BEVERLEY CRIT RESULTS (40+): Speeding in Downtown!! Video proof !!!!

2 to Go at Beverley

 

 

Mass civil disobedience broke out in Beverley last evening as the 40+ division of criterium riders repeatedly and unapologetically exceeded the 25mph posted speed limit for the urban environment. An average speed of 27.3mph by the 56 man group whittled the finishing gallop to just 31 riders. On the 5 corner technical downtown course, minor flaws in cornering, positioning (ummm ... major flaw), sprinting out of corners - all were magnified by the high and unrelenting speed. Downeast Racing's Ta Herrera and Joe Lynch managed strong, clean efforts with Joe often toward or at the front pounding out the speed. To quote Joe, "I feel better when others feel bad" kind of sums up his burgeoning positive mental & physical state. Ta used his muscle, sharp elbows and smooth bike handling to ride top ten throughout the contest.

 

 

 The final lap contested at 30.2mph produced an exciting finish as evidenced by the video below. Ta managed an 8th place finish (plus a preem win - good for a burrito feed for us all) with Joe 20th.

 

 

 

Once again, congrats to all contestents - those spit out the back and those running at the front. As the saying goes, "different courses for different horses" which means everything is up for grabs to all who enter come the next race on the calander. For a look at the results go to:

 

https://www.bikereg.com/Results/rr/4815/gran-prix-of-beverly

 

 



Crits: Beverley, MA tomorrow & Concord, NH on Saturday

Ta Herrera showing good form & satying connected at Worchester

 

Next up for a few of us Downeast Racing racers are a couple of crits - Beverley, MA tomorrow and Concord, NH on Saturday. These are staples on the New England racing circuit - well organized and well attended. Beverley has two tricky acute angle corners that encourages the "accordian effect" on the field where the string of riders contract entering the corner and string out upon exiting. Those in the front of the line have a cleaner and smoother time through the corners. Those toward the back do a bunch of braking and then sprinting to catch back up. That gets tiresome and the field often breaks up. Concord has smoother corners but the seperater here is a one block long big ring hill which, too, tires the legs and often allows a break to occur. In each race, smart riding is towards the front - always easier said than done since everyone knows that!! We'll let you know how it goes.

Tour of the Hilltowns (Results)

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4871424

If you hit the link, you get the course and course profile of the Tour of the Hilltowns, a road race nestled in the hills of Western Massachusetts. This "new & improved" course encompasses two 33 mile loops featuring a sustained 20 minute leg breaking climb. However, most would agree that this course is more inclusive of different riding styles - not just pure climbers a la the retired course. But still, one needs to be able to climb and suffer AND enjoy climbing and suffering. Downeast Racing sent Fred Thomas, Dan Vaillancourt, Troy Barry, Joe Lynch and Matt Moon - riders in the mood for just such an adventure in the Pro-1-2-3 race.

 



 

Dan can't wait to get to Hilltowns

 

The main culprit for upping the discomfort on the hills was Momentum Barracuda's (and Maine resident) Eric Follen, fresh from his stellar 2nd place ride up Mount Washington. The last time up the sustained hill whittled the 70 man field down to 20 with Downeast Racing's Fred Thomas solidly included in this group. Three guys crested the final climb with a 20 second gap - a gap that the other 17 pursuers felt would surely evaporate on the 8 mile descent to the finish. But the twisty descent allowed the 3 to get out of sight and the group could not get a fix on them to properly gauge the necessary closing speed. Too bad as that was the podium up the road. Fred came in with the charging pursuers, disappointed that the 3 could not be caught but most satisfied with a very strong ride and grateful for the support of his mates to get him into the break. Here is a link to the results.

 

http://www.road-results.com/race/4780

Missing the Clammer

This was the first year that I have missed racing at the Clam Festival in a very long time.  It is one of my favorite races of the year, is only 6 miles from home, and this year my entire team was racing the event - so not attending the race was a big deal.  Fortunately, I was missing the race for a good reason - my son was invited to a couple of colleges in the Boston area to meet with coaches, which is even more exciting than racing!

Once we were in Boston and had our weekend schedule, I realized that I could sneak out long enough to race at the Wells Avenue Criterium, which was only about 14 miles from where we were staying.  On top of that, I was able to convince my wife to come watch - she has been watching me race for the past 15-20 years, so she doesn't ride along as often as she did in the early days.

After the Race

As I lined up in the A (Pro - 123) race, I saw a good team presence and some strong riders.  BRI (Boston Racing Independent), CCB, Grinta Racing, Zip Car, and 545 Velo just to name a few.  I also noticed that Skip Foley (Time Bikes) was also there, and he would be the person to watch. 

About 500 meters into the race, a rider from Grinta Racing and another rider in a black kit attacked - quickly gaining a good gap.  I went to the front to minimize the gap and drove the pace for almost two laps before dropping back into the group because no one else was pulling through.  I felt comfortable enough that 2 guys wouldn't be able to stay away for 40 laps.

For the first half of the race, several people tried bridging to the break, and I made sure to mark all moves without initiating any myself.  I had to conserve energy because I was riding without teammates.  Even though the break built about a 50 second lead, the Grinta rider cracked at lap 20 and quickly came back to the group.  My confidence in catching the remaining rider increased, and I shifted to the "mark all moves that Skip is in" went into place.

The remaining rider was caught within a few laps, and then the attacks started.  The group was single file, and the stronger riders would turn up the heat on the rise on the back side of the course.  I basically stayed close to Skip, and covered all moves that he made - I knew that giving him a few bike lengths could spell a missed opportunity for a win.  I continued this tactic until the last lap, where I made sure to stay in the top 3 spots coming into the sprint.  As we rounded the last turn (about 350 meters out), Skip launched a big sprint down the right side of the course.  I jumped immediately after him and pulled even with him and one other rider that was on his wheel, but I started to lose power a bit in the last 50 meters and ended up in 5th.   Skip won the race.

I felt good about the race and was happy to end up with a top 5 to bring results back to the team, since I wasn't able to support them during their race on the same day.  I will be back in Yarmouth next year!

Thanks for reading,

Jeff

Yarmouth Clam Festival Bike Race

For the last 33 years the Yarmouth Clam Festival Bike Race has been a staple of the New England bike racing summer schedule.  With a fast and challenging 3.6 mile circuit and crowds 3 deep on Main Street, racers have been enrolling in this year’s 34th edition of the Clamfest Bike Race in droves.  The Men’s Pro 1/2/3 field is on pace to swell to 100 racers, the maximum allowed by the race promoter, with numerous Maine cyclists in attendance.  Downeast Racing has a strong contingent scheduled to participate in the leg searing 36 mile event including Jeff Dixon, Fred Thomas, Matt Moon, Eliot Pitney, Dan Vaillancourt, Travis Kroot, Ta Herrera, Peter Cole, Joe Lynch, Jeff Yingling and Troy Barry.  The boys in blue will be previewing the course ahead of the Sunday 9AM start and setting up a DER Fan club under the Giant Bicycles tent located at Keybank on Main Street in Yarmouth.  A big thanks to Keybank for so graciously allowing us to set up on their front lawn and to Gorham Bike & Ski/Giant Bikes for the tent.  Sponsor Moses Dyer will be supplying some delicious coffee, Brunwick staple Frosty’s will have a few donuts out for the kids, so stop by, say hello to the team, get over caffeinated and hopped up on sugar and come make some noise for the boys in blue.

For those of you connected to the twitter-sphere, you can find us @racingdowneast.  There are rumors that the team will be live tweeting the event…..  Additionally, you can keep up with the team over on Instagram as well, @racingdowneast. You can usually keep tabs of us while we are off training on some remote road flashing the baby blue kits.

Hope to see you in Yarmouth to celebrate the Clam!

New Britian Crit: Mad Dog Unleashed

The Assassin's Smile

 

 

Yesterday Joe Lynch, Jeff Dixon and I (Hank Pfeifle) traveled to New Britian, CT to race the New Britian Crits conducted in Walnut Hill Park. The locals tell me that Walnut Hill Park has been used for criterium racing for over 100 years, and one can see why as the course safely winds around the ball fields that provide an unobstructed view of the whole venue. Spectators can fully watch the excitement as it unfolds. Joe signed up for the 45+ and Cat 3 fields, Jeff the 45+ and Pro-1-2 fields and me the 55+ and 45+ fields. The common denomenator for us was the 45+ field and that was our focus for the day. The goal was to work for Joe so he could garner some valuable upgrade points in the 20 mile (20 laps) race. 

 

We Downeast Racers brought but one item in our strategic tool kit and that was our bludgeoning stick as we came to race and go hard from pedal one. With the crack of the gun Jeff got things going by going on the offensive at the first corner. In the blink of an eye, six guys were off the front with Jeff nudging them along, which was quite shocking to see as Jeff's MO is sprinting wheelsucker do as little work as possible. But there he was going gang busters at the front. The hungry pack gunned them down two laps later and the "get" was the springboard for Joe and two others to leap away.

 

Joe in escape mode

 

Jeff and I gathered at the front of all chase efforts and worked to twart the many attempts to absorb the three. Eventually the chasing field divided in to groups of ten here and ten there due to fatigue produced by the multitude of attacks. There was never an even distribution of power in the chases and that contributed to Joe's escape succeeding as they stayed steady and fast. So, it was left to Joe to see if he could win this thing and, of course, the other two were thinking similarly. In the frantic sprint to the finish Joe came in third - always disappointing when the winning opportunity is there, but still very satisfying knowing you had performed with panache.

 

Happy guys after a hard effort

   

It must be expressed that racing with the guys, going full gas and bagging a fine result makes for a fine, fine Sunday.  Come watch the team in action next Sunday morning at the Yarmouth Clam Festival circuit race. The full team will be there in sparkling blue kit ready to go. Hope to see many of you there.

Matt Moon: Domestic Domestique

Here's Matt Moon tending to domestic duties during the 4th of July break from racing. Hard work? No. But when he tends to his domestique duties for Downeast Racing - well, that IS hard work. And just as he and his wife, Jess, guide their terrific kids through the intricacies of life, Matt guides his  teammates through the twists and chaotic turns of the peloton. It's a tough job that demands focus and steady nerves - attributes fully appreciated by the boys in blue. Perhaps it's his Adonis physique (haha, he won't like that) or killer smile (as in "don't mess with me" killer smile) that intimidates the pack to ceding space. Or perhaps it's his smooth style that allows him to materialize, boys in tow, where he/they need to be. However he does it, it's an artform that we at Downeast Racing feel fortunate to have available to us. Come watch him in action at the Yarmouth Clam Festival on July 20th. Oh, and remember that King of His Castle saying? Let's see if Matt decides to be King of the Clam Festival Roads. That would be cool.    

Eliot Pitney: Onward & Upward

 

 

See the guy in the picture way in the background with his head bowed? He's in a world of hurt. See the guy in the blue uniform and the red helmet at the front? That's Eliot Pitney and he's the one rocking that guy's world. It seems Eliot has been doing that to a ton of riders this year, and we at Downeast Racing would like to congratulate our teammate for his upgrade from a Category 3 rider to a Category 2 (Cat 2) rider. Being a Cat 2 is serious business as it implies strength, talent and dedication. It means approaching the pointy section of the pyramid of the pool of racers. We at Downeast Racing saw it coming way back in January when we saw his power numbers from trainer rides. We also saw the guy riding in the February cold and wind with no complaining, just dedication. We even saw a smile during those rides and that was confirmation that good things literally were just down the road.

 

 

 

Eliot got the good times rolling with a spectacular Cat 3 win at the Tour of the Battenkill. All his abilities were on display there - power through muddy roads, sensing when to drop the decisive hammer and head down solo time trialing speed over the last few miles. Good times continued with a General Classification (GC) 5th place at the Killington Stage Race that included a TT stage win. Good on ya, Eliot, but he was not content to stop there.

 

 

 

 

Next up was the Purgatory Road Race in Sutton, MA, a brute strength course contested in 89 degree heat. And as one can see above, Eliot pipped his break-away companion by half a bike length to win the event. So, there you have it. A Cat 3 rider needs 30 points to upgrade to a 2. Winning at Battenkill = 10 points. Fifth place on GC in a major stage race = 12 points. The win at Purgatory - another 10. 10+12+10 = 32 ... plenty of points for the upgrade.

 

Oh, and guess what. Eliot proved his Cat 2 upgrade worthiness in his first Pro-1-2 race, the Hunter Green Summer Classic in Tannersville, NY. Yeah - he won the thing. So congrats from his teammates to Eliot. And stay hungry, bud.

 

 

Men Cat 1/2 Senior

    

Pl	Ovr	First Name	Last Name	Team	Time		Carried Points	Scored Points
1	1	Eliot	Pitney	Downeast Racing	4:41:28		Cat ?-1st 334	260
2	2	Johan	Gibcus	Grinta Cycling Team p/b Erba Cycles	4:41:49		Cat 2-1st 295	264
3	3	Sammy	Moseley	CRCA/Foundation			Cat 2-2nd 287	268
	4						Cat ?-2nd 411	272
	5



Downeast Racing & Images of Fitchburg Crit Series

 

 

Things must have been a blur for Jeff Dixon as he raced and raced and raced again at Fitchburg. He capped the weekend off with a fine 9th place finish in the 50+ field on Sunday.

 

 

 

 

Peter Cole catches his breath with the rest of the pack during one of his 3 races. Peter managed to finish in the top third each day with some fields reaching 96 people.

 

 

 

Ta found that sharp elbows were needed to maintain position in close quarters. Not happy with his 16th and 19th place finishes, look for him to have protruding knives on his axels next time out a la Charlton Heston in the Ben Hur chariot race!!

 

 

 

Remember Joe's attack at Fitchburg? Well it lasted a few laps and he got gobbled up. But wait. He attacked AGAIN with 2 laps to go .... and the announcer was going nuts ("Downeast Racing is on the ATTACK!!) ..... and Joe was going fast ..... and then the chase went nuclear and, and, and   ... ate Joe up just before the last corner. Uhg. But July-August-September is Joe time, so watch out.