NEBC Cyclocross Development Team Race Reports
October 16, 2011 By Julianne
New England “Holy Week” of Cyclocross
Midnight Ride ~ Gloucester ~ Night Weasels ~ Providence
September 28 – October 9, 2011
Jason surviving the Gloucester flyover.
Midnight Ride of Cross
Julianne Oberle Women’s Open 15 / 34
Caroline Cardiasmenos Women’s Open 24 / 34
Tom Doucette cat 4 40 / 60
Mike Rowell Single Speed 4 / 49
Scott Brooks Single Speed 18 / 49
Keith Reynolds Single Speed 19 / 49
Jason Devarennes Single Speed 31 / 49
Cathy Rowell Single Speed 40 / 49
Mark Lovejoy Single Speed 42 / 49
Teri Carilli Single Speed 43 / 49
Tom Doucette
Cat 3/4: This was my first cross race in a field well over the 30 – 40 riders that I see in the masters 55. As I’ve witnessed as a spectator in the past, the pack bottlenecked in the early corners and then gradually thinned out. We started at 5 pm so we didn’t get to experience riding under the lights. Still, the weather was perfect. I worked on riding smoother; rather than pedal into the corners hard and then break hard, I let up on the power earlier and used this time to coast and recover. This approach worked well in that I didn’t have any slips or mishaps.
I liked the mid-week racing, using it as a substitute for a dreaded interval workout. The course lacks the topographical excitement of a Providence-type course but certainly fits the bill for some local, mid-week fun. A decent course for first-timers for those considering the sport.
Mark Lovejoy
This was my first time racing single speed in a cross race, and based on the fun I had, it won’t be the last. With some help from Mike Rowell, I pretty easily (temporarily) converted my Gunnar into a single speed (39×17). Driving to this race, I was having all sorts of bad thoughts…mostly feeling bad about sneaking out of work early and having low confidence after my crash at Quad Cross and lack of riding because of that. I decided that my goal for the race would be to focus on riding smooth and steady to get my cross legs back. The course and race turned out to be perfect for my goals as it wasn’t terribly hard with oodles of twists and turns to work on cornering. I rode most of the race with Cathy Rowell and some guy, which helped me keep a steady pace. I eventually cramped and had to drop back, but I was happy and felt my mojo was coming back. Afterwards, it was a blast watching the better categories racing under the lights.
Julianne Oberle
I knew this would be one of my last cat 4 races since I had been racing amoung cat 3’s this season. Victoria and I had a plan to stick together and cross the line 1-2. However, she’s so much faster than me. She had a better start and found a better spot in the elite paceline as me took off. I was near the back of the elite train and held on for dear life. I stayed with Molly Hurford who is a cat 2 until lap 3, and then she used her watts to ride away. Cait from Geekhouse was right with me for most of the race but she attacked the barriers like she was angry at the world, and rode away from me. I wasn’t sure where I was among the Cat 4’s but probably near the front. There were a few elite riders near me so that made me happy. On the last lap I had recovered and was ready to race hard again, good thing to because Gabby and Helen were coming for me. I could see the two if them throwing attacks down on each other not far behind me. I put down every watt I could sprinting out of every corner I could to not get lapped and made it across the line before they caught me only to realize I had to do another lap, since I escaped being caught. I was pretty happy with the course and riding in the dark was a fun challenge. Overall I was 15th, but I got to stand on the Cat 4 Podium for the first time. I upgraded to a Cat 3 later that week.
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Great Brewers Gran Prix of Gloucester
Great Brewers Gran Prix of Gloucester Day 1
Tim Dodd Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 27 / 109
Paul Jobin Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 57 / 109
Lester Bethel Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 68 / 109
Anthony Szczesiul Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 78 / 109
Patrick Kelly Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 93 / 109
Barry Shopnick Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 101 / 109
Peter Halbeisen Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 105 / 109
David Green Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 107 / 109
Mark Lovejoy Masters Men 45+ 72 / 82
John Mcgrath Masters Men 45+ 77 / 82
Mike Rowell Masters Men 35+ (1-3) 16 / 93
Scott Brooks Masters Men 35+ (1-3) 50 / 93
Clara Kelly Amateur Women 8 / 103
Cathy Rowell Amateur Women 28 / 103
Emily Phillips Amateur Women 48 / 103
Teri Carilli Amateur Women 49 / 103
Julianne Oberle Amateur Women 50 / 103
Lisa Marshall Amateur Women 64 / 103
Caroline Cardiasmenos Amateur Women 70 / 103
Carrie Mosher Amateur Women 89 / 103
Marylou Brooks Amateur Women 94 / 103
Janet Lorang Amateur Women 98 / 103
Keith Reynolds Amateur Men 60 / 150
Jason Devarennes Amateur Men 117 / 150
Randall Mauldin Amateur Men 126 / 150
Jocelyn Mauldin UCI Elite Women 36 / 47
Great Brewers Gran Prix of Gloucester Day 2
Tom Doucette Masters Men 55+ 26 / 32
John Mcgrath Masters Men 45+ 47 / 85
Mike Rowell Masters Men 35+ (1-3) 17 / 87
Eric Wemhoff Masters Men 35+ (1-3) 57 / 87
Tim Dodd Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 19 / 102
Paul Jobin Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 50 / 102
James Hall Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 71 / 102
Lester Bethel Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 73 / 102
Anthony Szczesiul Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 83 / 102
Patrick Kelly Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 95 / 102
Cathy Rowell Amateur Women 20 / 100
Teri Carilli Amateur Women 50 / 100
Emily Phillips Amateur Women 55 / 100
Janet Lorang Amateur Women 56 / 100
Lisa Marshall Amateur Women 63 / 100
Caroline Cardiasmenos Amateur Women 73 / 100
Carrie Mosher Amateur Women 77 / 100
Stacy Szczesiul Amateur Women 95 / 100
Julie Dodd Amateur Women 98 / 100
Keith Reynolds Amateur Men 40 / 144
Randall Mauldin Amateur Men 122 / 144
Jason Devarennes Amateur Men 124 / 144
Jocelyn Mauldin UCI Elite Women 36 / 47
Clara Kelly UCI Elite Women 39 / 47
Emily Phillips
Gloucester Day 1
Gloucester, in reflection, I’ve decided was fun. Driving to the race, I was skeptical, but luckily the rain stopped by the time my race started. My start position was pretty far back and I spent the first lap trying to mire through all the women. The first lap took a lot out of me and I slowly dropped from the top 25 to the 40s. I found the run up to be particularly challenging. By the 4th lap I was nearly crawling up it. I really have no recollection of passing anyone in particular or being passed by people. It was all a big blur. When someone asked me how the race went, I really didn’t know. There were so many women, it was really hard to keep track. I really enjoyed the challenge of the off camber chicane section. I wasn’t sure what the best way to get through it was, until I tried riding, then running, then riding part and running part. At the end, running that messy stuff was faster, which was an important lesson from the race. If it seems way too hard to ride, just run! At the end, I was 48th. I was hoping for a better result but this is all a learning experience and I’ll take it.
Gloucester Day 2
I was really tempted to hit snooze on the alarm and stay home and rest. The previous day’s muddy course had tired me out but I rallied and even got there a little early to pre-ride (which I had not done the day before and regretted it). I found the course on day 2 to be more technical and more to my advantage. I started well and by the end of the first lap was in a better position that I thought I could maintain, more so than the day before. Then, as I came onto a sharp right hand turn onto the dirt turn near the water, my back wheel lost traction and I fell and was a little shaken. After that I tried to chase and get back to the place that I’d been but I kept making mistakes that I wouldn’t normally make…taking the bad lines, slowing down too much in corners. On the last lap, I got going too fast on a downhill section and hit the tape, which I then had to untangle from my handlebars. I ended up finishing 55th.
Anthony Szczesiul
Gloucester Day 1
I really enjoyed the courses and conditions on both days at Gloucester this year, but results-wise, I had a pretty disappointing weekend of racing in the Cat 4 35+ field. I went in with high hopes of putting together at least one good performance for the weekend, but a mechanical on day 1 and a stupid decision on day 2 dashed these hopes. On Day 1 I had a good start to the race, moving up a good bit at the start, and doing a decent job of holding my position through the 2nd lap of the race. It was all downhill from there, though. I began to really struggle to get up to speed in the muddy conditions as the race progressed (not altogether unusual). At first I thought that I had just blown up in a really severe way, but I also started to hear my back brakes rubbing loudly after any thick mud or sand sections (this was unusual). I finally had a chance to take a glance back at the wheel on the paved start/finish straightaway, and it was wobbling all over the place. It turns out that I had tacoed the wheel. In addition to riding with the brakes rubbing incessantly (the pads were shot), the tire was also hitting the chainstay on the drivetrain side with each revolution of the wheel. I still managed to finish the race (only a couple of spots off my crossresults prediction), but I was disappointed, feeling that I had worked a lot harder than the result. I am not exactly sure when I damaged the wheel, but I have a feeling that it happened while coming off of the flyover on lap 2.
Gloucester Day 2
I went into Day 2 eager to make up for the disappointment of Day 1, but in the end I think this worked against me. I was determined to have a good start and to move up as much as possible on the first lap. I did manage to move up quite a bit on the opening paved straightaway at the start, and picked up a few more spots on the first few turns in the first grassy section off the opening straightaway. So far, so good. I liked my position and wanted to protect it, especially after exerting a good bit of effort to get where I was. Unfortunately, I let the adrenaline get the better of me in this regard. Heading toward a sweeping, slightly off-camber, left hand turn, I sensed a rider coming up along the outside trying to pass me before reaching the turn. I accelerated to hold my position, and he matched my acceleration, and vice versa again. In short, we both went into the turn too fast and bumping shoulders, and we both ended up going down. I also lost my chain in the fall, and by the time I was back on the bike a second time (with the chain actually engaging the chainring this time), I was well off the back. As this occurred only 2-3 minutes into the race, I had a lot of time to berate myself over the next 40 minutes for an impulsive decision.
Jocelyn Maudlin
Gloucester day 1 – 36 of 47 starters
The course was awesome, although I had reservations about the fly
over. Why with such great terrain did they need to add this in?
However, I’d never had a chance to ride one before so I took it all in
stride. I got a decent starting spot amongst those of us that had to
draw random assignments and lined up knowing that there were three
present national champions amongst the true elite of my field. I’ve
been working on my starts and got a good one in this time. I was maybe
at the later end of mid pack through the first couple of turns. The
course had started to dry out by this time of day and we were flying
through the chicanes. I made a few mental errors in the middle of the
first lap, not anticipating the gears I wanted to be in after the run
up and lost a fair number of spots when I stalled. Made the same
mistake once more shortly after to seal my finish in the back of the
field. I improved my gear choice and had a blast mixing up with the
other girls in the remaining laps. In the last lap I slid out twice
taking some risks attempting to gain some spots. I couldn’t wait to
see what was in store for tomorrow.
Gloucester day 2 - 36 of 47
If the course on day 1 was awesome then day 2 was epic. A beach
section at practically high tide? Who would have thought? Day 2
started much like day 1, I got an awesome start. But on the downhill
gravel road I got shoved out of the preferred line and had to take a
much sharper transition turn onto the cinder road leading to the run
up than I wanted. I ended up washing out hard and dropped a ways
getting upright. I struggled a bit in the sand on subsequent laps
which surprised me, I usually do well with sand. Again there was a
group of us right together battling things out until the end. I got
caught by a late charge right at the line but have no regrets on the
day. It was great to see and hear so many NEBC’ers out there and
awesome to have a mate in the field, Clara!
Julianne Oberle~ Gloucester Day 1
I woke up feeling like death warmed over… I should have never raced. But Gloucester is Gloucester and is such an awesome course of punchy uphill turns that I love. Again, I should have sat this one out. For the first time ever I had to take a midrace time out where I actually stopped and considered curling up into a ball and hiding. I stopped for about a minute, a thousand people passed me. I eventually was able to breath and soft pedaled for about half a lap and then decided to race the final lap as hard as I could. I passed a ton of people on my last lap, which was fun practice. I’m usually pretty timid passing people. I got myself back up to where I was in the race when I took my break. So I guess that was good. I took the next day off to get healthy.
Mark Lovejoy- Gloucester Day 1
I raced the Saturday race at Gloucester, Masters 45+. My brother-in-law, Mike, made the trip from Detroit to check out the race, which was fun. My strained leg muscle I received at Quad Cross was still bothering me,primarily running and remounts (the muscle is located exactly where I land on my saddle – ouch). I loved the course for its difficulty, but having taken two weeks off after Quad, I was struggling. Technically, I felt I was doing pretty well, but the course seemed really “heavy”, and after the second lap, I could only think about heading to the beer tent after the race. One funny moment came on my last lap on the tricky hairpin behind the baseball backstop. I had handled this turn pretty well throughout the race with at the most needing to tap my toes down, but coming into this turn, a rider who was about to lap me yells “Go for it”, and in my lactic acid foggy state I thought, “ok, that sounds right” and drove the Gunnar hard only to slide out and take the guy behind me out. Gloucester is such a great scene and my brother-in-law did great and is excited to make the trip back next year.
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The Night Weasels Cometh
Emily Phillips Cat 4 Women 5 / 28
Caroline Cardiasmenos Cat 4 Women 8 / 28
Carrie Mosher Cat 4 Women 24 / 28
John Mcgrath Cat 3 Men 37 / 79
Clara Kelly Cat 1/2/3 Women 11 / 28
Julianne Oberle Cat 1/2/3 Women 22 / 28
Jocelyn Maudlin
Night Weasels – DNF
I’m still not sure how I feel about the night weasels race. I had been
looking forward to a chance to race it for a long time. The reality of
it was underwhelming. I had trouble seeing the course as the light
faded. Add into that my terrible mud handling skills and I was in
trouble. Clara had the right idea running the long mud sections, I
tried riding many of them with mixed results. The final result being
that I sucked enough grass clogged mud up into my gears to bend my
deraileur by the fourth lap and my night was over. I ran the half lap
necessary to hit the pits to no avail. I did get heckled for being
able to run faster than a lot of the crowd thought I should have been
able to and had several people compliment me after the requisite
comments about carrying a perfectly good bike.
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Providence Cross Festival
Providence Cross Fest Day 1
Jocelyn Mauldin UCI Elite Women 27 / 37
Randall Mauldin Amateur Men 116 / 127
Tom Doucette Masters Men 55+ 34 / 41
John Mcgrath Masters Men 45+ 46 / 80
Mark Lovejoy Masters Men 45+ 72 / 80
Julianne Oberle Amateur Women 26 / 78
Carrie Mosher Amateur Women 42 / 78
Teri Carilli Amateur Women 49 / 78
Lisa Marshall Amateur Women 54 / 78
Katherine Snell Amateur Women 55 / 78
Elizabeth Cummings Amateur Women 60 / 78
Lester Bethel Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 54 / 92
Barry Shopnick Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 82 / 92
Providence Cross Fest Day 2
Keith Reynolds Amateur Men 45 / 130
John Mcgrath Masters Men 45+ 41 / 75
Julianne Oberle Amateur Women 28 / 73
Emily Phillips Amateur Women 43 / 73
Carrie Mosher Amateur Women 53 / 73
Lisa Marshall Amateur Women 58 / 73
Tim Dodd Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 17 / 70
Lester Bethel Masters Men 35+ Cat 4 42 / 70
Tom Doucette
Providence- Day 1
Yikes – another too-warm-for-cross-racing day! We had 40 riders in the field (55 masters) – a relatively big turnout. My strategy was to hang with the usual competitors and then see where things stood with 1-lap to go. I loved this course. Too bad I over-heated and blew up after 2 laps. I rode smooth and clean but couldn’t hold the wheels of my rivals. As I approached the start/finish with 1-lap to go, I was relieved when the masters-45 leaders past me, putting an end to my suffering. Yes, I said that I loved this course and that I suffered. In ‘cross, those two things weirdly co-exist.
Jocelyn Maudlin
Providence day 1 – 27 of 37
The Providence course reminded me of the races in North Carolina. Some
of you have heard me say that ‘cross in New England is very different
from NC. If you take the course from today and shrink it down by
roughly a third you’d have a close approximation to what I learned to
race on. This course was fast with little technical aspects but a few
nasty transitions from pavement to dirt to look out for. It was also
hot enough for the officials to allow feeds from the pits, probably
around 80 and bright sunshine at the start. I managed a fourth row
start. My gear selection was a little rough for the first few strokes
and the girl wobbling into me didn’t help but I pulled it out and was
sitting nicely going into the first set of turns. There was a lose
mulch covered section early where people were battling for position. I
lost one such battle and ended up going down after colliding with a
wooden course stake. I recovered well from this but my habit of taking
the inside line caused me some problems. I got pinched at the stair
run up and then a girl in front of me faltered going into the barriers
and I ended up in the course tape again. By the time we hit the pits I
was sitting in last place. The rest of the race was clean and I spent
the last 2.5 laps working with a girl out of Philly reeling in the
riders ahead of us. I pulled the straights and she led the turns. I
knew I had to get her off my wheel in the last lap and launched my
attack when we hit the up hill road section on the back side of the
course, finally bridging the gap to the two riders in front of us. I
managed to work my way around these two in the later half of the lap
and finished up with a nice kick to the line convinced that everyone
was sitting my wheel only to realize that I was alone. It was not the
position I had hoped for but it was a great race and I can’t wait to
do it again.
Elizabeth Cummings, Providence Day 1
This was my first ever cross race and it was pretty much a (fun!) blur. The weather was beautiful–sunny, no wind–but a little bit on the hot side. The women’s 3/4 field was very large–almost 80 people!–and I was happy to start at the back so I could get my bearings. The course was very technical: lots of quick turns and switch backs and some challenging uphill barriers. The scene was awesome: tons of cheering spectators, dogs and cute little kids. During our 4 laps of the course, I worked my way past a number of riders, but it was hard to pass as much of the course was pretty narrow and I was mostly focused on staying on my bike and avoiding a face full of mud. Overall, a great afternoon at a beautiful venue. A challenging introduction to cross racing, but I’ll be back for more!
Julianne Oberle
Providence Day 2
The start was interesting- for some reason we were given 1 min and then a double whistle sort of went off. And some people looked at each other, and some people started racing. So I guess we were off. The long pavement would have been good for me, but I was one of those people who looked around instead of started racing. I did get myself into about the 15-17 spot for the first 2 laps. I was cornering confidently and was racing hard in the straights. Over the barriers I heard Cait from Geekhouse behind me and I knew I had to race fast into those barriers or she was going to pass me. I went insanely fast and sprinted over the barriers, but she was still faster. It’s fun when you get to know what other racers are going to do. We race together so often that it goes the same way every time. I start faster, she passes me on lap 2 over the barriers, and the rides away while I go backwards. The heat was too much for me the second half of the race. I couldn’t focus on anything except for water. I drafted up the climb. People tried to sprint up the hill and I jumped on their wheels as much as I could every lap. Record heat would do that. So I think I lost about 8 spots on the last lap and couldn’t do much about it. I finished 28th, a little bit back from the day before but still better than I usually do.
