GMSR Day 1

Day 1 of the Green Mountain Stage Race is in the books and there is a lot of blue hanging around the top of the General Classification leaderboard.  Highlighting the day was Fred Thomas's 2nd place finish in the Cat 2 event, 18 seconds off the winning pace and Eliot Pitney was another 13 seconds back, good enough for 10th on the day.  Matt Moon rounded out the DER field in the Cat 2s putting out a strong effort finishing in just over 16'.

Fred on the second step of the podium

Hank Pfeifle was 9th in the Master's 50+ event, just under a minute off the pace.  Joe Lynch put down a strong effort in the Master's 40+ event finishing in just over 16' and team sponsor Zev Myerowitz of Cape Chiropractic & Acupuncture, entered in the Open 4/5 event, finished 4th 20" back of the stage winner.  It was a strong showing across the board for Downeast Racing.

The TCRs are washed and put away for the night, ready to tackle the hills in the coming days

Welcome to the Green Mountains

Green Mountain Stage Race: Up, Down & Around

Yours truly in GMSR yellow vintage 2009

 

 

We Downeast Racing guys love our blue, but we'd swap that color glady for yellow come this weekend in the Green Mountain Stage Race (GMSR). Yep, we are headed to Warren, Vermont to race Friday (6 mile TT with first 2 miles uphill), Saturday (circuit race), Sunday (Queen Stage with finish up App Gap) and Monday (downtown crit in Burlington). We'll have Eliot Pitney, Fred Thomas and Matt Moon in the Cat 2 race, Joe Lynch in the Cat 3 race and me (Hank Pfeifle) racing masters 50+. Yes, the General Classification leader yellow is nice, but sprinter green and mountain climber red polka dots are also nice looks. Hummm .... we've got some work to do.

Western Maine Velo Androscoggin Time Trial (Race #6 of Maine Time Trial Series)

The Western Maine Velo Androscoggin Time Trial is race number six in the Maine Time Trial Series. The course is a 20 mile loop that features fast straight aways, rolling hills and long sight lines. The race is held in Bethel, Maine at the door step of the White Mountains. This is the second year that the event has been held and a favorite for many due to its length and location. Conditions were cool and perhaps a bit unsettled with temperatures in the 60s. Fred Thomas was there and writes about the race. "The main feature of the race was the last ten miles inbound on North Road. It was rough in many sections with some tough hills. I found my momentum, concentration and rhythm wavering. I finished with a time of 41:53 (2013: 40:37) which was fast enough for second place, but well off my time last year. Nevertheless, I was pleased to have raced a longer time trial and to remain current in the overall series. Many thanks to Peter Southam of Gould Academy for organizing and timing the event."

Balloon Festival Crit: Fast and, ah .., Fast

 

Ever vigilant Ta Herrera 

 

Sometimes you get back from a race and think, "Wow, that was a pretty good effort". Such was the case yesterday after the Balloon Festival Crit when, after checking Strava, you see that you were running lap after lap at 27 to 28 miles per hour.That's fast, no? Crazy what guys do for fun. A bunch of us from Downeast Racing signed up for the festivities with most DER'ers doing both the 35+ race and the Pro-1-2-3 race. The 35+ went first and the Downeast Racing team managed the race well. Repeated attacks by various team members (along with attacks by other teams) eventually succeeded in getting Eliot Pitney and Joe Lynch into a 6 man break. Then Troy Barry and Matt Moon worked the front to keep the trailling group from capturing the break - never an easy task. Once the break was safely established, Ta Herrera saw an opportunity to escape solo to try and gobble up 7th spot. A couple of guys bridged to him but the remainder of the peleton was again kept under control by Troy & Matt. Now it was time to see if our breakmeisters could muster a victory. Unfortunately ... no ... as Ron Bourgoin of Momentum Barracuda unleashed a strong, strong sprint that carried the day (he does that allot). But we did gobble up 3rd, 5th and 7th and the race as a whole showed a strong team presence and awareness.

 

Our friend Andrew Pryhuber (Bowdoin) on way to 7th in the 4's

 

The Pro-1-2-3 race poved a difference story as fresh legs (and Tim Mitchell's solo effort off the front)ruled the day. It is very difficult to summon both the physical and mental enegry for two races held within 2 hours of each other. Which makes you think that guys like Michael Phelps who can win 8 gold medals in a few days is, indeed, an extraordinary athlete.    

Kudos to the Lewiston Balloon Festival organizers for conducting a perfectly organized event on a fast and fair downtown course. Results can be found here:

 

http://www.road-results.com/race/4890

Lewiston Balloon Festival & Racing Close to Home

 

 

It will be another weekend of tight quarters racing as the Downeast Racing squad will tackle the 4-corner, 0.7 mile long downtown Lewiston Balloon Festival criterium course this Sunday. We all look forward to racing so close to home and hope to put on a good show for those who are able to watch the event. The 35+ field takes off at 11:00 (for 40 minutes of racing) and the Pro-1-2-3 field starts at 2:00 (for an hour's worth of racing). Many thanks to John Grenier and the crew at Rainbow Bicycles for organizing this event.

 

 

There is also a Maine Time Trial Series (METTS) race this weekend in Bethel and our Fred Thomas will be defending his title there. 

Tokeneke: Revenge of the Weaklings!!

 

I'll never forget the first day in high school. We had to go to the health office to get weighed and have our height measured. At the time there where Joe Wilder ads on how to transfrorm from a 97 pound weakling to a big he-man. The skinny kid in the picture was always having sand kicked in his face on the beach in front of a bunch of girls. Oh, the ingnomity!!! Sure enough, when I stepped on the scale that first day, I weighed 97 pounds. But life has a way of finding balance and for us skinny guys that balance is found on the bike and in the mountains. The Tokeneke Road Race in northwestern Connecticutt offered up the perfect skinny person revenge course - a 22 mile multiple loop course with the last 12 miles trending uphill - WWAAYY uphill at times. Three of us Downeast Racing racers entered the challenge with Matt Moon and Eliot Pitney in the Pro-1-2 field and me in the 50+ field. Each field had about 70 entrees (as did most of the other fields) - a good turnout to a well run race.  

 

 

New pavement on much of the course allowed for fast and aggressive racing. No opportunity for punishment by the skinny guys on the uphills was wasted and the leading groups melted under the unrelenting onslaught. Unfortunately, Downeast Racing beefcakers Matt and Eliot were on the receiving end of the figurative sand slinging and came unhitched from the lead pack on the back side of the 3rd lap. How bedraggled they looked as the came "no mas!" to the finish area. (But don't feel too sorry for them as they still managed a "Well, HEL'lo" from the lunch counter girl what with salt slick faces and all). Meanwhile, your now 143 lb reporter, was having no problems with the surges in his race and truly looked forward to the finishing two mile climb to the finish. But the unexpected is the expected in bike racing and on the final 50mph descent leading into the final climb, when a front spoke snapped and pinged-pinged-pinged against the front forks causing some anxiety - "Oh, wheel, don't collapse on me now - just get me around this last corner". Maybe the prudent thing would have been to back off during the descent, but with the prize of all the preceeding efforts just down the hill, who's going to do that!! The bike handled ok, the final fast corner was negotiated and the uphill run to the finish commensed with 22 guys focused on the prize awaiting at the top. Handled the first surge. Handled the second. Uh-oh, did not do well on the third. But wait. Hang in there and claw your way back on. That I did and latched on to the lead bunch just as we rounded the last corner and the finish line came in sight. Uhg - everyone snaps into the big ring and the final dash to the line is on. Bu-bye to winning as many surge away but I manage to tail in to a 12th place finish. Back at the car I note that the front wheel is rubbing against the brake due to the broken spoke. Yeah, that probably didn't help on the final climb and offers up a nice excuse, for as John McEnroe the tennis great, once famously stated, "Never accept physical or mental shortcomings, when you can blame it on something else!!". All in all a great day as racing is always fun. 

Results can be found here: https://www.bikereg.com/Results/rr/4863/tokeneke-classic-road-race

 

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



Downeast Racing's Fred Thomas at 2014 Tour of the Catskills

Downeast Racing's Fred Thomas raced at the 2014 Tour of the Catskills last weekend. The Pro 1 2 race features a 10-mile out and back individual time trial, a 60-mile circuit race and a 109-mile road race that includes 8,000 feet of climbing and the famous Devil's Kitchen climb.  "The time trial and the circuit race were fine, but the road race was much harder than last year", Fred said. "The climbs were long and steep in some places, and the pace was fast. There were a lot of strong riders." 

Fred finished in 6th place in individual time trial on the first day. Downeast Racing's Dan Vallaincourt originated strategy for the second day circuit race: sit in and conserve. Fred avoided the temptation to chase breaks. The field was deep and strong and the one break that managed to advance up the road was ruthlessly caught with in five miles of the finish. "I felt very fresh at the end of that race." Fred said.

Conserving for day three was the right strategy. "The field hit all the climbs hard." Fred polished off numerous Hammer Gel Sustained Energy drinks and scored a new personal record for how much Hammer Gel Gu bottles can be consumed on a single ride. He snatched neutral water at each feed and persuaded another team's support staff to hand over a bottle. "Paying attention to nutrition made all the difference. I had no cramps. Some guys were dry at mile seventy." Fred said. The Devil's Kitchen climb slowed Fred down, as it always does, but he made it up without doing the "paper boy" or blowing up and losing big chunks of time. "The compact allowed me to get up the steep sections at a steady pace and gain time on a lot of riders." Fred said. The last five miles of the race into Tannersville had Fred riding with a handful of riders and finishing strong. "There were so many opportunities to get dropped or not to finish during this race that to make it within four minutes of the leaders is an accomplishment for me." Fred finished 11th in the general classification (2013: 9th). Fred plans on returning to the Tour of the Catskills next year.

Concord Crit: Cole & Herrera Shine

 

Ta Herrera "melting pavement"

 

 

No prize money envelopes are safe from the maurading crit pursuits of Downeast Racing's Ta Herrera and Peter Cole. Herrera, as chairman of the economics department at Bowdoin College, knows that money flows to those with unique talents or products, and Ta's particular talent is reading a race and having the unique ability to be in the winning break. Twice yesterday, in both the 35+ race and the 45+ race, Ta broke from the field with three others and mangaed to stay away for two healthy paydays (4th in each race). Peter Cole, a student at Bates College, is not adverse to taking lessons during his summer recess, and followed the professor's astute teaching by capturing a 3rd place finish in the Cat 3 field AND managing to win three preems along the way. Cha-ching x 4! May it also be reported that your humble reporter lent timely support to Ta during the 45+ race and then managed a top 10 finish in the 55+ field.

 

 

Meanwhile, over in the Catskills of New York, Fred Thomas and Matt Moon are participating in the Pro-1-2 cateory at the 3 day Tour of the Catskills. More on that tomorrow.