Hunter-Greene Summer Classic

With the Downeast Racing squad split between racing venues, 6 brave souls traveled to Tannersville, NY to take on the challenging Hunter-Greene Summer Classic.  Dan, Matt, Fred, Eliot, and Troy lined up against the Pro 1/2 field, which was scheduled for a 107 mile event.  Hank, the sole DER representative, was to do battle in the Master's field in a 77 mile event.

Tannersville, NY is a solid 5 hr drive for the team, but thanks to Dan's connections to the area we were able to secure friendly and comfortable accommodations at Hotel Vienna in Windham on Friday night, nestled against the edge of the Catskill Mountain range. Rested and well fed on race morning, the team had high hopes heading into the Hunter-Greene Summer Classic.

The team loading up on fuel and Hammer prodi

The Giant TCRs looking sharp on race morning.  At the finish a racer from the W 1/2/3 field said "Look at those team bikes.  They are LEGIT!"

With 107 miles on tap for the Pro 1/2 field, they were first to depart the start area. With 5 DER members in the field of 30-40 rides, DER had the largest team on hand.  Road captain, Dan Vaillancourt, laid out the plan for the day, which involved putting a man up the road early to take the pressure off the team.  Eliot drew the task of entering an early break and he saw the opportunity to get up the road with a member of the CRCA Foundation team just a few miles after the start.  Eliot and his companion quickly built an advantage while Troy, Matt, Dan and Fred controlled the pace of the peloton. Time checks were sparse on course but what little information that was being distributed was in favor of the break.  After ~15 miles of racing the break had built a 5 minute advantage,and at one point they pushed the gap to nearly 8 minutes.  The pace in the peloton fluctuated between full gas when there were attacks, to a snails pace of 16 mph when no one wanted to take responsibility to pull the group along.  All the while Eliot and his partner in the break kept grinding out a constant pace trying to maintain their advantage.  

Troy had time to slip to the back of the pack and grab a photo of the group! Fast Fred hanging in the back conserving his watts

The cooperation and the pace of the break started to falter on the third lap, after nearly 80 miles in the break. 1 lone rider was able to make the bridge to the breakaway duo around mile 95, giving the original breakaway duo some much needed relief.  The trio hit the finishing 1km climb with a healthy lead on the peloton and the podium spots would be sorted out on 13% slopes of East Jewitt Hill.  The CRCA/Foundation racer was the first to come unglued on the climb leaving Eliot to battle it out for the top step with Grinta Cyclings, Johan Gibcus.  Eliot put in one last effort on the steepest slopes of the climb, 200 meters before the finish, and created enough separation that he could sit up and put his hands in the air and enjoy the fruits of his labor. Hank, having finished his master's event, met Eliot with an ear-to-ear smile and a cold bottle of water for the effort.   

Fred finished strong, crossing the line in 8th position, Dan was a few minutes behind Fred, while Troy and Matt, their work of controlling the pace of the peloton complete, found the heat a little too much and stopped numerous times on the last lap to re-hydrate at roadside spigots. 

Hank had a great race as well.  After a flat in the neutral zone and a painfully slow wheel change (the support van didn't realize the race had started and he was minutes behind!!!!), Hank was able to chase back on and make the selection into a breakaway of 11.  Hank was able to drive a wedge in the break on the penultimate climb and drag himself and one other racer clear.  They also battled it out for the top step of the podium on the steep slopes of East Jewitt Hill.  Hank fought like a lion, but came up about ~30 meters short, a victim of the heat and dehydration cramps. An impressive effort in any case.

The DER boys after a great weekend of racing in the Catskills.

The summer racing season is heating up, so check back to see what Downeast Racing is up to. You can also keep tabs with the team on social media:

Twitter: @racingdowneast

Instagram: @racingdowneast

 

Fitchburg & Hunter Mountain

 

 

See that smiling face above? That belongs to Peter Cole. Due to the pesky demands of school (Bates College) and work (some brainiac programming thing), Peter has seen limited racing this year. That's about to change as he has signed up for the 3 Fitchburg series of criteriums starting tonight in Worchester, MA. He'll be joined by the Downeast Racing crit crew - Jeff Dixon, Ta Herrera, Joe Lynch and Jeff Yingling for some or all of the crits (these guys have work issues, too!).

 

 

Meanwhile, out in Tannersville, NY the Downeast Racing road crew will tackle the Hunter Mountain Classic a 104 mile test winding through & over the Catskill Mountains (P-1-2 = Thomas, Vaillancourt, Moon, Barry, Pitney and the 77 mile 35/45+ = Pfeifle). Sunny skies, warm weather and fast riding - can't beat that. 

Exeter Crit (masters field): Crazy at times

Jeff Yinglig at work on the front

 

Crit racing is a dicey endeavor and kudos to all those who toe the line. Speed, tight quarters and late race desperation is never a mix for the faint of heart. Downeast Racing's Joe Lynch, Ta Herrera and Jeff Yingling entered the 6:00pm start master's field for 45 minutes of racing around a rectangular course on the streets of downtown Exeter, NH. Corner #1 just after the start and near the bandstand is wide open but slighly off camber, and corner #2 has a wide street funneling into a narrow street. After exiting the last corner the riders take a serpentine route past the quaint downtown buildings. As is always the case with a major crit, the field goes single file from the gun making positioning at the front of the strung out field critical.

 

Things happen quickly in a crit and a delayed reaction can cost one much energy. That's what happened when Maine's very own Momentum strongmen Eric Follen and Eric Weinrich jumped the field early and established a quick gap. Did they go too early making a catch probable? Or are they strong enough to hold off the field? Well, Eric & Eric weren't sticking around to give the pack an easy answer and when the realization came that these guys DID have the ability to stay away, the hard chase from the field began. 

 

 

Joe Lynch and the chase

 

 

Jeff and Joe tag teamed to bring the duo back and reduced the gap to 15 seconds. Then with a few laps to go the field began to believe that maybe the gap could be closed. That brought new life to the legs of many and the pace ramped up ...... and so did theeeee ... crashes. Four in the last two laps. Our heros made it to the bell lap where Joe and Ta nearly nailed the grandstand as they swerved to avoid guys hitting the deck in front of them. Speed lost - race over. Jeff continued on until a stack of bodies in corner 2 made passage .... ummmm .... difficult, especially since Jeff too was soon sliding over the pavement on his back. Body ok. Bike ok. New skinsuit a little tattered.

 

 

  Ta & Jeff in front of the bandstand under more placid conditions

 

Eric & Eric managed to stay away until the end for a nice, hard earned 1-2 finish. Congrats to them. Jeff, Ta and Joe earned some field primes (never easy) and got some excellent prep work for this weekend's Fitchburg series of crit races - Friday-Saturday-Sunday. We'll let all know how that goes as the weekend unfolds.

 



Testing new equipment

After supplying the entire team with Aspect helmets earlier in the season, team sponsor Giro provided a limited number of Air Attack helmets to Downeast Racing.  Hank and Eliot were quick to put the new equipement to the test on a Streaked Mountain ride this past Sunday.  We were blessed with near perfect weather, light winds, mid-70s and not a cloud in the sky.

The helmets are incredibly light, comfortable and easy to fit. Hank chose to wear his sunglasses, where as Eliot ran the magnetically secured Air Attack Shield. When you get up to speed you can hear a difference between how the air moves around your head in the Aspect versus the Air Attack.  The Air Attacks just sounds fast!!!  Hank and Eliot made a big push up and over Streaked Mountain, no doubt the new helmets aided the KOM assault.  You know you are going good if you can match Dereck Treadwell on a climb! 

Hank slotting in with the second fastest Strava time over Streaked, Eliot matched the best time posted!

That is a pretty good endorsement for the new helmets.

Here is Hank looking sharp, ready to tackle Streaked Mountain and the rolling hills north of Poland.

A weekend in the Whites

The original plan was for a long Father's Day ride, but with great weather in store that plan spiraled into a long ride concluding with the family meeting us for some swimming, lunch and laughs. The one day extravaganza evolved one step further into a weekend in the White Mountains, hotels, indoor water parks and ice cream cones.  At one point there was discussion of 4 adults and 5 kids sharing a room, but that was quickly discarded and 2 rooms were secured in North Conway.  Strava routes were made and late Saturday morning Matt and Eliot headed west along Sebago lake, into the foothills of Bridgton and finally over Hurricane Mountain.  

 Matt tapping out the tempo along the Shores of Sebago

 All smiles, as we have yet to tackle Hurricane Mtn

With our fabulous wives tending to the kids (aided by an indoor water park at the hotel) the dads were free to wrack up 80+ miles and 6,000 ft of climbing as we crisscrossed the Bridgton foothills. Not knowing what he was getting into, Matt failed to load the 11-28 cassette for the 17% grade on Hurricane Mountain.  It didn't seem to slow him down as he still made the climb look effortless, but perhaps that was b/c Eliot was so far behind that he couldn't see him!

Matt, the little blue dot up the road, making the pitch of Hurricane look easy

Matt drops his head when he hears Hurricane is 1200' of climbing

Eliot, 80 miles in, ready to tackle the White Mountains

Once at the hotel, the Dad's quickly changed and joined the festivities at the water park.  It involved climbing too many stairs to get to the top of the 3 story high slide, but we were not ones to say no to the little ones! 

Eliot and Matt with dueling shoulder riders.

No plan goes off without a hitch, and this weekend was no exception.  After a great dinner, ice cream and 10 minutes on the playground, Eliot's daughter, Marian, took a header off the jungle gym and broke her arm.  In the moments when Eliot was holding his daughter in one arm, and supporting her broken arm in the other, Matt sprung into action, ran back the car and drove it to the scene of the accident with the speed of an Indianapolis 500 racer. He later retrieved Marian's prized stuff animal and delivered it to the hospital to help bring some calm to a high stress environment.  Eliot and Julia were incredibly grateful to have such compassionate and caring friends around when things started to get a little hectic.  Amazingly, now that the arm is set and the needles are behind her, Marian has hardly missed a beat.  Kids are amazingly resilient!

Staying out until midnight at the North Conway Emergency room was not conducive to an early AM training ride  (Matt and Eliot had planned a 6 gap ride) so the plan evolved one last time.  The bags were packed, cars loaded up and the Dads pulled out on their official Father's Day ride, a ride back home.  

2 days, 200 miles, 15,000' of climbing and ice cream sandwiches at Cumby's. It was a busy weekend for everyone! 

Freeport TT Results & Thoughts

 

 

Fast Fred (Thomas) and I (Hank Pfeifle) did the METTS Freeport TT today. Maybe it's because we took our Hammer product. Maybe it's because we ride 300 miles a week. Maybe it's because we like to suffer on the Tuesday night ride. Maybe it's because we eat right, have great kids, beautiful wives and good friends. Maybe it's our equipment. Maybe it's because we love our sport. Or maybe it's because of all these things - but we went fast today. A good day. 



TT-ing Here We Come

Fred Thomas & Hank Pfeifle

 

Fred and I will be doing the 16 mile METTS Freeport Time Trial this Sunday. Eliot may jump in, too. It's nice to have a race 9 miles from home. It's also nice to have a promoter such as Derek Morin who does all the heavy lifting for the Maine Time Trial Series.

 

 

 

 

The Freeport course demands focus as it is an uppy-down route. And, ouch, the kicker into town puts the hurt on the quads and the psyche (I'm going so slow!). Fortunately, everyone feels that way. But the tribulations of time trialing has many rewards when the gains from the effort are applied to road racing. TT-ing better prepares one for:

 

 1) a break-away win (ex: Fred's 30 mile solo effort to win Sunapee this year),

 

2) comfort and strength in a small group break from the peloton (ex: Eliot's strength in the break and eventual win at Purgatory), and

 

3) improves one's ability to bridge from the peloton to the break - one of the more rewarding achievements in racing

 

So, here's hoping for a warm, sunny day and a tail wind all the way around the circuit.  Maybe we'll see you out there.