Well, this was a race where it definitely paid off to not be stupid. I took a hint from that that a winning breakaway could form early in the race, since there were several well-represented elite teams, so I stayed up from and went with any move that I saw had some potential. Needless to say, it seemed like nothing had worked. I probably spent a little too much effort to stay out front but then all of a sudden there was a small group that had just detached. The crappy weather must've caused a split and I found myself in a group of about 18 or so guys out in front. This big lead group worked pretty well together for the next lap, nobody really felt like taking a flyer off the front and most people were pretty content to do the paceline thing (although there were 5 or 6 guys who just sat in the back and wouldn't pull through). Halfway through the last lap people began getting annoyed at those just sitting in the back and not pulling through and our pace slackened, at about which time Mike and Ed took off and we never saw them again (I'm glad to see Mike lost the sprint because he was one of those sitting in the back while Ed King was one of the hardest workers out front). The rest of the race was just pretty mild, most people still working together in the break and happy to let the final hill see who takes 3rd. Several miles out, the two remaining Boston Scientific guys kept trying to break but they were pretty well watched, and for the last mile or two they were stuck doing all the pulling since they were the only team with two guys and one out front. Going into the climb, a who bunch of riders made what I would consider a 'Cat 4' mistake, sprinting at the beginning of the climb and being totally shot with a half kilometer still to go uphill (This included both Boston Scientific guys and the guy from Nerac, Myerson I believe). I pretty much sat at the front, saving energy for the 'sprint', and somehow managed to be the 4th guy to cross the line from the lead group. It seems as though the straightforwardness of Cat 1,2 races definitely seems to favor my riding style than the almost frenzied Cat 3 races around here.
Anyway, that's how it all went down. I hope everyone else did the smart thing and tried to stay dry this weekend.
cheers, Ryan
"Thad LaVallee" writes:
a few hours ago Ryan MacDonald continued his amazing season by grabbing the biggest result of his racing career, a 6th place at the Lake Sunapee RR, one of the biggest and most prestigeous races on the New England calender. in only his second race since upgrading to cat 2 (11th place at the Palmer RR), Ryan was only beaten by a Priortiy Health pro Ed King, Boston scientific's Mike Barton (25th in the '05 tour of ireland) who had broken away, then just getting ahead of ryan in the chasing group's spring a fruitty pebbles rider, Housatonic espoir's rider, and one other. Ryan easily beat out all the Nerac pro riders as well as all the Canadian pro team riders. do we see a fitchburg win in the future?
to go along with Ryan's happy days on the bike, he's also getting married next saturday! and can you believe that his to-be wife is then going to let him do the West Side Ride road race the next day and the Cape Able road race monday?! i'll be there to give ryan a hand (like he needs it) at both races. if anyone else is interested in doing either of these races in maine, let me know and i'll give you the 411.
so big congrats to ryan!
t
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