Monday August 23, 2010

In last week’s Embro News section we mentioned that Pedro’s was going to be coming on as our latest team sponsor. This week they made good on their promise to supply us with some of their nicest goodies, including tools, lubes and cleaning products. Pedro’s has been sponsoring racing programs for years and they know a thing or two about how to best support their athletes. To them, as with our other sponsors, it’s more than just throwing money or goods at the teams and hoping for the best. It’s a process of educating the riders about the company, the products and in Pedro’s case, how to get the best results from these products. The boys at Pedro’s invited the team to spend some time with them at their facility in Haverhill, MA to get schooled on all the various items we’d be receiving and using over the course of the year.

So, this past Friday morning, Josh, Kyle, Linnea, Jackson, Jurgen, Pierre and James arrived at Pedro’s for the morning’s activities. Joining team Embro at Pedro’s were the four Keough brothers, known in the northeast and beyond as one of the cycling dynasties. They joined us and a few Pedro’s employees for a casual hour-long ride in the rolling hillsides of northeastern Massachusetts, followed by the obligatory coffee stop. Not a bad way to begin any meeting with a new sponsor, I would say.

After our ride, we settled down into comfy seats at the Pedro’s office to get an education in all things Pedro’s. Presenting to us was Matt Bracken, a staple of the bicycle industry for many years working for Merlin Metalworks back in the day, then Independent Fabrication and finally Pedro’s in recent years. One of the things that makes Matt so well-known is his extensive knowledge and experience working within the industry and as a mechanic for quite a few prominent athletes and teams over the years. Another is his incredible zeal for products. Any time Matt presents information about products it’s hard to tell where he ends and where the product begins, so infectious is his enthusiasm for what he represents.

Thus, we learned about Pedro’s, the company’s founding in Newport, Rhode Island 20 years ago; their commitment to making and improving their products, supporting racing and riding in all forms and doing everything possible to produce and delivery their products to market in the most environmentally-friendly manner possible. Matt was a wealth of information, both historical and current. He gave us a good overview of the various Pedro’s bike care products, including their cleaning products and their various condition-specific lubricants, including information on all their ingredients and when best to use them.

With our classroom time completed, we moved outside to enjoy some more of the beautiful day and watch Matt expertly clean Jackson’s dirty, gross bike. (In Jackson’s defense he made sure to get his bike extra dirty just for this event.)

The first step of the bike wash was to apply some Pro J solvent directly to the greasy, dirty drivetrain. This highly concentrated citrus degreaser was left to work while Matt prepared a bucket of bike wash, including Green Fizz which is Pedro’s multi-use bike cleaner. Once the Pro J had done its thing, Matt scrubbed the chain with a brush and then took a low pressure hose to the drivetrain and just as promised, Jackson’s gross, black, greasy chain quickly turned silver again as the grime melted off of it.

Drivetrain clean, Matt set to work with the bucket and brush, cleaning the frame, components and removing the wheels to give them a good and thorough cleaning. Each and every part getting a scrubbing with the foamy water / Green Fizz mix. This included the bar tape, which had, over a few hard weeks of training, turned from its original white to a dingy grey.

Next, Matt moved on to treating the drivetrain with lubricant. In this case he chose to use Ice Wax 2.0, which he said was one of the more popular choices for road riders because its bee’s wax formula cleaned, and quieted the chain in nearly all conditions. What was interesting was Matt’s method for application. He applied a large quantity of Ice Wax directly to the chain and then, while rotating the crank backwards, rubbed the chain between his thumb and forefinger, massaging the Ice Wax into the chain. As he did this, all the remaining dirt lodged in the chain’s rollers seemed to come out on Matt’s hand. After a minute of this treatment, the chain was as clean as the day it came out of the package. A quick rub with a clean rag, the chain was nice and lubricated and ready for action. Jackson’s Helium was back it’s bad-ass self again.

It was a good product demo and showed us the benefits of all the Pedro’s gear and even showed a few seasoned bike racers some easy new tips for bike maintenance.

Over the next few months we’ll be getting some more Pedro’s goods. In addition to some new tricks up our sleeves we left with wide array of lubes and cleaners as well as Pedro’s monstrously awesome Master Tool Kit, a couple Domestique Pumps a work bench, and a Demi-Torque Wrench to match the Torque Wrench 2.0 we already have and love. We’ll be employing these items to good effect over the next few months, especially as cross season settles in and we’re camping out full time at the races. We’ll be packing the full arsenal of Pedro’s gear at the races, so look for it and ask our team riders for some samples or if you want their opinions on which Pedro’s product is best for what conditions.

  Thursday August 19, 2010

As professional amateur cyclists, we on the Embrocation Cycling Journal often have to take time for other things in life, you know, jobs, significant others (my wife and daughter for example), even, if i dare say, dishes and laundry. All these things take time away from our passion that is cycling, both training and racing. Once we get out and get things back in order with said training, its always the mental schedule that comes about of “ok, what’s on Bike Reg and what’s the team doing these upcoming weeks?” This is when we know things are getting back to the way they should be. It had been about a month or so near the middle of July since I raced last after a busy spring and August comes along and I was itching to get back into competition mode.

I found my chance with some low-pressure rides and time trials, which I had done before and knew they would be a great chance to simply check the legs and make sure the form is still there for the end of the season races. My first opportunity came with a Lance Armstrong Foundation Charity 50 mile ride that always turns into a world cup style race in the last 30 miles or so after all the chatting and niceties wear off. I rode down with a friend of mine from my house for the “race before the race” with a hard 40 minute tempo ride to make sure we got down there in time to get signed in, chat and of course stop into Chrissy Beans to get a cup of coffee and pin up. The race started and as I suspected, we ride pretty easy until we hit the head wind and guys started riding pretty hard. This shed the weekend warriors and left about 40 of us left in the pack at mile 10! I figured everyone was watching me because of the lack of cooperation in the group unless I was on the front or vocally making sure people were not just sitting on all day. Just before the section leading into the half way point in the course, I knew the winds would be at our back in about a mile’s time so I went to the front and rode hard until the left hand corner which put the wind at my back. Everyone knows the feeling when you have been grinding out the big gears in the wind and then have it at your back when everything gets silent and it’s as if someone is pulling you from the front and pushing you from the back. It’s sweet. I continued my high pace until I could hardly take it any longer and I looked back and saw myself and only three others, knowing I did my job I pulled up and hoped they would have enjoyed sitting on me enough to pull through and keep the gap going. They did and we flew for the next 45 minutes. As is the case with the charity rides, there was a water stop and I needed to stop. At this stop the gap we had established plummeted from five minutes to only about a minute or so. The group from behind caught us a few miles after we resumed riding and I decided to sit in the back for a while and wait until my last effort to either solo or bring the strongest guys to the finish and they feel confident about my chances of my small group sprinting ability. That’s exactly how it happened and i brought two guys with me to the finish, attack again with 2 km to go then had one guy left to get around in the sprint. To my amazement, the guy came around me with a about 500 to go and led me into the right had corner and then whipped up the pace. I saw the cones telling me it was time to come around and put the arms up in the air. Always helps to see your mom cheering at the finish, adds a few watts for sure. That was that, 50 miles in a hair over two hours, not back for a charity ride. Good day, rode home after to finish off the day.

The Great Race is another leg check that I have done with the same group of guys for the last four years or so. This year was no different. I had come in 3rd, fouth and fifth in this race, had the course record on the tt course and was itching to win the damn thing this year. I take the Great Race quite seriously and when I saw Cameron Cogburn was there, it was game on. Everyone that is reading this in the east coast knows Cameron as a super strong guy this year and basically untouchable in the time trials. We had chatted a bit before the start and figured we would ride together and really light it up and then let the race play out in the boat section with our respected paddlers. Well, it kinda worked until I dropped my chain about 10 km in out of the 30 km race. Cameron was gone and I was on my own. I caught everyone I could on the way in, Glenn Swan who was three minutes ahead at the start and some tri guy who was almost 5 minutes up on me at the start of the tt. We ended up second and I was second to Cameron on the day by about 1:45. Sounds like a lot but I was messing with my mangled chain for about a minute and so the 45 seconds I feel I really lost was perfectly fine with me considering I was 1 minute behind Cameron after only 8 miles in the Tour of Connecticut in late May. I was pleased. One last test for me before this coming Green Mountain Stage Race in early September with the Chris Thater memorial crit in Binghampton. Good stuff, see you at the races.

Cory

  Monday August 2, 2010

This weekend we were a team divided; spreading our efforts across the northeast with Jackson and Bradshaw at the Tour of the Catskills race in New York, while Jurgen, James and Kyle tackled the Norwell Circuit race, more or less on our home turf just to the south of Boston.

Bradshaw finished 19th overall in what was a VERY tough field on an almost unrealistically tough courses. While we’re awaiting a full race report from Bradshaw about his experience at the Catskills race, I think a video might sum up this hilly race:

There’s Bradshaw in the main bunch over the Devil’s Kitchen climb, hanging tough and even out of the saddle, which is a bit unusual.

And I don’t think this is from the P/1/2 field, but it’s still worth a watch. Pretty scary, actually:

Norwell is a race that we can and should do well in, but it seems to be plagued with issues for Team Embro. Last year Jay came into the final turn in good position for the sprint and somehow ended up with another riders foot through his front wheel.

This year, Jurgen, James and Kyle came into this race ready to go, in good shape and with a good shot at getting some results. With some of the fastest racers in New England in attendance, we knew we’d have our work cut out for us, but felt confident nonetheless. Early in the race the pace was steadily fast – very fast, actually, with the top-dogs trading blows at the front for the first three laps, shedding riders off the back but unable to force a real split or break with any change to stay away. On one of the many times up the course’s only real hill, a hardscrabble little thing made more difficult by the 90 degree turn at its base, there was a touch of wheels somewhere in the front part of the field. In the ensuing pileup involved quite a few riders toward the front of the field including James, who crashed into the back of a few riders already laying on the ground. Unhurt, but entangled in riders and bikes, James was unable to get back into the race as it sped on. Up front, the high pace and attacks continued. Jurgen and Kyle were in the mix, Kyle doing a tremendous amount of work at the front keeping things from stringing out too much while Jurgen, feeling good and fast, was waiting for the right time to move.

A couple laps later, up the same hill as the crash, Gavin Mannion of Trek/Livestrong launched a vicious attack, dropping all but one other rider. This proved to be the major move of the race – Gavin would hold on to win the race with seeming ease. Behind, a large break formed, including Jurgen a couple CCB riders and a handful of other strong riders. This group caught James, who while a lap down and out of contention, could still help Jurgen in the finishing effort. The group tried in vain to catch Gavin and then, approaching the finish, got down to the task of picking up the other top 10 spots. James led into the bottom of the finishing climb, a small, select group of riders came around him inside the final 200 meters led by Dylan McNicholas of CCB, who would hold on to take third place. Jurgen, just behind him and ripe for an uphill sprint, was thwarted as his rear tire punctured just as he began his sprint. He still held enough speed to finish 6th on the day, but was denied a top 5 placing by some extremely inopportune bad luck.

All in all, good legs but some less than stellar fortune means what should have been a solid showing ended up being only pretty good. Such is bike racing. It’s also a testament to Jurgen that he continued his sprint on a flat tire and still took a good placing.

Up next: Beverly Criterium this Wednesday. It’s a course designed by Tim Johnson, so it’s basically like cyclocross on pavement. Fun times.

  Wednesday July 21, 2010

The Clam Fest Circuit race in Yarmouth, ME is one of our favorite races of the year, and we always pull out all the stops to have a good showing there. Why such a good race? Well, it’s a true circuit race – a short but technical 3.5 mile course with a bunch of 90 degree corners, a stiff little uphill and a sweeping downhill finish right in front of Yarmouth town center. One part crit, one part road race and always fast, it’s a race that plays to our strengths as a team and it’s always a thrill to ride in front of a large, cheering crowd. Last year, we had great results, with Bradshaw taking a painfully close second place and Jay scooping up a bunch of primes, so this year we were intent on building on this success.

We needed to make sure we had riders in the many breaks that were likely to happen and also to control the front end of the race and keep the pace as high as possible. Kyle found himself in an early move that lasted a couple of the 10 laps. Just as his breakaway came back to the field, James attacked to take one of the few primes on offer. A couple laps later, Colin, who was diligently patrolling the front of the field set James up for another big money prime.

By the halfway mark, it was clear we were stamping our authority on the race, just as we had wanted.

Then Dylan McNicholas of the CCB team launched a vicious solo attack. Dylan is one of the strongest and winningest bike racers in New England and his attack was nothing to take lightly. Jurgen mobilized and launched an attack of his own to hunt Dylan down. He went off the front with 6 other riders and within a lap had caught Dylan and solidified a seven man break that established and held an advantage of about 20 seconds over the field.

We were content to have Jurgen in the break – he’s a strong and aggressive rider and we knew he could pull off a good result. At the same time, we knew that Dylan would be all but impossible to beat in a sprint, especially since Dylan had a teammate with him in the break to perform lead-out duties. Up in the break, Jurgen knew this too and started devising tactics he could employ to get the better of Dylan and his other breakaway companions.

On the final lap, comfortable with their time-gap on the field, the seven guys in the break started attacking each other. Dylan launched and was brought back. Jurgen knew that the window of opportunity was open and immediately countered with an attack of his own. With about 2k to go in the race, Jurgen decided to go it alone, down a long, gradual decent into the course’s steep final climb, and down the finishing straight to the finish in front of Yarmouth town hall. His gamble paid off in a huge way as he was able to gap the chasing breakaway and maintain this gap through the finish.

A colossal two minute effort by Jurgen and a much-deserved huge win for the local guy and for the team.

Meanwhile, back in the field the team set up for the sprint finish and the remaining placings available. Colin took third and Bradshaw forth in the field sprint just behind Jonathan Page of Planet Bike and Chandler Delinks of CCB; good enough for 10th and 11th on the day.

Jurgen, the newest edition to team Embrocation, brought home the goods. Everyone on the team was ecstatic with the result.

And then, as is our custom, we ate…

(A special thanks to Don and Dana McEwan for being such great fans of the team and allowing us to use their photographs.)

  Tuesday July 13, 2010

The Fitchburg Longsjo Stage Race is pretty much one of, if not the biggest stage race on our calendar this year. It was something we took seriously and had high expectations coming in. Like all bike races, there were some successes and some let-downs, but all in all, the 51st running of the Longsjo will go down in the record books as a success for team Embrocation. Let’s break it down…

(Images courtesy of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette)

Stage 1 – Circuit Race
The circuit race at Fitchburg is a doozie. It usually falls the second day of the race, so a clear race leader has been established and there’s been some softening of the legs from the TT the day prior. This year, however, the circuit race led off. 16 laps; 16 times up the finishing climb – a stiff uphill sprint that completed once doesn’t register with the body, but by the fifth or so time it begins to take its toll. This is a race where breakaways can and do form off the front of the group, so our plan was to monitor the front of the race and make sure we were in any major moves, while discouraging others. The plan worked, with Jurgen and James patrolling the front part of the race, both getting into early breaks and allowing other Embrocators to chill out and save energy for the later attacks that were sure to come. Sure enough, just as Jurgen and James had returned to the field from one mid-race attack, Jackson launched a counter-attack, dragging several riders with him. A relatively large break established itself and stayed away – Jackson, always eager and willing to fight to the bitter end, gave the best uphill sprint he could, but the strength in his legs couldn’t quite reach its full potential as he was boxed out by a couple riders in front on him and narrowly missed the podium with a more-than-respectable fourth place finish out of a 10 man break. Behind in the field sprint, James managed to place in the top 5 for some serious Embrocation representation on the circuit stage.

Stage 2 – Road Race
One of the monuments of New England bicycle racing, the Wachussett Mountain road race is, in fact, another circuit race, but in grander scale. We completed 7 laps of the course, each lap featuring a difficult climb – a two-tiered climb through the town of Princeton – about 4 minutes of climbing through the feedzone and down onto a false flat section. The plan for the day was not dissimilar from the previous day – control the race, make sure we were represented in every break and try to move James, Jurgen, Franny or Jackson up the GC or into a position where they could take a stage win. Again, the plan worked. Breakaways went up the road early; the first one with Colin, and a subsequent few with Jurgen and Jackson. Splits in the group were happening almost every lap at the top of the main climb. With the field strung out through the feed zone, a lead group of riders could get a gap from the main field, and with any luck, hold that gap. One such break went about mid-way through the race – a 4 main break with James in it. Eventually, 3 of these 4 riders would drift back to the main field, including James. One solo rider stayed in front of the field virtually the rest of the race. With one strong rider off the front and James tired from his time in the break, the rest of team Embro went to the front of the field and set a high pace in an attempt to bring the rider back and discourage any other attacks. At this point the plan was to set up Jackson for a stage result – he’d been riding strong all day and was the top-placed rider on the team at that point.

Colin burned himself out and faded off the back. So did Jurgen. Jackson did as much work as possible without dropping himself. The last time through the main climb, like on other laps, a group went clear of the main field at the top. A 6 man break established itself with about 12km to go. James, having recovered from his earlier efforts, was part of this final move – a last-ditch effort to stay in front of the main field and catch the solo leader. To make a long story short, the break was able to say in front of the main field for the remainder of the race. On the final climb to the finish line, James was able to best his breakaway companions with a final uphill sprint and in the last 50 meters catch and pass the solo breakaway to take the stage win. The team did their thing and James followed through with the best result possible on the day. Only a few moments after James, Jackson did what he does best and won the field sprint, gapping all other riders by about 5 seconds at the top of the hill.

For the team’s efforts they were rewarded with a stage win and a leader’s jersey for James.

Stage 3 – Time Trial
While the previous two days were perfect for Jackson, James and Jurgen, the TT was the say for Franny and Josh. Unfortunately, Josh, having done a great deal of work in the road stage to help the team, and suffering from the every-increasing heat levels had dropped out the day before. The time trial is an out and back, about 10 miles of relatively flat roads. Francisco did his thing and finished 13th on a day of blistering temperatures and very fast times. James and Jackson, both far from TT experts, suffered greatly and dropped down the GC – James, unfortunately but expected had the leaders jersey stripped from his back with extreme prejudice. Despite a few good times, notably by Jurgen and Franny, the TT was the weakest link of our race. Especially unfortunate given its supreme importance to the GC competition.

Stage 4 – Fitchburg Downtown Criterium
Since most of us are from Boston, we get a lot of crit practice and consider ourselves to be pretty good at them. So, we were all excited to tackle the final and fastest stage around downtown Fitchburg. The plan here was to control early on, try to facilitate breakaways in the middle third and if breaks did not stick then set up the sprint for either Kyle or Colin, both of whom felt confident in their sprinting abilities. Again, the team executed the plan. Early breaks didn’t get down the road without us in them or controlling them. Sadly none of these stuck, so we geared up for the sprint. Franny led out with two to go, pulling the field at remarkable speed until about 3/4 of a lap to go. James took over and pulled hard through the final turn at which point Colin and Kyle jumped with everything they had; Kyle pulling off in sight of the finish line, allowing Colin to open up a sprint. Like in the first race of the weekend, we came tantalizingly close to a podium – Colin finishing 4th on the stage by a fraction.

So, a stage win and three other top five finishes. Not too shabby. Yet another year where Fitchburg lived up to its reputation as one of the most difficult and storied races in the US.

  Thursday July 8, 2010

After a few weeks of using the Lazer Genesis, there is universal praise from team Embrocation riders. We got a bunch of these helmets from the folks over at Lazer and so far, they’re awesome.

The Genesis, along with the slightly lighter Helium model, are the top-level road race helmets from Lazer. We see now why Lazer Helmets are the hottest things on the market right now. The Genesis has a bunch of features that make it one of the best all-round helmets we’ve run into.

  Monday July 5, 2010

Some days your legs just don’t show up, for absolutely no reason at
all. Unlike on the road, there’s no place to hide in a mountain bike race. No teammates to sit behind; no wheel to draft. It’s one of the most frustrating things in the world. I went out to Wisconsin feeling strong and climbing well, but come race time it felt like I was pedaling in triangles and going nowhere.

The Wisconsin Off-Road Series (WORS) is one of the largest race series in the US. The Subaru Cup was their first shot at putting on a national-level event and they did a spectacular job. The XC course was a 6km loop winding all over Nordic Mountain – mostly twisty singletrack in the woods (thankfully, as it was hot as hell and a billion percent humidity – and, like Josh, I wilt like a little flower in the humid heat).

We’d poked fun at the Wisconsin alpine “mountain”; boasting 250 feet of vertical with two chairlifts, but the course designer had done a good job winding all over the mountain using every possible foot of elevation. After three laps of attempting to make my legs work, Georgia Gould was closing fast and I was mercifully pulled.

Short track, aka “the Hurricane of Pain”, was the following day and my legs felt a little better, perhaps opened up by the XC the day before.
It was a typically disgusting MTB short track course, with 100 feet of climbing in a 3 minute lap. I got a great start and maintained contact over the hill, despite being in full fight-or-flight mode and suppressing the urge to throw up. I managed to settle in behind Chloe Forsman and a Trek girl for a couple of laps. By then, I was feeling a little cooked and Chloe was just warming up. She took off, along with the Trek girl, and I chased fore a few more laps before Katie Compton was breathing down my neck and my race was over. I was joined in short order by almost all of the rest of the field, as Katie went on to lap all but 6 other riders by the finish.

The Super D was a couple hours after the short track. For those of you unfamiliar with what super D entails, it’s basically a mass-start downhill race with some climbing thrown in. Typically it’s a 7 minute race in which both downhillers and XC racers compete. The race started at the top of Nordic Mountain and ran one of the XC climbs in reverse. Due to the tight nature of the singletrack turns, it was hard to make much time on the descending, instead the time gaps would be made at the climb from the bottom up to the finish — which, while relatively short, when placed at the end of a 5 minute pedal-to-the-metal downhill, hurt like hell.

Because of the number of competitors, they decided to split the field into two waves of approximately 10 riders. I lined up next to Super D Queen, Kelli Emmett. She got the holeshot into the singletrack, with me right on her tail. Kelli bunny-hopped the first rock garden, which seemed like a great idea, so I tried to follow suit. Coming unclipped mid-air, I managed to tap into some ninja skills and land one-footed to recover without losing all of my speed or going off into the woods.

I’ve heard that athletes are great liars – your brain needs to lie to your body to convince it to go harder and faster when your muscles are already screaming. It’ll convince you to push a bigger gear; get out of your seat and hammer; it’s only 10 seconds more…

By the time we hit the climb, I was employing every trick in the book up that final climb to keep pushing in the third race in two days. I finished second in my heat behind Kelli, third overall, for my first podium in a national-level race (admittedly, some of the other pros headed for the airport after the short track). It was a great way to finish a less-than-stellar weekend.

  Friday June 11, 2010

It was supposed to be one of our focus races this year. The 2 day, 3 stage race in Litchfield County, Connecticut promises some of the best racing of the year, crammed into one weekend. It starts with a technical but fast time trial on Saturday morning. The Saturday afternoon circuit race is roller-coaster-like with a 3 mile, 3 corner course with a significant hill climb and screaming downhill in each lap. The road race on Sunday morning is a long 90 miles and seldom features a flat road. Coming into this road race, we had a handful of Embro riders in the top 20 in GC and had secured a couple top 10 finishes in the previous two stages. We’re a team that normally excels in the longer road races, so we felt confident that we’d have some solid results and maybe get a few riders moved up in GC. This is where things went somewhat pear-shaped, though. It actually turned out to be a (dare I say?) epic day, just not in the way we anticipated…

Colin recalled his series of events quite succinctly:

After the commissaire car for our field laughed at me when i asked where my support was (Me:“how do i get home without wheel support” Official: “I don’t know”); after i stood in the rain on some random corner in the middle of nowhere for about an hour; after the cat3 support car actually stopped and yelled to me that they wouldn’t help me (not couldn’t, but wouldn’t… wrong field?!); after i listened to you guys crash via the police band with a local fireman (“multiple bicycle rider crash”,4 transports!” ); a dropped 3, who had been given a 9sp campy rear for his ten speed SRAM drivetrain when he got ‘supported’, found me. when he inflated my rear with his spare tube and a compressed air cartridge it froze to his hand because of the biblical rain and PV=nRT. which was actually kind of cool.

Steve Francisco dropped a story on us that we couldn’t make up even if we tried. Here he relates his experience of the weekend:

Leading into last weekends race was a bit crazy for me.

- I finally received my TT rig the weekend before. Built it up, rode it for a few hours on Monday.
- Rode the Tuesday Night Championships and felt like ass.
- Dialed in my TT position on Wed night via SKYPE with my coach from CO.
- Recovery ride on the TT rig for an hour on Thursday to get used to the position.
- Opener workout on the TT rig on Friday – and felt like ass again.

The week was pretty much wrapped up – and all I needed to do on friday was attend my daughter, Olivia’s end of the year ballet recital. 7pm on Friday – and ended at 10pm. It was great – and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

At 10:30pm I met Jake Hollenbeck and we drove to Saratoga Springs so that we would have a shorter drive in the morning. Got to my parent’s house in Saratoga around 1:00am – and went right to sleep.

Up and out at 6:30am – Uncommon Grounds was closed – so we had to hit the bagel shop. And, we were on the road to CT.

Got there no problem, and the TT went off. It was my fourth ride on the TT rig, and my first P/1/2 Stage Race, and first real TT race. All the Embrocators had solid rides and it was super fun to see everyone so stoked to be there and racing together. I had a pretty solid time in the TT, I didn’t really feel like I went as hard as I should have – but I’m still trying to figure out how to pace out my effort over those distances and in that position. Overall, we had Cory in 12th on GC and me in 21st (which was just crazy… right?) Josh and Bradshaw were all right up there too.

The Circuit Race in the afternoon was crazy fast for me – I was getting tail whipped around the middle to back of that pack all race, but we all managed to stay safe – and James and Bradshaw were up there at the sharp end of the race pretty much the whole time with Cory and probably a few others, but, I couldn’t really tell because my head was down most of the time – just trying to get used to the pace and accelerations. I think Cory, James and Bradshaw where right up there at the end too…. studs.

That road race on Sunday was crazytown. I’ve heard multiple different stories on how it all “went down” – but all I can remember is this: it started pretty chill for the most part; some early attacks and racing at the front was pretty fun – and for the first time (for me this year) I was able to ride pretty comfortably at the front end of the field. In fact, for most of the race – up until the cluster fuck at around mile 60 – we had almost all of us up there. It was so cool to see four, five or six of the baby blues clustered up at the front. After the first feed zone – the pace started to pick up – and as the road surface got worse the rollers got bigger and steeper – putting most of the back half of the field in difficulty. I recall flying down a really shitty road – and banging a super hard right hand turn – and having to go pretty much as hard as I have ever gone on a bike – to stay with the front end of the race. For me, this was a completely different sport from racing CAT 3 – I was holding my position, but just barely. James and Bradshaw were up at the front – trading punches and just beating the shit out of one another. I faded off the tail end of that group – and proceeded to try and TT myself back on over the next several rollers. I saw a small group with Josh in there coming up behind me – so I dialed it back a bit – and just as they caught me, we all ended up catching back to the front group. Once we made contact – we started down a steep pitch – and watched the first 15-20 riders all hit the deck on the metal bridge. We were coming down this hill at around 40mph – and just barely had enough time to skid to a stop and walk our bikes across the bridge. James went down, but got right back up and back on his bike. He was covered from head to toe in mud – it was crazy mud – like ‘cross mud.

So, we soft-pedaled for a bit until whoever felt like racing after that crash was able to get themselves together and get back up and rolling. From there it really became a blurr of a fast single file pace – up and down in severe downpours and thunder – through the next feed zone until we brought back the group containing Bradshaw. It was just about then that, almost all together – we realized that we were back on the first loop of the course and heading in the exact opposite direction of the finishing town. With no support vehicles or lead cars, we must have missed the critical turn. By this time our group had drastically dwindled, by people either coming off the back due to the pace or just figuring out on their own that we were hammering down the road in the wrong direction.

At about our furthest point, after multiple u-turns, Bradshaw flatted. We figured we would send someone back to get him once we finished. 3 miles later I flatted. Josh kept going with the small group, heading back to the finish and planned to send someone for me too. So, I walked along the edge of the road for about 20min, until a chick wearing a International Bicycles kit rolled up on me on her way back from feeding at the feed zone. She didn’t have anything to help fix my flat so she was just going to ride along while I walked. After a minute or so she suggested that I shoulder my bike and she would give me a ride (ala Chris Horner @ Cascade last summer). So, I threw my bike over my shoulder and hopped on her bike. She sat, pretty much, on my lap and pedaled while I balanced us by dragging my feet – and holding onto her shoulder. We rolled like this for about 2 or 3 miles (by this time, I was “getting to know” this cute chick from International Bicycle pretty well.) No, I didn’t get her name, but she was cool about it… ya know?

After rolling for a while a car finally stopped and asked if they could help. There were two couples in the car, one was a local couple that lived in Colebrook, CT and the other was their friends visiting from Holland. We took my wheels off and put my bike in their trunk and I jumped into the back seat next to this beautiful Dutch woman. By this time, I am completely soaked, covered in road spray, and trying not to make a mess of the back seat of the car. The Dutch guy was driving and asking me all kinds of questions about racing here in the states and trying to understand how the race went so incredibly wrong, to the point that I had gotten lost and flatted without the support vehicles. He was in pure amazement at my story – he was only making the whole thing even better.

So, they brought me back to the finish area where I got out of the car and re-assembled my rig. At that point, the head official came running over to make sure I was okay and thanked the people for bringing me home. Once I explained what had happened, with Josh calmly supporting the veracity of my story, she told me to put my helmet back on and to just walk across the finish line.

That’s pretty much what I can recall from the experience. Pretty crazy.