Conditions:

The conditions for the race were just about perfect, with sunny skies and temps just cool enough to be comfortable racing in shorts and short sleeves. Despite the recent rain, course was dry but remained tacky, affording excellent traction throughout the day.

The Course:

The course was very fast but on the longer side with lap times ranging from about 6 – 9 minutes for the varying fields. The start/finish was on a paved/cinder section that was slightly up, into a side-hill lawn section with the only climbing on the course. There were numerous tight off-camber turns, mixed with some fast swoopy turns. From the high point of the course there was a fast, grass chicane section that crossed the road and snaked a bit more, into a hard left down to a hard switchback right and into the wood-chipped barn for the high speed barriers. Loose left and into the next barn to a right and back through the chips to exit the barns. A series of loose, gravel switchbacks and a tricky, rocky up around a tree and down a small bank and across a cinder path, back up a the other side and around another tree back down to a hard right on the broken cinder of From here it was a fast wide left around a field to a right onto cinder/pavement and a series of high speed turns on grass, into the next field. Some tight turns, out and back switchbacks and the ‘litter-box’ and you were into a fast hard left that was tough but fair and put you onto dirt and into the only ‘mud’ of the day, a short stretch of PlayDoh. Over a pair of logs, around a couple corners and a rooty tree and you faced the daunting Flyover. This was awesome. It was about 8′ high with shallow run steps that had huge rise, a 3 meter top on which to remount and a nice ramp upon which to exit.A fast right put you back under and took you off to the last section of turns on a side-hill with some miserable little grunt ups from standstill. A fast left after the final down and you hit the gas for the last 150 meters to the finish.

All in all a really enjoyable course with something for everyone.

Photographs:

Jenn’s Gallery

Scott/ML’s Gallery

Results:

Excellent work everyone. I think this was one of the most enjoyable courses I have ever done and was one of the best designed as well. I’ve got to say how impressed I am at everyone for fighting their fears and conquering the Flyover. I had the opportunity to assist a few teammates in conquering their fears of the Flyover. After much trepidation they faced the fear and rode off the edge into the unknown, happily leaving the troubles it had given them behind. Job well done! We also had a ton of teammates there spectating, taking pictures and hanging out. This was wonderful to see. Thanks to all of you.

Men (cat 1/2/3) 52 starters

Place Bib Time First Name Last Name Team City State

20 7 1:05:07 Mike Rowell NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Bedford MA

Women (cat 1/2/3) 15 starters

Place Bib Time First Name Last Name Team City State

8 123 0:44:59 Samantha Dery NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Manchester MA
10 120 0:46:30 Cathy Rowell NEBC/CycleLoft/DevonshireDental Bedford MA

Women (cat 4) 29 starters

Place Bib Time First Name Last Name Team City State

4 1442 0:46:00 Kristi Carver NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Concord NH
8 1449 0:47:20 Janet Lorang NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Medford MA
18 1463 Jen Daniels NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Quincy MA
21 1458 Alexandra Cruse NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Marblehead MA
22 1459 Julianne Oberle NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Worcester MA
24 1461 Caroline Cardiasmenos NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Boston MA
26 1469 Marylou Brooks NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Westford MA

Beginners (cat 4 Only) 76 starters

Place Bib Time First Name Last Name Team City State

6 468 0:35:06 Benjamin Pagano NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Andover MA
27 417 0:36:55 Jason Devarennes NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Woburn MA

Masters 35+, 45+ (cat 4 Only) 87 starters

Place 45+ Bib Time First Name Last Name Team City State

12 8 214 0:35:28 Tim Dodd NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Westford MA
36 226 0:37:03 Paul Jobin NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Merrimack NH
47 24 238 0:37:47 Lester Bethel NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Acton MA
50 26 257 0:38:17 Donald Crowell NEBC Westford MA
53 231 0:38:17 Kevin Murphy NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Winchester MA
65 34 275 0:40:20 Scott Thomas NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Dracut MA

Masters 35+, 45+ (cat 1/2/3) 52 starters

Place 45+ Bib Time First Name Last Name Team City State

1 321 0:46:23 Mike Rowell NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Bedford MA
14 328 0:49:06 Scott Brooks NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Westford MA
23 370 0:50:24 Eric Wemhoff NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Lexington MA

Bikereg.com Cyclocrossracing.com/MRC Cross Race Results

Reports:

Paul Jobin:

Let me start by saying I thought this course was awesome. It was technical and had a little bit of everything; lots of turns, a few short power sections and every kind of surface transition imaginable. Even that ridiculous flyover was cool! The best part was, even though it had a lot of different elements, the course had great FLOW! If you had good bike handling skills and could ride fast and smooth through all the transitions, you could do well. And if you only had two out of those three, you’d be me. On to the report!

Crossresults.com points had me lining up in the front 3rd of the field, but seeing that we could only line up 5 wide, I was still about 6 rows back. My start was average – I didn’t really gain any spots, but I don’t think I lost any either. I was probably in the top 35. We hit the grass and it was time to bear down and try to start working through traffic. Not much to report other than to say everyone was battling for position but luckily it seemed most everyone was staying upright. While nobody actually said it, I think everyone wanted to get to that flyover near the front and ahead of the ‘crowd!’

Fortunately, they put the flyover far enough from the start that things were spread out reasonably well by the time we got there. Of course there was still a lot of hesitation for some guys once they climbed to the top, but if you were confident and just kept moving through, it was no problem and even a good opportunity to gain some positions.

Lap 1 was in the books and I was doing ok making progress. I seem to do well through the technical sections, but not so well that I can actually make a lot of passes if I’m in traffic. This caused me to be stuck in groups going slower than I wanted to. Naturally, once the course would straighten out, they would hit the gas making a pass there problematic as well. My other ‘issue’ was the sweet dirt nap I took on the tight right-hander before the tighter left-hander on the way to the flyover on the 2nd lap. Took out a fellow NEBCer I believe. (Sorry dude!) My chain dropped on the crash too, which meant I had to pull over to put it back on and probably lost about 10 spots. Any progress I had made up to that point was nullified, so that sucked.

So that was pretty much my race. After the crash I just reapplied myself and tried to get the best result possible. I think I made up all the spots I lost over the final two laps, but could do no better than that. Still a great time though. I hope this venue is back on the calendar next year.

What I need to improve on: passing in traffic through twists and turns. Guess you need to practice in a group to work on that one!

What I did well: multiple pre-race practice runs on the flyover!

Weird stuff I saw: I passed a dude who had stopped on the course DURING THE MIDDLE OF THE RACE to get the iphone that flew out of his jersey pocket. Seriously?!? Who the heck does a ‘cross race with a cell phone on your person?!?

Caroline Cardiasmenos

I got a lazy start and didn’t get in enough warm-up. Excuses, excuses – I know, but I didn’t feel like I was firing until the last lap. In fact, I’m not pushing myself hard enough in any respect. I was told by a reliable source after this race, “you don’t look like you’re racing hard”. I am, of course (I’m just slow), but I know I can race more aggressively. For me, loss of motivation comes primarily from with the constantly changing terrain and the major beating it gives my body type. Aside from not pushing myself, I lost time a) trying to get up those gargantuan stairs!, b) remounting at the top of the fly-over, c) coming into the barriers slowly because I was anticipating poor remounting, d) remounting poorly after the barriers and e) on the steepest of the climbs in the first quarter of the course. To be honest, the fly-over didn’t scare me because it’s not like I had a choice; I either went down on wheels, or I didn’t… Because I couldn’t jump on to keep my momentum going, however, it was made trickier than it was. On one of the laps, I thought I’d broken my seat-post because I accidentally didn’t get off the saddle that time due to clumsy remounting – must have both feet on the pedals next time! At any rate, those are the only spots where I was being passed. After drilling corners yesterday for 1.5 hours, including a lot of tricky u-turns, I actually felt very confident dealing with the twisty nature of this course and that was luckily saving me effort. Time to push my high end and believe in what it can do. Time to get over my remounting fears. Oh, and how does everyone else react to the dust? It’s aggravating my asthma, which I haven’t otherwise had a problem with for a long time!

Ian Whittle

I had a good week at practice and was pretty excited for this race. The flyover was pretty terrifying the first time I ran up it warming up, but after I decided that I just needed to settle myself and not try to rush too much at the top, it was not too big a deal. The rest of the course seemed pretty fast and not too technical, which was perfect for me. I had front row position at the start due to CrossResults points, but was a little nervous about my bike because I head heard some ugly sounds from the drivetrain in warm-up, and had not had time to really look into it.

There was a little scare at the start when Shane from Threshold, the guy with the number 1 ranking in the race, got lose going for the hole-shot and went down hard next to me on the gravel, I did see him after the race and he seemed banged up but OK. I guess now I had to win, because I was wearing number 2. I was about 8th going on to the grass, but quickly picked off a few guys on the straits or after they fell in the corners. Things were spread out a bit by the flyover which was good because I did not want to run that thing in a crowd. After that I got hooked onto the group of 3 guys at the front and then I came out of a corner and went to hit the gas and my pedals just spun freely. As I had kind of feared was going to happen my freehub decided it had seen enough.

I ran back to the pit hoping they might have neutral wheels, but they did not, so DNF for me. I am going to try to set up some pit wheels, and hope for better luck in Canton in 2 weeks.

Cathy Rowell

Flyover? Really?

When I first heard about the now infamous flyover from Gary of MRC, I told him that if there was to be a flyover, I wasn’t racing. So much for that! I thankfully saw a photo of said contraption prior to arriving on-site, and figured it couldn’t be that bad. Plus, when we arrived, all the Cat 4 men were riding it without incident…

On the pre-ride, I got to the top and thought – “Oh – I don’t think so!”, but knew that the only way down was on my bike. Paul Curley had gone down ahead with Mike, and called back to me to just look at Mike and go – so I did. Piece of cake! Luckily, Mike and I were able to convince some of our other teammates of this before the race as well.

I lined up on the start line of the 1/2/3 race right behind Andrea Smith of Ladies First. I knew that would be a good choice, and it turned out I was right – she launched like rockets were attached to her bike on the whistle, and all I could do was try [in vain] to hang on. I had a great start, and was still within striking distance of the front group on the first part of the course. Unfortunately, I overcooked a corner just before the “kitty litter”, and completely slid out, coming off my bike. Michele got by me then (DOH!), but I stayed right on her wheel. I figured I would use her in the sections where drafting was an advantage. Then, I hesitated too long on the top of the flyover (note: do NOT put right leg over and then put left foot into pedal all while standing still!), and Sally also got by me, and Michele had a gap.

Now I was in a bit of a panic. I REALLY didn’t want to let either Sally or Michele get away, so I attached myself as close as possible to Sally’s wheel – too close. Just after we went under the flyover, Sally over-banked a turn and lost traction with both wheels. She went one way across the course, and her bike went another. And I had nowhere to go. I think I managed a paniced “Oh no!” before riding over some part of Sally’s bike, coming to a stop and asking if Sally was ok. I seemed fine, my bike seemed fine, and someone (Mike, as it turned out) was screaming at me to go – so I did. Unfortunately, I never caught back up to Michele, but I did find out that Sally got back into the race and was ok.

I LOVED the course, and ultimately, the flyover (despite the fact that I never really mastered the remount there).

The hardest part of my racing day, however, was standing and watching as Mike and Ryan duked it out for the finish of the Men’s 35+ race. I think if I had had my HR monitor running, it would have shown my highest HR of the day! It was nerve-wracking indeed, but came out well in the end.

Mike Rowell

Strategy and tactics. Two concepts that almost never find their way into my race mentality. Sure, I usually have a strategy, and I always intend to stick to the plan, but as soon as the whistle blows my mind shuts down and it all fades to black. The plan Sunday was to see what happened and follow wheels for a bit, hopefully the leader’s wheel, and then try and escape.

The whistle blew and a half lap in I was on track, 2nd wheel and feeling good but feared the pack was still too intact, so just before the lap I went to the front and pushed hard. We quickly whittled the group down to three of us with two guy’s I’m pretty evenly matted with, Ryan and Peter. I kept on the gas for the lap trying to get a gap but they were having none of it. Realizing that I didn’t want to spend the race pulling the train I flicked my elbow for Ryan as we came through the start/finish and Peter launched around hard. With effort I got back on and sunk into a rhythm of easing on the power sections and catching back on the corners, all the while trying to conserve as much as possible and bide my time, waiting for the right moment to counter. Except for one issue going into the Flyover when Ryan missed a grab and I ran into the back of him, slamming my bike into my knee, things went well. This was good as this year, things have been less about plans and more about trying to motivate myself to push on when I haven’t really wanted to. Peter kept pushing hard and led for two full laps, which I hoped was taking a toll on him, with Ryan in second and me sitting in third.

Coming around for two to go, Peter finally looked back and I could see the stress on his face. Ryan was reluctant to come around and as the two pondered what to do next I launched as hard as I could between them. I got a gap going into the grass and eased lightly to give the legs a breather, then punched it out of each corner and on each incline. The idea was to soften them by making them chase back on at every possible point. I spent the lap doing that then backed off to steady tempo for a bit on the final lap then hit it again. By the Flyover there was a small gap on Peter so I drilled it coming back through and around the final switchback sections. I knew that I had to be in the front as coming around on the final stretch would be nearly impossible for me, a person who can’t sprint to save their life. Coming out of the final corner with about 150 meters to go I opened it up. I could see Ryan was coming up so I put my head down and went as hard as possible, which luckily was enough to maintain. The plan worked.

Unfortunately, that six laps of intense racing wasn’t the warm-up I was hoping it would be and so the next 8 laps of the race that immediately followed were hell. My motivation was non existent and a few laps in, neither were my legs. Ryan was the only other guy stupid enough to do the double so the two of us spent a couple laps chatting it up then raced each other for a couple laps and then just managed to complete the last couple and get to the finish. On the upside, the course was fun and I feel that I got some good cornering practice in. I wouldn’t call what I was doing racing though with lap times nearly 30 seconds slower in the 2nd race than the 1st and an average HR 10bpm lower. Bottom line is that there is a reason cross races are 45 or 60 minutes and not 105 minutes long.