007 Fitchburg Longsjo Classic Stage Race - Geoff Martin - Cat 4 - 7-2-07
NEBC Cat 4 team report
Team members:
Brian Anderson
Geoff Martin
Wayne Cunningham
Peter Floss
Keith Reynolds
Tom Evers
Joe Jussaume
Greg Brown
Julian Hjortshoj
Ryan Retelle
Willie Walker
Michael Dwyer
I’ve asked that the leading team member write up the stage details below (now THAT’s how you save energy in a stage race ;-P )
Preamble: The team discussed over email a basic plan to turn up – do the TT and then meet in the parking lot afterward to see how the chips had fallen. A number of us were doing Fitchburg for the first time (a daunting race and a challenging 4 consecutive days for our level of racing). Brian and I had hopes of doing something interesting but as skinny lanky guys we were mostly waiting for the Road Race stage on Saturday. Nonetheless Brian brought his TT bike and set out on a very good ride.
Stage 1 – TT (Brian Anderson)
As reported in the cat 3 report, someone in the Cat 4 TT (the first group off) fell off the starting ramp. A person who works with me was the next rider in line when it happened. Apparently he tried to mash the cranks on the ramp and went of the edge, and was not moving afterward. Geoff was one of the few that got to use the ramp since he was before the crash, and did quite well. Roy described the course as rising gently, us 4’s thought of it more as climbing relentlessly. Nothing steep, but not many breaks from gravity. I went with the TT bike and got the best NEBC time at 44th position, 2:12 off the lead so no GC contenders this year. I was shooting for top half, and last year I was 86th so I was quite pleased.
Top 6 NEBC riders:
Brian Anderson 44th
Geoff Martin 49th
Wayne Cunningham 61st
Peter Floss 65th
Keith Reynolds 73rd
Tom Evers 77th
Stage 2 – Circuit Race (Joe Jussaume)
One of the toughest circuit courses I’ve done. Just in terms of the hill at the start finish line. Marblehead and Sterling are much easier races. The CAT 4’s were to do 6 laps for a total of 19 miles. The weather was great. Geoff Martin and Brian Anderson had designated me as our protected rider. None of us were interested in going for the points as they were not really sprint points so much as they were KOM points. The first 2 laps were fairly uneventful with the exception of a small crash on the second lap where someone slammed into the rear of Geoff Martin’s bike. Thank God it was not his new Bianchi!!
I tried my best to stay with Geoff and Brian for the majority of the race and have them pace me up the hill. The third time up the hill was a bit tough and once we hit lap 5 the pace really began to pick up. If you were not in the top 20 going into the corner, you were basically out of the race because trying to catch back on after the crest of the hill and the right hand turn was nearly impossible. There was a crash right in the middle of the hill the 5th time up which I managed to avoid but it set Geoff, Brian and I back about 5 places while we tried to get around.
Finally the last lap was here. Huge props to Keith Reynolds who rode a monster of a race and was right at the front when I needed him. I found his wheel first, then Geoff and Brian and the race was on to the corner before the hill. The team did a great job getting me into position to head up the hill. I rounded the corner in about 15-20th place and hammered up the hill. Unfortunately I started just a little too far back and was not able to make up places on the hill. I finished 33rd overall with Keith and Willie right behind me.
Overall a good race for the team.
Top 3 NEBC riders on the stage:
Joe Jussaume 33rd
Keith Reynolds 35th
Peter Floss 37th
Top 5 NEBC riders on GC:
Brian Anderson 44th @ 2:15
Geoff Martin 49th @ 2:19
Wayne Cunningham 59th @ 2:31
Peter Floss 63rd @ 2:39
Keith Reynolds 69th @ 2:48
Stage 3 – Road Race (Keith Reynolds)
The mountain was going to stir the pot. Brian was still our top GC and planned to be on the front entering the mountain climb and remain top 15. Geoff Martin wasn’t far behind in the standings and had some thoughts on improvements he could make from prior years; particularly around climbing into the feed zone and up to the KOM. My goal was to hit the mountain when the time came. In the first 3 miles we saw the points jersey ride away into a break approaching the hills with another rider. For lap 1 and 2 no pressure was applied. Laps 2 & 3 had the break at 3 minutes ahead. Lap 3 strung out the pack but it was short lived. Lap 4 has the (now) solo break at 4 minutes. Wait, he’s gaining solo? No forward reaction, actually a lag occurs before the entrance to the mountain road. Brian, Geoff and I head into the turn in the top 10 to 20. From here it’s a death march to the top without the comfort of a pack. Riders start to sink and a few stepped on the gas. I set my sights on a Yale kit and pursued to the top, finishing 19th. Geoff was on my wheel and crossed for 21st, Brian 29th. Unfortunately we lost a few NEBC guys to the time cut and the GC then reorders to;
Our top 6 GC after the hill:
26th – Geoff Martin
33rd – Keith Reynolds
34th – Brian Anderson
62nd – Peter Floss
70th – Wayne Cunningham
81st – Joe Jussaume
Stage 4 – Criterium (Joe Jussaume)
Sunday’s crit was a blast. Once again, no plan to go after points but try to position ourselves for the win. The race immediately ramped up to speed and I decided to have a little fun, so I went for the first set of sprint points. As we rounded the corner heading to the start/finish I noticed a huge hole had opened up on the right side. I was sitting in about 6th position, so I figured, why not? I ended up 3rd behind two guys from ECV. I marked their numbers in my head and figured they were to two guys I wanted to stick with. The pace seemed to relax after each sprint lap with guys barely pedaling up to the hairpin corner. I attempted to compete for two other sprints with 10 laps to go and with 7 to go, but ended up only top 20. With 5 laps to go, as if on cue, Brian Anderson and Keith appeared at the front of the race, so I grabbed their wheel for the next couple of laps, constantly looking for the ECV guys. I was looking for #445, as he was the guy from ECV that had won two of the sprints. I marked him with 2 to go and did not let off his wheel. Then, something peculiar happened. He started to fade. Apparently two sprints had knocked the life out of him. As soon as I realized that he was not going for the win I began to hammer toward the front and when we rounded the last corner I looked for the hole on the right to open up again. It did, but not nearly as much as it had the first time and I was immediately boxed in behind two much larger riders. I figured, go for the ride and try to whip around them with 200m to go. By that time however, two guys had a slight gap on the field and I was never able to get out of the box I was in. I finished 27th, with Keith right behind me in 29th.
What a fun race!!! The CAT 4 Team is a great group of guys to race with! Everyone worked as hard as they possibly could to represent NEBC well. I can’t wait to race the Longsjo Classic next year!
Top 3 NEBC riders on the stage:
Joe Jussaume 27th
Keith Reynolds 29th
Willie Walker 44th
Our final 6 GC positions:
26th – Geoff Martin
33rd – Keith Reynolds
34th – Brian Anderson
66th – Peter Floss
70th – Wayne Cunningham
80th – Joe Jussaume
83rd – Willie Walker
UNK – Greg Brown
Footnote: Greg Brown got pulled from the crit well after the halfway mark but the officials seemed to mix it up on the results and show him as a DNF and as a result we don’t know his real placing on GC.
GC Wrap-up:
Without being the best rider on any given stage but consistently riding where I needed to, I was able to maintain my GC position on the days where I couldn’t gain time and allowed me to save energy for the big stage on Saturday where I hoped to be able to move up.
Time Trial: A time-trial is a time trial. You go fast and try to manage the pain. (Yes I know that’s an oversimplification). The difficulty on this course (I thought) was in knowing how to maintain a consistent effort within the undulations of the course. I was happy to catch my 30 second man and to have my minute man within my sight by the finish but sadly was caught and passed by a rider who started 2 minutes behind me (Luckily he caught me near the finish so I didn’t have time for it to affect my mental focus).
Circuit Race plan: sit-in stay safe, be up front. Help Joe wherever possible.
Circuit Race actual: sit-in, get hit from behind, stay up, back to the front. Help Joe?
Road Race: This was the day I had plans for. When the 2 riders in the break got their 3 minute lead so quickly – we had to think about whether this was important to our goals. Brian and I agreed that it didn’t matter to us. Shortly thereafter I shouted across to Joe (who we thought could do some attacking of his own) to not go off the front as the 2 guys were too far way to bridge to. Within 5 minutes the sluggish pace of the pack combined with a restless pair of legs (and perhaps a little too much heat in the helmet) led me to attack off the front. Hypocrite! Nobody seemed too keen to chase me down at first – but slowly I realized that there was no good reason for me to be there and I’d be best served to save my energy. I shifted down and waited to see if anyone would solo across and when no one did I allowed the pack to swallow me back up. I stayed near the front and even did a little more work leading in to Princeton center but paid dearly coming though the feed zone and I hard to work very hard indeed to maintain the tail of the pack. Luckily it slowed down after another mile or so and I was able to get back in to the protection of the peloton. At some point I made sure to bridge to the lead group who seemed to be splitting the field as they scrapped over the last sprint point at the end of one of the laps. (No idea what lap that was). It never really got away but at least I’d have been there if it had worked a gap. Then I was sitting in and trying to stay in good position on the climb through the feed zone and enter the final climb in the lead group. The climb itself was a matter of staying at an effort level I could sustain and passing riders who were slower of pace and/or blew up and disappeared backwards. I shouted encouragement to Brian hoping he could grab my wheel as I passed him but with only a 4 second deficit figured I should keep going at the pace I had. After the race Brian let me know he had started to cramp in his stronger leg just as we came in to the last 2 km. Sensibly he maintained the pace he had and still finished a creditable 29th!
I saw I was catching Keith but could only get up to his back wheel by the finish line. Another rider made a last lunge that I didn’t try to answer to split us. I was thinking it wasn’t worth expending the energy as we’d all get the same time, but I didn’t realize that we were fighting or the last top 20 spot until afterwards when I checked the results. (I’m not used to seeing such small numbers). In retrospect I was pretty spent by then and I’m not sure I would have had enough energy to counter his move.
This was my best finish in the cat 4’s so far – and in probably the most important day’s racing on the calendar. 21 is fine by me…for now. This launched me up to 26th overall and the team GC lead.
Criterium: Crits are not my thing. Sit in, stay upright, and for God’s sake finish with the pack. Thankfully apart from struggling to stay on during one of the final primes and having to do a little extra work to avoid a 2 rider crash in the second turn, everything went pretty well.
Extra thanks to Peter Floss, Greg Brown and Willie Walker whose wheels I clung on to at various times on various laps. Their presence allowed me to maintain my GC place through a final stage where it would have been all too easy to lose time. Thanks teammates!
Thanks also to my wife Kathy who looked after me at the end of every day including a daily rub-down for my legs which definitely aided my recovery.
Finally thanks to our teammates and partners who helped us out in the feed zone on Saturday. It’s a great asset to be able to pick up extra liquids during the course of a long race.
In two days Kathy and I are off to Tuscany for a friend’s wedding and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate a successful stage race