Quick Sterling and Sunapee Reports

So after a few crits, I've finally gotten some actual road racing in the books. Here are some impressions of the events.

Last weekend my club hosted it's 15th annual event, the Sterling Road Race. This has become sort of a fixture of the spring season, and this year was well attended by strong fields across the board. While I have a lot of good experience in riding in general but virtually none in competitive road racing I'm starting with the 35+ beginners. The point is to gain the pack-riding experience necessary to be safe in the category 4 races which is my next step. I lined up at 11ish for 3 laps of an 8+ mile course with a pretty big field (north of 75 guys).

This race was a study in positioning-something that isn't really that big of a deal in cyclocross and mountain bike racing. Conversely, it's of critical importance in road racing. On the last lap into town, I found myself feeling pretty strong for the finishing climb but in shite position to help out the other guys on the team. I felt that I could have provided a solid leadout to our strongest guy in the race-bury myself to string out the field going into the base of the climb and then spring him for the finishing sprint. That's something I was planning to carry into the next race for sure-being more mindful of positioning. I finished 26th overall, which isn't bad for my first go around.

Yesterday was my next go at the Lake Sunapee Race in NH. The race featured two laps of a 25 mile circuit around the lake (beautiful spot). Each lap featured ove 1300 of climbing per lap with lots of rolling terrain. I was determined to be more animated and have a few digs on this one to see what I was capable of, as well as ride for and protect my team mates when we got down to the wire. Each lap had a couple of pretty tough climbs for racing. Racing climbs are harder it seems than training climbs. The peloton doesn't ususally recover after them....hard pace up the climb and then full gas over the top. I am finding that I need to work on that ability to apply the power on the climb and then the ability to accelerate. Right now I don't have that. I was able to get into two mini-breaks yesterday and do some quality pulling. I really thought that the second attempt could go. It looked like we had some cooperation going but just as we were ramping up, our group was neutralized by the pace car. Seemed to be a misunderstanding on our group coming around the race in front of us. They literally stopped us on the road and re-grouped us. So for the last 2/3 lap the entire group drove hard. On the last big climb, I came un-glued. There was push in the pace and I couldn't stay on. Broke myself to catch back up before the rollers and then the pace pushed again and I was gone. I'm not sure of how I did overall but I ended up just spinning in the last 5 miles. Probably mid-pack I'd guess.

Both races were fun (in a twisted sort of way) and also great experience. To be honest, they're harder than I thought (and this is coming from someone who is riding in the Cat 5's). The competition is strong and fitness levels are high. My strengths thus far are interesting--I never considered myself the "breakaway" type but I can get out there and pull hard for stints. I did think I was a better climber than I am right now. I can spin ok with a group, but when the screw gets turned, I run out of gas pretty quickly. And when I pop, I really pop. Time to get to work on that one.

All in all though, I enjoy the competition and the team work. The latter is the interesting aspect of road racing. It's real--keeping the strong team mate out of the wind makes a TON of difference for the finishing sprints and a smart riding team can lead out well and deliver victories. And let's face it, my favorite discipline is 'cross and this racing is money in the bank come fall.