Giro di Jersey Stage Race Men's 3/4 - 6-21-08
This past weekend Peter Chiu and I drove to Princeton, NJ and raced in the innaugural Giro di Jersey. What had been two one-day races last year was expanded to be a three-day omnium this year. The roads were fantastic, the organization outstanding and the details well addressed. This certainly should be a race that everyone looks to check out at some point.
Final results:
Peter Chiu – stage 1 – 38th; stage 2 – 48t; stage 3 – 30th; overall 39th Scott Brooks – stage 1 – 2nd; stage 2 – 4th; stage 3 – 4th; overall 1st!
Peter Chiu Race Report
TT – fast on the outbound leg… thank goodness for the powertap. I over did it at the beginning (first 3 minutes @310W), but it would’ve been 10x worse if I hadn’t been checking my powertap every so often. Scott was 2nd on GC, so it was time to get to work.
RR – We both stayed safe… maintained good communication. I had my eye Scott and the Adler guy (race leader)... tried to close gaps if the Adler guy made a move and Scott wasn’t there. Blocked if the Adler guy made a move and Scott wasn’t up there. No need to mention my mishap riding in the grass. The final time up the climb, I hit the front a little earlier than I expected (at the crest of the first section of the climb) rode hard to keep it strung out through the middle bit and up the second part. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to keep it going. I wasn’t fresh, and it was still a couple k to the finish. I didn’t have to think too much, because I got a firm suggestion to drive the pace, so I put it in the big ring and pushed it some more before the attack came. I figure it was 2-2.5k riding at the front. I just sat up and rolled in behind the pack. I was anxiously looking for Scott to see if he had taken the jersey. If heu hadn’t, I might’ve head butted him.
CR – People were frisky after the Merrill guy got away, so I tried to help a bit in chasing down guys on the list (131 sticks out in my mind). Explained to a couple guys why we weren’t chasing down a guy who was way behind on GC. Hit the front and tried to settle the pace down by riding tempo… then my front derailleur housing shredded on me. Spent the rest of the time working my butt off trying to keep up on the downhills in the 39×12. That sucked. I actually got dropped when the pace picked up on the second to last lap, because I was spinning out. Scott looked good, so I wasn’t about to take any insane risks getting to the front… some people were acting squirrely in the turns.
Scott Brooks Race Report
Stage 1
Years ago I ended up in grad school because a group of guys I was friends with all had this idea that we should go together to make it bearable. Great plan. Immediately after I passed my GMAT and was accepted, I found out that these four guys have this discussion every year and perhaps believe they will try to get in, but never even try. About two months ago I had a similar conversation with some different friends about trying to find a stage race outside of New England. Next thing I know, I’m off to New Jersey to race. This time I have a teammate, Peter.
Day 1, very simple TT. The course is a simple out and back 15km course. The first section is a slight downhill where you can gather your momentum before hitting a quarter mile 8% decent, real speed. Or should have been real speed, up until a local driving a mini-van went around me, then continued at 30 mph. At the bottom of the hill is an immediate left hand bend. In the course preview I was concerned about this turn, as turning at 35+ on a TT bike isn’t the easiest thing. Trying to brake at 30mph, trailing a minivan on a TT bike isn’t any better. Shortly after the turn, the road rose up just a bit, enough to slow me down, but the minivan pulled away at 30, fortunately not to be seen again. Two miles into the race, I passed my 30 second guy. This course was FAST. Keeping in mind that the first half was downhill and I would need power on the way back, I tried to stay within myself. The speed just kept coming out. My computer afterwards showed my speeds frequently over 35. Just coming out of the turnaround, I caught my minute man. It wasn’t long before my minute 3o man was in sight and being passed. Next in sight was my 2 minute man!!! I was very amped by this and started cranking harder. At the base of the last big climb, I caught my target, and took note of his number. Between oxygen debt, adreneline and total lack of math skills, it took me half way up the hill to realize that I just passed my 3 minute man. Pedal, pedal, pedal, over the hill and the line is now in sight. Crossing the line I stopped my computer 21:31, average of 25.9 mph. The second half of the course took two minutes longer then the first half, but I was done. Now to sit and wait.
When the results were posted, I was in second!!! Awesome run and 27 out of 3o points. The Giro is an omnium, meaning that it didn’t matter that it took me 11 seconds longer then the winner, I was just three points behind him. Time to rest up and get ready for stage 2.
Stage 2
Stage 2 of the race was a 53 mile road race that consisted of 5 10 mile laps. The course was rolling hills for the first eight miles, turned left and went up a 8% hill for a quarter mile, leveled out for a couple of hundred yards before going up at about 5% for another quarter mile. A short recovery before a screaming downhill descent into the finishing straight. The finish was spectacular, wide open straight-away that you could carry a lot of speed into, but it had a slight uphill that kept it very safe.
Unsure of just how far from my friends house I was staying at, ML and I packed up the car early and headed out. With no traffic on a Saturday morning, we arrived about two hours before the start. Early enough that we parked in a lot that ended up being closed to cars an hour later.
With plenty of time to get ready, I double-checked my equipment and prepared for the 9:05 start. At 8:50, they announced that the races would be delayed by 15 minutes. Great, more time to wait.
Finally, the race went off. Unlike local races, the first five miles were neutral, and the pace car kept it neutral, cruising along at no more then 20 mph. With the pace car gone, the pack upped the speed a bit and I started to look for any rider in the top 5 GC trying to make a move. Seems that regardless of what rider moved off the front, the pink jersey (worn by the race leader, just like that race in Italy by a similar name) chased. The pack turned left onto the hill, and I found myself very easily moving from 20th to first on the hill. This was a typical big ring power hill for me. As we transitioned to the middle section, I eased up and drifted back, trying to preserve all my matches. I took note of one rather large rider who was climbing very well. I continued to watch him on the descent, figuring that if he could climb like that and descend like a rock, he would be an ideal rider to draft behind into the finish.
As the next couple of laps wore on, I continued to watch either the pink jersey chase everything in sight, or his teammate Andy track things down. This kept the pace comfortable and I never had to work to keep things together. On the final lap, the pace quickened and everyone got strung out in the field. As we climbed the last time, I worked to stay five riders back. No sense putting effort in where I didn’t have too, but I couldn’t afford to go too far back and not have time to make it up on the finish. Just at the top of the hill, when the pace typically slows and everyone comes back together, I yelled to Peter C to keep the pace up and he kindly obliged. Going into the downhill, my pre-picked big boy came to the front and dove down the hill. What seemed like a perfect plan started to fall apart when by draft sat up and wanted me to pull through. I obliged momentarily, then started to coast. Four or five riders came by me and I again jumped into their draft. At the bottom of the hill, 400 meters from the line, I was sitting sixth and towards the middle of the road when I saw the pink jersey sprint on the right hand of the pack. Two guys went for the line in front of me and I followed their wheel. 200 meters from the line, their pace slowed a bit and I momentarily tried to figure what to do. I distinctly remember hearing an interview from the Tour a couple of years ago where someone commented that their finish was slightly uphill and they needed to wait until it was almost too late before launching their sprint. This memory had absolutely no impact on my decision and I figured it was time to go for it. I gave it everything I had, I broke clear of the field and opened a gap. 30 meters from the line I ran out of steam and three guys snuck past me. As I coasted after the line, I realized that my mind was telling me to wait. Too late for that realization. Instead I reveled in the moment, I took fourth with some impressive teamwork from Peter.
We cooled down a bit and as we headed back to the start/finish area, we saw the pink jersey riding away and both realized that someone else would be in the lead tomorrow. I felt confident about my chances, but then three guys scored more points then me in the second stage, I didn’t think that they were top 5 the previous day, but I would have liked some confirmation.
ML, Peter and I hung around for the next three hours. We watched the rest of the races, we listened to the announcer talk to the winner of the Pro field, listened to them talk to the winner of the junior field (that race started 10 minutes after ours finished) and even watched them reopen all the roads. While unintentional, we realized that our car was now free to leave the lot that we parked in to start the day so long before. We ended up leaving the race unsure of who would start the next day in pink.
Quick note: Stage 3 started at 7am on Sunday and was an hour away. When I crashed at 10pm Saturday night the results were still not posted. When my Blackberry chirped at 2am and woke me up, I checked my email. The results were posted on-line, but my Blackberry couldn’t display the page. Great, just what I need to think about at 2am as I tried to go back to sleep. Leaving the house at 4:45 Sunday morning, I was fully amped up and didn’t require the large coffee I started to drink on the drive.
Stage 3
When we arrived at the race an hour before the start, we were the fourth car in the lot. Guess these folks don’t arrive as early as they do in New England for a race. Or perhaps they weren’t going to warm up if it means losing 15 minutes of sleep in the middle of the night. I quickly dressed and put together my bike as I waited for registration to open. After 20 painful minutes of waiting, the GC standings were posted. Sure enough, my fears were averted and I was in the pink jersey!!! I had accumulated 16 more points then the rider in second place and 20 more then the rider in third. I signed in and asked where the promoter was so that I could pick up my jersey. They assured me that he was around and would be back at 6:30 for an officials meeting. I started to walk away, when the other lady said “Well, it is 6:35, so that might not be exact.” That’s how I ended up racing my only day in the leaders jersey in the team kit.
The third stage could be described as a small circuit race or a large crit. We were to do 8 laps of a 2.2 mile course that again included a couple of rolling sections, two flat areas and another wide straight finish with a slight false flat uphill. Peter and I both had the race numbers of the top riders within 20 points of me taped to our frames. My intention was to finish in the top 10, limiting whomever won to only 20 more points then me and securing the overall title.
From the gun the race was fast. Very quickly the pack fell into a routine. A routine that was so predictable, everyone would sprint out of the corners like a mad dog, then at the base of the rise sit up. The group always came back together and there wasn’t a need to spend excess energy chasing. On the second lap, a single rider rolled off the front and after two days of racing, the pack seemed to not care about him. The rider quickly got about a 20 second gap on the pack and yo-yoed for the next six laps. As we followed this single rider, another racer shouted to me (could have been at me) “Hey NEBC, you have teammates here, why aren’t you going to get him?” I was confused at first, because it certainly sounded like he implied that I had multiple teammates available at my disposal to chase things down. I instead told him that if he can explain to me why I wanted to bring that rider back, I would. That I was in the overall lead and that rider wasn’t a GC threat. He simply replied “Oh”. and the race continued. On the seventh lap the guys decided to turn up the pace. A small group of 15 riders created a gap and we were off to the races. For the last two laps, the group remained strung out. Coming into the last turn I was positioned fourth and felt good about my chances. A rider in front of me decided that he wanted to move from the inside of the group to the outside and nearly took me out. As I accelerated and started to overtake him, he changed his mind and went back to the inside, this time bumping off my side. I remained seated, trying to remain secure through the finish and took fourth.
Final result, 2nd in stage 1, 4th in stage 2, 4th in stage 3, overall victory!!!