  DER filled two of the top 3 steps of the podium with Eliot standing on the top step with Travis outpacing the remaining breakaway riders finishing third.  Dan sacrificed his individual results to ensure success of the break and Matt Moon separated himself  from the main field to finish 8th. It was another great showing of force and teamwork by the boys in blue.

-Eliot 

Active Weekend

 

 

There will be no sitting around this weekend for the boys in blue. Troy Barry will be in New York state visiting his folks, taking a test for work and squeezing in a race while there. Fred Thomas (reigning national 45+ TT champ) will be testing his TT legs at the Biddeford TT put on by the Maine State Time Trial Series (a great resourse and benefit for us in Maine). Eliot Pitney, Ta Herrera, Joe Lynch and I (Hank Pfeifle) will be at the Myles Standish race in Plymouth, MA and the rest of the guys will be at the Scarborough Crit (another great resource for us and put on by the good folks at Gorham Bike & Ski). Hope to see you on the suddenly sunny and warm roads.

Scarborough Crit #1: The Team, Together

April means a lot of things here in Maine. But for us cyclists it is the very real start of the racing season both locally and around the Northeast. The 7-week series happens every Sunday in Scarborough starting in April. Some racers use it as a good preparation for the season to come, others use the B race to learn racing or get to Category 4, and for some it makes up a bulk of the racing focus for the early season.

For some of us with winter injuries, this will be used as a really nice fitness test, and fitness building, to prepare for racing now and races later in the season. I'm 2 weeks into being back outside and came into the race unsure of where the legs/body were.

There was a good showing for the first week of the year: I don't know the number of starters, but it's much more than the 21 finishers - a bit of wind and some splits in the field led to a bunch of dropped riders. The team had 6 men in the field, which was nice considering all the guys who were at Battenkill that day or the day before. 20 Laps of the ~1.3mi loop, makes for about a 1 hour race. As the race slowly ramped up, we kept watch of the front. Ta Herrera was the man of the day, being our strongest sprinter so far this season. However, the field wasn't happy cruising as a big pack. Nate Smith made a move off the front, which was followed by Eliot and 2 others. The leaders got a substantial gap, so I kept watch of the pack - keeping the pace warm but not hot - when a strong rider jumped across. I realized despite being on the front I was the closest Downeast Racing guy and attacked up to him. Once we were close to the break, with only slight field response, I helped close the final gap. Now we had 2 men of 6, OA had 2 as well. Within a couple laps, Matt Moon followed a bridge by Andy Haskell. We now had 3 of 7 (the guy who bridged with me had overcooked it), and up to 40 seconds on the field. Now we had the chance to get Matt to pick off primes while Eliot and I conserved for the last few laps.

A shot of the breakaway coming into a Prime. Eliot on the front and Travis (me) ensuring the Prime for DER.

Good thing we did, as with 5 or so laps remaining the strongman Eric Follen attacked. Once again, I was in position to close the move and the two of us quickly gained on the field. After 5mins+ of suffering trying to keep up front, Eliot somehow made the bridge after winning Battenkill yesterday! I was happy to have him. I was fading, but alive, and having a teammate is always a huge security come trying to win the darn thing. 2 laps to go and Eliot launches a huge attack. Eric can't respond to the acceleration, going full out into TT mode. I'm impressed that Eric managed to catch Eliot with ~600m to go with excellent timing on the only slight uphill in the race, so that when (not if) I countered he had a chance of getting second place over Eliot. When I jumped, I got a gap on Eric and shortly thereafter the band snapped and I solo'd in to the win. Eric held strong for second. Eliot completely set up my win and I think he's happy with the 3rd place after his showing at Battenkill the day before. Matt was second in the sprint from the break, and rounded out us having 3 in the top 5!

We landed a good bit of cash and prizes in the primes, making sure to spread the spoils amongst our breakaway companions. I don't think Matt went home with any of the nutrition he won in the primes!

For this first race as a team, I think we did a great job together and stayed alert and aware throughout the day. Definitely a promising start to being a cohesive group and having a successful first year together.

Results and race series info here: http://gorhambike.com/about/2014-scarborough-crit-series-pg928.htm#results

Images of Battenkill

 

Here's a view of the cat 2 field - the blue guys are Matt and Fred

 

Hank on Meeting House Road

 

Joe passing a struggling competitor. It was that kind of day.

 

Eliot beginning is winning strategy - gather the leaders, drop the leaders

 

Matt mixing things up in the middle

The draw of the Battenkill Dirt

There is something special about April racing in Cambridge, NY.  The Tour of the Battenkill is the first major race on the East Coast calendar, and the one race that fuels hour upon hour of winter training.  Battenkill is the U.S. version of the Ronde van Vlaanderen with enough climbing and  dirt roads to test any rider.  Nearly 120 Cat 3 riders took to the start, eagerly waiting to tackle the challenging course softened overnight by a quarter inch of rain. In typical fashion, the early miles were a battle for position with everyone desperate to ride towards the front on each of the climbs and dirt sectors.  It seemed that people were keen to push the pace on the climbs and dirt sectors, whittling the lead group down to 20 or 30 riders, only to ease off in the flats long enough for the chasers to catch back on and swell the ranks of the peloton.  Somewhere around 30 miles into the race, the referee pulled up alongside the group and yelled, "1:15 to the break".  After Joe Bean Road, a couple guys snuck off the front and grew a sizable lead.  The lack of organization in the group allowed the break too much breathing room and for a moment I thought that all the hours of winter training were going to be wasted noodling along the rural roads of New York while the winning move went up the road.  However, a few brave souls struck out from the peloton in an attempt to chase down the leaders, and they quickly built a 15-20" gap.  It was now or never.  I broke free of the peloton and bridged across and immediately went to work.  With 4 strong riders we were able to inch away from the peloton and eat into the advantage to the leaders.  Up and over Herrington Hill, with a quick look back to check the gap, and then right back to urging on my breakaway companions, even though we shed one rider on the climb.  The next time check we got was 40" to the break.  A few more miles and we were on Meetinghouse Road, where the wind swung around to a much needed tailwind, and where we had a clear view of the break.  They were within 30" and the field was 90" behind us.  I knew that we only had a few miles of flat paved roads before the finishing climb, Stage Road, so I urged the group on one last time and we cut down the last 30" by the base of the finishing climb.  The leading duo was 25 yards ahead of us for most of the Stage Road climb, finally making the bridge as the gradient leveled out.  As we exited the last dirt sector of the day the newly formed group of 5 took inventory of the situation, took on some fluid or one last gel.  Not me, I saw an opportunity and I took full advantage of the situation.  With 200 yards of climbing remaining, at a mere 1-2%, I lashed out with every last bit of energy remaining, crested the hill and put my chin on the bars trying to eek out every last mph on the decent.  I had the gap and with 3.5 miles remaining I was fully committed.  I looked over my shoulder a few times on the run into town, checking to see if the group of 4 behind me would organize a chase, but it never materialized.  I was able to round the last bend onto main street, sit up and enjoy the fruits of my labor.  The first race of the season for Downeast Racing, in it's inaugural year, and I was able to deliver.  It was a great feeling.

Big thanks to teammate Joe Lynch, for looking after me in the early going and shepherding me to the front of the group, Gorham Bike & Ski for superb last second wheel service and to Doug Welling and the Sustainable Athlete for laying out the plan in January that built me up for this epic event.
I'm looking forward to the next Downeast Racing event, but for tonight I'm going to sit back with my 5 year old and share well earned cup of Battenkill Creamery Chocolate Milk.
-Eliot

Ta Herrera Joins Downeast Racing

 

 

Ta Herrera, leading the pack above to the line at last year's Jamestown Classic, is the newest addition to the Downeast Racing cycling team. Ta can hold his own in all racing formats and locales as evidenced by his two 2^nd place stage finishes at last year’s weeklong Tour of Bangkok, a win at a crit in Hong Kong, the overall win at the Scarborough Crit Series and a win at the season ending Jamestown Classic race. Teammates find him to be a great compliment to the crit and circuit race squads – he loves to mix it up in tight confines.  You’ll see Ta at Sunday’s Scarborough Crit (opening race of series) and at Miles Standish the following week. 

Next Up - Battenkill

 

All winter long the Tour of the Battenkill looms on the horizon much like Mount Hood, Mount Shasta and Mount Washington loom over their respective locations. Ever present, these monuments beckon devotes to their entrancing embrace with the promise of beauty and excitement. Though visually enthralling, people familiar with these environs know that proper preparation is keen should one wish to fully enjoy the challenges that await. And so we at Downeast Racing and many others around New England, the USA and Canada have toiled for hours inside on the trainer and outside under less than ideal conditions through the winter in preparations for this weekend's race. Nothing is ever a given at Battenkill what with multiple dirt road sections, variable road surface conditions, large fields, funky weather - but, hey, the unpredictability of the race is the draw for the 3000+ entrants divided among the many racing fields. Five of us Downeast Racers will travel to Cambridge, NY to give it a go. We'll be sure to let you know how it went.