2008 Marblehead Circuit Race M35+ Race Report
Conditions:
Sunny and cool with temps in the low 30’s and a strong, steady wind.
Course:
The course was a slightly rolling ~2.5 mile circuit. You start leading into a short steep rise followed by a swooping down to slight rise at the finish line, a slight roller into an up with a hard 90 degree right, a few gentle rollers on the topside banking around to the right and slightly down into a fast and furry chicane left/right onto the flat and exposed bottom part of the course and around the one hairpin turn to finish the lap.
Reports:
We had four NEBC members in the Masters 35+ race, Wayne Cunningham, Michael Good, Tim Dodd and Mike Rowell. The field was full and closed at 80 racers weeks in advance. The competition was stiff with Team Fuji, CCB and Corner Cycles (as well as others) focusing heavily on masters racing this season. There were no successful breaks and few attempts and it all came down to a pack sprint finish.
We lost nobody during the race and everyone finished strong. NEBC finished in 22nd, 27th, 30th and 47th.
[Wayne Cunningham]
After doing the Cat4 race my goal for the masters was to hang on and not get spit out the back. I was expecting the race with all the big guns to be a fast hammer fest. I was happy to find that was not the case. I was able to work on just being smooth and tucked in. I Was farther to the back then I should have been so I did get an interval work out in coming out of the last corner on every lap. But over all I felt good about my fitness and my ability to stay smooth and connected as the speeds changed. In the past I did the yo-yo thing and felt like I was always chasing gaps. Now I fell I can work on trying to improve on my finishes. End report.
[Michael Good]
My goals heading into the Marble head race were simple. Racing in the fast Masters field, with the big names in the confirmed riders list, I just wanted to stay with the group and not get dropped and lapped. My own uncertainty, combined with the raised eyebrows and looks of concern from friends (not all) and teammates left me with a feeling of pending doom and embarrassment.
As the race progressed I continued to feel very comfortable with the speed. I stayed about a third of the way back the whole race. Close enough to observe the fast guys up front, but not close enough to mix it up. I kept expecting the big surges in speed but they never came. Maybe the fast guys were saving themselves for the next race? With five laps to go I thought about moving to the front, but that scene from Breaking Away with the Italian team came to my mind.
I stayed where I was and finished 30th in the group as things got strung out on the finishing run-in. I feel like I more than accomplished my goals for the race and look foward to doing more Masters races.
[Mike Rowell]
Going into this race I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve focused heavily on training this spring and felt that my fitness was good but also knew that overall fitness in general (at least among my ride group) seems really high. Given that my plan was simply to see what happened.
As we got moving I felt pretty good and after getting re-aquainted with pack riding, made my way toward the front 1/3rd. That is where I spent most of the race save a couple of times I went with very short lived/half hearted break attempts. I did find myself on the front a couple times including coming through the hairpin turn (good place to be if you could get there) and down around the chicane turn.
Beyond that I experimented with lines to try and get good positioning for the final sprint. I found that you needed to be very near the front on the hairpin (no surprise) and the inside was good if you didn’t get cut off as it opened up in front when the group swung wide, but meant you had to square the corner and accelerate extra hard but could grab a dozen spots easily. However, you then needed to slide left to the outside for the hill climb unless you were on the front as the pace would slow to a crawl near the top and you’d be boxed in.
The final lap I kept myself to the outside on the hairpin and going up the hill and managed to stay mostly clear of danger. Tim did a really good job of picking a line through the uphill mayhem and I followed him. The downhill sprint to the finish was a blur but I could see I was in and around a bunch of the usual CBTT suspects that I’m typically chasing after, which I was happy with.