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Newton’s Revenge Race Report – Dean Phillips

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Congratulations to Fit Werx athletes Dereck Treadwell and Marti Shea for taking 1st overall Male and Female at Newton’s Revenge. We are proud to support you and wish you continued success. The following is Dean’s Race Report.

Race Report By Dean Phillips- Newton’s Revenge

1:07:05 on 370 average watts. 10^th overall male, and 1^st place Clydesdale (190+ lb category). Rider weight 202 lbs, Bike weight 13 lbs, Total package on scale with full water bottle, clothing, shoes, helmet was 219 lbs.

They refer to Mt Washington as the toughest hill climb in the world. They aren’t kidding. While this is the first mountain I’ve climbed, it was harder than I’d imagined. I’d been looking forward to this climb for months and couldn’t stop thinking about it. I probably had no fewer than 50 conversations and emails with good friend and race winner Dereck Treadwell leading up to the climb. We were constantly comparing power files from workouts and talking about expected times, power outputs, gearing, altitude, cooling, weather, etc. We were both fired up.

The “Top Notch” wave of riders went first. This was a wave reserved only for riders who’ve gone under 1:20 on the climb in the past. Dereck and I were in the 2^nd wave 5 minutes back. The loud cannon fired and next thing I know I’m in the zone climbing. Dereck danced up ahead and out of sight by the 10 minute mark and for a while it was just me riding alone. I actually felt really good early on. I averaged 410 watts for the first 15 minutes which was slightly over my target of 400 for the climb. By the 20 minute mark things were starting to go downhill. I felt like I was overheating big time since there was simply no cooling on the hot pavement of the lower auto road as I baked in the sun going 6 mph. I was also feeling the toll of riding so long and hard at a lower cadence then I’m used to. Perhaps the altitude was also having an impact as we approached 4000ft. I started gradually backing off (400 avg watts through 25 minutes) but it wasn’t enough. By the 30 minute mark my legs were toast and I was in a scary survival mode. All finish time expectations went out the window as my only goal was to make it up to the summit without stopping. Fear of stopping was my primary motivator as I hit the gravel roads and the side winds started really kicking up. If you stop for any reason it’s very unlikely you’ll be able to start again since the grade is too steep to get clipped back in and going again. The last 40 agonizing minutes I averaged 340 watts.

At the very end of the climb is a 22% grade that only lasts 50 yards or so. I’d heard about this section many times and was saving just enough energy for the burst needed when I got to it. At this point in the climb we were in thick fog and clouds, the temperature had dropped from 75deg at the base to 40deg at the summit with reported wind gusts up to 50mph. As I started seeing spectators showing up cheering all around me and the grade quickly got very steep I knew I was there. I could barely see where the road turned in front of me and my front wheel kept lifting off the ground because of the steep grade. Every time my wheel lifted the wind yanked it out to the side. After several hops and bounces to the side in an attempt to stay up, I eventually fell down. I basically landed on top of the summit since a couple spectators helped me up, held my bike so I could climb back on, and pointed in the direction of the finish line which was only about 10 seconds away. I was so excited to finish. What an experience. I was immediately wrapped in a blanket and sent in the foggy direction of where the lodge was reported to be.

There were many lessons learned my first time up. The big changes I’ll make heading into my next attempt are:

Pace conservatively early on considering the lack of cooling at the bottom and eventual impact of the elevation.
Lower gearing – While the 11×32 cassette may have been enough on paper for a 7.6 mile 12% average grade hill, the reality was there were dozens of sections of the climb at closer to 20% grade where an extra gear would have allowed me to keep my cadence in the range I prefer. Ideally I like to climb with a cadence in the 70-80 range, but my power files shows 17 minutes of time with cadence under 70, and 2 minutes total under 60. I’ll be changing to a SRAM XX 11×36 cassette next time.

Next attempt is the Mt Washington hill climb on August 20^th. I’ll target a more conservative power level early on in hopes of having better legs the 2^nd half. I’m also hoping to drop a few pounds since every pound costs about 20 seconds. If I can bring my average power up 10-20 watts with better pacing, lose 5 lbs, and not fall at the top I’m hoping to drop a few minutes off my time. It wouldn’t hurt to have less wind at the summit too!

Dean Phillips is Co-Owner of Fit Werx 2 in Peabody, MA

dean@fitwerx.com

Posted in News & Events, Race Reports |

Friday, July 15th, 2011

Providence 70.3 Race Report - By Jessie Donavan, Burris Logistics- Fit Werx Team Rider.
The wake-up call on race day was a bright and early 3:15am. We stayed at the Cape for the night so we could leave the kids with their grandparents for the day and we had quite a drive to get to the start. We were on the road by 3:45 and headed towards Olney Pond, the swim start just north of Providence. We arrived just in time to get into transition, pump up our tires, lay out our helmets and clip in our shoes before transition closed. The swim was not wetsuit legal which was not good news for me. I am not much of a swimmer to begin with but when I take off my wetsuit all of my little errors get even worse, why is it so hard to learn to swim fast? I didn’t have too much time to worry about it, before I knew it we were off. The swim was definitely not my best but I was still all smiles when I ran up onto the beach towards transition, I’m always happy to just have the swim behind me and to get on my bike. I jumped onto my brand new, super fast, Cervelo P3C (Thank you Fit Werx!!) and headed out on the bike course. The bike course was much hillier then I expected, I don’t think there was a single straight flat section on the course but that was fine with me, I love the hills. My bike felt amazing and before I knew it I was pulling into T2 ready to run. The run course at Providence is challenging, it’s in the middle of the city which makes it hot and there are some long and steep hills up to Brown’s campus. I spent the run focused on running smart, not going out to hard and staying cool as I have a tendency to overheat. When I hit mile 10 I started to let myself relax and enjoy that I was still feeling great and I started to soak it all in. My family was waiting at the finish for me and the kids had their handmade “Go Mom Go” signs in hand which always makes me smile. My results from the day were great. I was the top amateur for my second 70.3 this year, 4th overall for Pros and I had the fastest bike split of the day including Pros thanks to my new bike!

-Jessie

Posted in News & Events, Race Reports |

Coupes des Ameriques Race Recap A Division

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

By Christian Verry

Let me start off by saying this is the best stage race I have ever done. Incredibly well organized, each stage is hard, and raced that way (the Canadian’s do not enjoy sitting in or starting slow), the roads are safe, the scenery great, and 4 races in 3 days is just fan-freaking-tastic.

The newer format this yr of having a circuit race in leu of a crit was excellent (for me, who hates crits). We stayed in a kick ass, cheap little hotel, which should have charged double the price for as nice and accommodating as they were. This race has earned a permanent spot on my race calendar.

The prologue for the A’s was fast from the start, and sketchy. Tons of nervous energy as we rolled in to town, with some mildly nerve racking near-misses in the field. No breaks went until the base of the first steep climb, when all hell broke loose. I stayed with the lead group from there up the majority of the climb, advancing up along the way as I did not do a good job of positioning myself going into the base of the climb. As we hit the 2nd really steep part things strung out even more, and I could not stay with the top 20 or so guys. Ended up in low 30′s at the end of the day. I am happy with this given the field I was racing against.

The TT was decent for me, about what I expected. Again, middle of the field. I’m not the worlds best TT-er, so wasn’t expecting to do much damage. The 12 sec improvement over my time from last year was my reward for that race, and I was happy.

The circuit race that evening was hot hot hot, and muggy. Legs were tired from the long warm up before the TT, and the 2 races before this one. As usual, we started fast. 1st lap was the hardest, as the field hit the stair-stepping climb very hard the whole way. I was able to stay with the lead group, and the rest of the pack caught back on during the screaming decent, which is annoying as hell. The next 2 laps weren’t as brutal, but certainly not easy.

Going into the 3rd lap you could tell by the lack of hard surges that guys were wearing out. Some guys struggled to hold their lines, would drop back hard when they hit the climbs, and swerved all over the place as they tried desperately to hang on. As a result, 2 decent sized crashes happened on the climbs of the 3rd lap, taking out about 9 guys total.

We got a break of about 35 people going into the finishing stretch, but couldn’t organize to keep it, and the rest of the field caught back on. Ended up with a pack finish. Glad to have the rubber side down but totally wasted and dehydrated from the day. I too tried to freeze my legs in the tub that night, and suffered terrible muscle cramps all night long preventing me from getting any decent sleep. It was miserable.

Lining up for the road race I have never felt worse going into a race. Nausea, mildly dizzy, and just completely drained from the prior 3 races, I had no idea how I was going to stay in it today. My heart rate was 95 bpm just standing at the start line! If I knew any decent doctors, I’m sure they would have told me to pull out that day. But since I don’t, I raced.

We started fast fast fast, yet again. We drilled it up the first hill which starts immediately after pulling away from the start, then kept the pace up for the next 10 miles as we went over roller after roller. The group was totally strung out single file for 20+ mins. Insane. It finally let up to a reasonable pace, and then the rain started to fall, which stayed with us for the next 60-90 mins (I was delirious, so have no idea how long it was). We got neutralized, and then forced to stop on a section, about 15 miles from the base of the big climb, because they were concerned about pavement conditions. We sat there on the rd for 10 mins as the officials made us wait for the others in the group who got dropped to catch back on. Then we rolled out neutral for 4-5 miles as a group – all the while they let the clock run on us (even while standing there at their command), which I thought was a bit ridiculous. The pavement was fine. In the US we would have plowed right over it and not thought twice about it.

Regardless, we hit the climb as a group and crushed it at the first steep pitch. As it stair stepped up, a group of 16 guys got off the front who I could not touch. They put a huge gap on the rest of us. I ended up getting in a small chase group of about 5 others, and we worked hard after cresting the climb (total of 2 mile climb maybe, not sure) to catch two other small groups in front of us. By the time we turned on to the finishing stretch there were maybe 20 of us, gapped by about 60-80 secs from the lead group who we could no longer see. I took one hard pull as we moved into town and the finishing stretch of flat pavement, and then looked back to see what looked like 35 dudes total. All that work and chasing just to get caught, ARRGGGHHHHH!!! Regardless, we passed the 1 KM to go and you could just feel the pressure behind you. I was in perfect position, about 4th wheel back in our group.

Things stayed crazy fast but comfortable going into the finishing 600+ meter climb when 2 guys attacked. I tried to go with them with 500 to go, and was completely red-lined at 300 to go, with no kick left. About 5 guys came around me as all I could do was try and maintain my current pace. I had to totally burry myself to not get dropped off of that 2nd group behind the lead 16. Ended up again in the low 30′s overall, which I was fine with. I could not have done any better and was surprised I did that with the way I felt starting the race.

In the end I was 29th on the GC, which again, given the depth of the field, and strength of riders, I was plenty happy with. I can’t say enough about this race – maybe I already have, sorry if this is too long. Each race is raced like it’s the only one, with the entire group just crushing it, and the depth of the field is the best of any race I’ve taken part in – very talented riders. A great town, very welcoming, well organized, and the perfect way to spend a holiday weekend.

I did learn several things at this race:

A) Canadians warm up BEFORE the race, not DURING it – hence, they start fast. This is better.

B) Canadians don’t care about the yellow line. Might as well take that one out of the rule book. This is not better.

C) Masters level races have the nicest gear on the planet. This just makes you want to spend all of your money.

D) TNW are an invaluable part of training. The only reason I didn’t get shelled with all of those accelerations and attacks over each stage was b/c of the worlds. I thought many times how “this feels just like the worlds right now…”. Lesson – Show up for the worlds – they’re the best night of the wk!

Posted in Race Reports |

Coupes des Ameriques Race Recap C division

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

By Philip Beliveau

Well the dust has settled on another Coupe and I am currently eating and drinking my way out of race weight. Here is my story and I am sticking to it.

The prologue hill climb started on a lovely evening for pain and fresh pavement into Sutton from the border and the start of the climb. A few attacks went with the last reeled in at the base of the climb. The pack strung out as the lead guys ratcheted up the pace until there were 6 guys left at the base of the switchbacks near the top. Three in front made a surge into the switchbacks that I could not follow as I was red-lined but I held my pace and the two left with me faded leaving me to suffer in for fourth. Good enough.

The next morning I had a less then stellar time trial to drop to 7th. Boohoo!

That afternoon we did 3 laps of a circuit with a good but not super steep hill and screaming downhill. 3rd and 5th place on GC went on a break and were reeled in after one lap. 5th place got dropped on the last time up the hill and lost 2-3 minutes and so I moved back up to 6th!

That evening after driving home to be with my honeys, I sat in the coldest bath I could run for 5 minutes to calm my legs. I was still rolling around in bed that night with leg cramps for what felt like the whole night.

The next morning I arrived feeling pretty good for the start of the road race under overcast skies. I tried a couple of breaks and then sat in to conserve for the big hill near the end. Two guys got away. One was caught at the base of the climb and the other halfway up. The steepest pitch was at the base of the climb. I moved to the front so I would not have to make up any gaps. I was pretty close to my max but stayed with the lead guys.

As the climb hit the first shelf the pace eased and a couple of danglers caught back on. With the one from the break we were 11 as we rolled over the top. Foolishly I had not checked the results from yesterdays circuit race and did not know that the guy in 5th had gotten dropped and I had moved up to 6th. When I realized that guy was not in the lead group, I hit the front to keep the pace up and gain as much time in the hopes of moving up on GC.

We rolled into town and finished on a 500 meter big ring uphill. Ouch! 3 guys had jumped clear to get 3 seconds, 3 dropped off and I hung on to the main 5 for same time and 6th on GC. All in all a satisfying race except for missing the camaraderie of my 50+ teammates Bob and Bruce!

Posted in Race Reports |

Saranac Lake Criterium, NY

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

By Bruce Bell

Sunday’s morning rain in Vermont gave way to clearing skies during my drive to Saranac Lake. Unfortunately, as soon as I parked at the race venue it started pouring.

Matt and Steve were warming up in the downpour and would soon be racing in it. It was pretty ugly. It seemed to rain pretty hard during their race, but let up a little as our field lined up for the start of the 55+ race. A few laps in, the skies opened up again. I can’t remember ever racing through that much water. Fortunately, our field rode safely.

With 2 to go I marked the 2 guys I figured would be in the mix for the win. With 1/2 lap remaining, my 2 danger guys plus another and I got a little gap and held it to the line. The good news is I marked the right guys. The bad news is I didn’t execute as I had hoped and finished 4th. Fortunately, 4th place $$ covered my ferry ticket.

By the way, that Impulse CycleSport Jacket is awesome! Pretty water resistant and a real joy to have in cool wet conditions.

Congrats to all that raced this weekend. It is really cool to know we had so many team members racing at several different events.

Posted in Race Reports |

Race Recap from Wilmington-Whitface, NY

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

By Alberto Citarella

So here’s how the 3/4 race went down on Saturday:

It was Christian and I from the Burris Logistics-Fit Werx team, and a few guys from ORR and a group of 50-60 riders.

Lap 1: Moderate rain. About 58 or 59 degrees out. Group stays together with no major action. Going up the 1 mile climb at the end of the lap, the group drops maybe 5-10 riders. Respectable pace on the first lap but nothing brutal. A bunch of Canadians at the front doing the majority of the pulls. Gotta love those Canadians.

Lap 2: Lap 2 begins and its pissing rain now. By the middle of the lap it feels like its 50 degrees or lower. We’re all freezing. I can’t hold on to my handlebars without shaking. I’m questioning our collective sanity. I mean I have 2 kids and a wife, right? But at least I had arm warmers. I have no idea how those without handled the cold. Even still, it felt like we (or at least I) wasted more energy shivering than actually pedaling. On the second time up the climb, a group of about 10-12 riders set a good clip up the hill. Christian and I ended up in a group of about 4-5 riders about 30-45 seconds behind the leaders and spent the next 8 miles trying to latch on. We did eventually no thanks to some d’bag in our group who would pull through at mach 12, hang out exactly 10 yards in front of the us for 2-3 minutes by himself and simultaneously berate us for not pulling hard enough. It was the most idoitic display of bike racing that I’ve seen in a long time. When I say he was a completely d’bag, I am not exaggerating. We all wanted to punch him, and I think one us (who shall remain nameless almost did).

Lap 3: After 8 miles, we catch the lead group and now there are about 15-17 of us and its the final time up the 1m climb before the final leg. Up we go again, and this time about three quarters of the way up, I lose contact. Christian continues onward, stayed within spitting distance of the leaders, and finally latched on to them (about 3-4 miles later) right before the final 2 mile climb. I think he ended up in the top 15 with a strong ride. I on the other hand soft-pedaled it in after being dropped. I continued and was going to ride to the parking lot instead of heading to the finish when Jared and a group he was in passed by me, so I latched on and made my way onward asking Jared if he wanted to just bail with me on the final climb and go to the parking lot. “No way. We’ve come all the way here, haven’t we?”. Convinced of this logic, I continued albeit at a very slow pace.

At the finish, caught up with Philip who said he finished well. Some dynamic duo in his field (35+) broke away at mile 1 or 2 and stayed away the entire race. Unbelievable.

Anyway, off to clean my bicycle. After Saturday, the desire to ride in the cold again is non-existent. AC

From the 35+ race…

I signed up for the 35+ field at Wilmington. The field was combined 35/45 and there were half as many 35s, so I played the odds!

I dressed more conservatively than Alberto with arm/knee warmers, merino wool sleeveless under shirt and wind vest over all. I have to say I was pretty comfy except for the sloppy feel of wet shoes/gloves and lack of visibility that comes with racing in or after a rain.

On the way out to the circuits, I sat near the back warming up when two guys jumped off the front staying away! I could see the heavy hitters that I knew still in the field, but Canadians are always a wild card.

The rest of the field rolled out onto the circuits at a good clip. There were several jumps but it stayed together into the tough climb.

The pace was high for the first ascent and we were likely down to 15 out of the ~55 starters. The pace eased after the top and numerous guys got back on in the next few miles, likely to pop the next time up the climb. Two more guys jumped away at the start of the third lap. Were they 45s or 35s?

I followed and initiated some jumps but nothing that worked. The last time up the climb, soggy and wet, the pace was at my redline. The climb is like a bigger version of the second Philo climb in TNW and as the slope eased off just like TNW, the lead 6-8 surged and I lost 20 feet. I was clawing my way back to them as a couple of other bigger guys came by me and I latched on and got back to the lead group. Ahhh, just like TNW!

We turned off the circuits heading back to the finish. There were a few jumps but it stayed together until we turned up the Whiteface climb. It splintered very quickly and I stayed with what became the second group of 5 to the finish with leaden legs, in 8^th position. Philp Beliveau

Posted in Race Reports |

Nutmeg State Games, New Britain, CT Race Recap

Monday, June 13th, 2011

By John Painter, Burris Logistic – Fit Werx Team Member

Claude, Matt, Eric, and I made the trip to CT for the Nutmeg State Games Criterium in New Britain. I was pretty certain the weather conditions would be better than last year, but as Matt drove through the pouring rain in MA, flashbacks of last year’s deluge dampened my spirits.

Matt and I arrived at Walnut Park with time to catch Claude in the 45+ race, see the rain come to an end, and warm up with Eric before our races. Claude looked strong and aggressive, and made a go at the $100 prime. I am guessing that the wedding he was attending that afternoon had an open bar, otherwise he would have walked away with the money. We caught up with Claude minutes after his race to find him already decked out in a suit and tie. We think he had that on under his skin suit. Nice plan.

Matt, Eric, and I then lined up for the 35+ race, which was about 40 strong. I was using this as the warm-up for the next two races and had the plan to just sit in unless my legs felt superhuman. They didn’t. Two guys went balls-to-the-wall right off the whistle, which made for a pretty aggressive start. Matt made it into a break that had a gap for a bit, but didn’t stick. Eric went for one of the primes, but placed out of the prizes by the slightest of margins. Things got a bit twitchy in the last two corners of the race, and Eric was bumped off the course on the final corner. Matt finished strong at 14th, and I followed at 17th.

After a quick spin around the course, Eric and I lined up for the 30+ race. Having warm legs, we both felt the race had a pretty mellow start, but that didn’t last long. Eric and I didn’t see much of each other during the race, and I am not sure how his race unfolded. I had talked about several scenarios with Matt during our warm-up, but I didn’t have a clear strategy in mind for this race as my head was still spinning from the previous race. I did make it into the winning break and finished 10th overall.

I spun around the course again and barely made it back to the start/finish for the cat 3 start with Matt (thanks for cutting off my numbers both times). Matt and I had no time to talk strategy for this race, but that didn’t seem to hold him back.

Matt was strong during the entire race and finished near the front of a very large group. I was a bit tired at this point, and had several things go wrong. After what I thought was about 5 or 6 laps, I glanced at the lap cards hoping to see a 14. I was off by a bit. 21. Apparently the cat 3 race was a 25 miler, unlike the previous two 20 milers. Not really a big deal, but certainly a kick in the teeth when enduring oxygen debt. I kept Matt just in front of me, and when what I thought was the final lap came around, I laid it all out there moving up to about 6th wheel. As we rounded the final corner, I felt like I might finish in the money for this one. As I began to wind up my sprint, I wondered what everyone else was waiting for. As I looked down the road, I realized that they were waiting for the bell. The lap cards read 2. Damn. Apparently I’m not that good with numbers.

Having almost nothing left in the tank, I did what I could to stay near the front of the group when two or three guys to my front left tangled and quickly found the blacktop moments before the final corner. I’m not sure where I finished in the group, but I am happy to say that I finished with all the skin I started with.

All in all, it was a great day of racing. I have some ideas about how I can better race three crits in one day and I am looking forward to hitting Fitchburg with a large BL-FW contingent and tearing those races apart.

Speaking of Fit Werx, I cannot say enough about my recent bike fit. It was a hard day in the saddle on Saturday, but I have never felt more comfortable (and powerful) sitting on my bike. Glad to be part of a great team and race with great teammates. JP

For more information of the Burris Logistics – Fit Werx team visit www.impulsecyclesport.com

Posted in Race Reports |

Burris Logistics-Fit Werx Race Recap: Sunapee, Barre, and Killington.

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

By Michael Burris

It has been an exciting few weeks for the Burris Logistics – Fit Werx squad. With a solid team of experienced riders, we have been able to make our presence know at some of the best races Vermont and New Hampshire have to offer.

For Lake Sunapee, we had 5 riders in the Category 3 field. It was an absolute blast working together at the front for most of the race. The group stayed together for the most part, awaiting the final climb to the finish. John Painter, dawning his fresh new, spanking white shoes and all dialed in by Ian Buchanan, had the top finish for us. It is great to see him back in top form after a horrible crash last year.

The Barre Grand Prix was held in Barre, VT just days before the Winooski River flooded the race course (and all of downtown for that matter). We had three of our elder statesmen in the 45+ race. Philip Beliveau took the top spot with a 5th place finish.

In the 35+ race we had four riders in the bunch. Knowing that Peter Vollers could ride away from us at any time, we held tight to his wheel. It didn’t much matter as he aptly dusted the field, sprinting away with another rider. We gave chase, but it was futile. After a few more laps, I hit the gas thinking the field was right behind me as we sprinted for a mid-race prime (pronounced preeme). A rider from the Sunapee team came around me at the line. I watch as he gapped me by about 50 meters. I chased him. Again thinking the field was right behind me. They were not. Turns out my teammates shut the field down as I rode away! Saaweeeet. I put my head down and gunned it after the rider in front of me catching him just as he crossed the line. Fourth place for me was a great surprise and a testament to great teamwork.

Next up was the 3/4 race. Myself and 3 more teammates took to the streets of Barre. I stayed at the back trying to recover from the 35+ effort long enough for my good friend and ORS rider, Jarred Katz to get away. It was inevitable. He always does it. You have to watch him. Nobody did. The rest of us worked hard to pull him back, but to no avail. John Painter once again asserted his power and finished 2nd in the field sprint securing 4th overall. Must be the shoes.

The Killington Stage Race is a brutal 3-day event. A very long circuit race begins the event on Saturday, followed by a challenging time trial on Sunday and a downright nasty road race on Memorial Day. Tim, Matt, Christian, and Alberto joined about 80 other category 3 riders. Jessie Donavan joined a much larger than average field of category 3/4 women.

This is their story (can you hear the Law and Order theme music?):

From Christian:

The Cat 3 men’s field was represented best by Super-Citarella (Alberto) on all 3 days. A smoking TT on Sunday without a TT rig put him high in the GC, then placing top 15 on Mon placed him in the top 15 GC, giving him a check to carry home.

Overall the weekend was a great time, with 3 solid days of racing. Saturday was a bit boring with no breaks getting away and not a lot of action in general, but the lack of action was welcome from my perspective, as this was the first time I’ve ridden in the deadly combo of heat and humidity all year. Once again, a HUGE thank you to Shawn for buying, filling, attaching pre-opened Gu’s to, and then deftly handing out water bottles at the feed station of the 72 mile race on Sat. I really don’t know if I would have stayed in the main field without that, I was fading each lap.

Sundays TT was hot and humid again, with a cross wind for most of the way out. Alberto crushed it and I got crushed fading 1/2 way through the course. Tim and Matt looked a lot better than I felt after that day, so I’m hopeful they felt better about their performances than I did mine.

Mondays race was probably one of the least-fun times I have had on the bike in a race. Hot and humid again, and hard. The group stayed together for the first 25 miles of the race, without any significant break aways or attacks (I tried to attack once, getting a small gap on the field, but was not able to maintain it solo so drifted back in – lesson learned). At the first substantial climb (25 miles) all hell broke loose, and I watched as the group slowly drifted off up the road ahead. I regrouped with about 5-7 other guys and worked a hard paceline for the next 15 miles thinking about tues night on Mt Philo Rd the entire time. With about 10 miles to go there were only 3 of us left in the paceline, as we struggled to keep up anything over 200 watts into the headwind. I was actually thankful to see the base of the finishing climb.

A large piece of humble pie was handed to me as the lead group of Masters 40+ passed me going up the climb. A disappointing performance that day and the wkend overall on my part, as I was hoping for much better and thought my training was exactly where it needed to be. But the wkend was still enjoyable none-the-less, with some hard racing, great weather, and once again seeing Burris Logistics take home a W, and a top 15 finish – strong representation in each category.

From Jessie (KSR Women’s Champion):

KSR had the largest women’s field in history which was pretty exciting. Typically women make up about 8-10% of a total race and at KSR women were 18% of the total racers. As a female it’s hard to find races with a large field so I was excited to be racing in a group of 60 for the weekend. I know, not large compared to the groups you ride in but 60 is as good as it gets.

Stage 1 – Pretty uneventful, I’m not a big fan of flat circuit races, they don’t really play to my strengths. I attempted to pull away from the group a few times early on but I definitely had a target on me after Bennington and I couldn’t get away. I did manage to grab the first QOM sprint and was 2nd the next time around. The sprint finish was frustrating, I was completely boxed in and couldn’t even sprint for the line. I ended up 7th.

Stage 2 – The course was slightly uphill but fast. I think I psyched myself out by looking at my Garmin the whole time and I kept thinking that I was going too fast and I needed to ease up so I didn’t blow up. Lesson learned, don’t wear a Garmin in a TT, it’s huge and not at all aerodynamic and it makes you loose focus from just going as hard as you possibly can. Lesson two, tailwinds make you go a lot faster then headwinds. I ended up 3rd in the TT and 3rd for GC 17seconds back.

Stage 3 – I started the race really looking forward to the simplicity of a huge climb at the finish and knowing that it was going to be really hard no matter what happened, that’s what racing is all about. The first 25 miles were almost all downhill and the pack was being pretty cautious. When we hit the base of first climb at mile 25 I was sitting a few rows back and we were moving pretty slow. I worked through the crowd just in time to catch up to the first break. I passed by her and kept going knowing that a few of the stronger climbers would come with me. By half way up the hill there was a group of 4 of us with a small chase pack about 15 seconds back and the rest of the group was already quite a ways back. I took the QOM points at the top of the climb and by that point we were clearly on our own. The four of us were working together really well through the next section and we had a solid paceline going. The motorcycle was giving us splits and at one point she said that we must be more then four minutes up because they were out of radio contact. I pushed us to keep up the pace, I didn’t want to let up. Around mile 40 we dropped one girl off the back, she was having a hard time pulling through and she was slowing us down. After that we were really flying, all three of us were really strong through the long gradual uphill section and we started passing some of the Pro/1/2 women which always feels good. Right around here was when I started to feel really really thirsty. We were biking along a river and I all I could think about was how cold the water must be and how good it would be to just stop and drink. I was carefully rationing my water bottles and I didn’t have much left. At one point we passed a sign that said “Ice Cold Drinks” on a chalkboard and I could hear the sound of ice clinking in a glass… Dehydration was definitely starting to set in and there was still a ways to go.

We hit the bottom of the final 5 mile climb to the finish and the teamwork was over and we were on our own. I started climbing telling myself that the quicker I got to the top the sooner I could drink and drink and drink. After the first few switchbacks it was just Heather and I. By the time we got to the QOM about 3 miles into the climb the motorcycle told us that we had over 2 mins on the the other woman who was in our breakaway so we just settled in next to each other. I think we both knew at that point it was going to come down to a sprint finish. Heather was smart and she just sat on my wheel and I led the way. With 200 meters to go I started sprinting and Heather was right there with me. With 50 meters to go my left leg completely seized up and it was an all out battle for the line, I definitely gave it everything I had in me and more. I won by a bike length and pretty much collapsed right over the line. Someone put a water bottle in both of my hands and I just stood there and drank, each time I finished a bottle someone would pass me a new one, it was like my own private water oasis.

I’ve been having so much fun bike racing this spring, I don’t want to stop! It is so great to be part of a team, thanks for letting me join in. Even though I’m on my own in the races I still feel like I’m part of the team which is a lot of fun. It was great to have Shawn’s offer for feeds, Alberto and Christian’s advice on how to step up my coolness factor (although I’m still questioning their advice) and all of your congrats over email. I’m off to a 1/2 ironman in NH this weekend so I’ve got to get bike racing off the brain and morph myself back into a triathlete.

For more information about the Burris Logistics – Fit Werx Team go to www.impulsecyclesport.com

Tags: criterium, cycling, ksr, racing
Posted in Race Reports |

The Inaugural Tour of the Dragons: Jessie slays ‘em!

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Our sole female member punished the category 3 riders in last weekend’s Tour of the Dragons. Here is her story:

The Bennington Race Report by Jessie Donavon

What could be better then a stage race in my home town and a tt course that literally went right by my driveway. We put the family in the car and headed down to Bennington Friday afternoon ready for a full weekend of racing.

I woke up Saturday morning, headed down the driveway and watched some of the Cat 5s go by in the TT. My kids stayed out for pretty much the next four hours cheering everyone on and picking up trash along the road for entertainment between riders, they are hard core race fans. The TT went well, I felt strong and passed all six girls who started in front of me so I knew I was having a good race. I gave a big wave to the kids as I flew by and they were there at the finish cheering me on. I finished 1st in the TT by over a minute, so excited to get my first yellow jersey at the crit that afternoon.

The crit, in my opinion, was a little dangerous, but I guess they all are. They started the cat 3/4 women 15 seconds behind the Pro 1/2 women and within 2 laps we caught them. I went out hard from the start, knowing that I could ride with the pro women and hoping to separate my group right away, crits make me nervous and I still don’t really feel comfortable sitting back in a big pack. The first 5 laps were full of lots of yelling, 3 crashes and then they neutralized us and separated the groups again as we were not allowed to ride together. I pretty much rode the next 40 laps in front, just focused on staying safe and avoiding any crashes. Needless to say I need to work on my crit tactics but my technique works for staying safe. I got passed in the final sprint and ended up 4th, but still over a minute ahead in GC which was my focus.

The road race at Bennington was a really challenging course, definitely harder then Battenkill in my opinion. I was looking forward to the race as we were starting with the Pro 1/2 women and we were allowed to ride together. About 11 miles into the course we hit the first big climb, it’s about 4 miles long, dirt and really steep at places, especially near the top. I went out hard pretty much from the bottom, once again looking to separate the field. About 7 of us crested the top of the climb together and 5 of them were Pro 1/2 so I took the first QOM points. There was a steep fast descent, a sharp left turn and then the climbing started again. This one was shorter but the final section was very similar to App Gap as in very steep.

At this point it was just myself and 5 of the Pro 1/2 women, the other Cat 3 had dropped back at the beginning of the climb. Near the top they started to pull away and I made my big mistake of the day, I let them go. In my mind I was thinking I didn’t want to blow up, we were only 20 miles into the race… and I thought I could catch them on the downhill.

When I came over the top I was probably 20 seconds down and by the bottom of the descent I was about a minute back. The pace car told me that the next group was 2 minutes behind me so I was all alone. I tried to gain on them for the next few miles but I couldn’t do it. I could see that they had a nice organized pace line going so I gave up and settled into my own comfortable TT pace. I rode alone for the next 25 miles, head down trying not to think about how much easier it would be if I was in a group and thinking how lucky it is that I’m a triathlete and I’m used to riding this way.

With about 15 miles to go a small group caught me, I must admit I was happy to have company. I still felt strong and as soon as they caught me they really slowed the pace. I settled in and rode the final miles into Manchester telling myself over and over to “be smart”, I knew I was the strongest rider in the group but I also knew from experience that it’s easy to loose a race when someone sling shots around you at the last minute. As we took the final turn into Manchester I was right where I needed to be, right behind the girl who was in the lead. I sprinted around her just in time and won by a full bike length. What a day and what a weekend! My first yellow jersey, first QOM, two wins and all in my home town. I’m seriously considering retiring while I’m ahead but of course I can’t do that because bike racing is too much fun.

I asked Jessie if she had a podium photo with two handsome Italian dudes kissing her on the cheek. Haven’t heard back on that one!

Mike

Posted in Race Reports |

Arc-en-ciel Newhouse Criterium Race Recap

Saturday, April 23rd, 2011

By Mike Burris, Burris Logistics – Fit Werx Team Director

The team traveled all the way down to Charlestown, RI last weekend to battle on the infamous Ninigret Park course. The plan was to do the 3/4 and the 35+ races. Sounded like a good plan.

Upon arriving at the course Sunday morning, Bruce Bell was already out there mixing it up with the 55+ crowd and battling a fierce 20-30 mph wind. The group had split into fragments, with pairs and trios taking turns blocking a relentless gale. Bruce powered through and finished 4th.

Five of us lined up for the 3/4 race. This would be my first race of the year, so I was a bit nervous about my lack of fitness and the wide, aero downtube that was surely going to do more harm than good in the crosswind. The group stayed together for the first half of the race as launching an attack seemed a futile prospect in such dire conditions. Still, there were attempts and eventually a couple stuck.

Most of our squad stayed together in the main bunch, trying to pull the breaks back. There was a solid rotation of hombres taking pulls, but to no avail. We came across the line with the rest of the main group in positions 13 (Steve), 20 (Matt), 25 (Me) and 27 (Claude). I was satisfied with my ride though my chest hurt and I was tired. It was a good first step.

I opted out of the 35+ race because…well…I was smoked. I also like taking pictures. Bruce rejoined Claude, Steve, Matt, and Shawn as well as Mark McCormack, Peter Vollers, and many other bad ass bike racers on the starting line.

The race quickly got out of hand as the pace and the wind took a toll on the bunch. There was no place to hide. The group fragmented quickly and riders, no longer in contention, were pulled from the race. Unfortunately, this meant an early end to our squad though they did what they could to stay alive.

Many of us have limited miles in our legs due to the fact that we live in Vermont where it still continues to snow. I am confident we will get stronger as the season progresses. And remember, it is a long season. For more information on the Burris Logistics – Fit Werx team please visit www.impulsecyclesport.com.

Posted in Race Reports |