Quabbin Road Race

[PJ McQuade]

I just put up a detailed cat 3 recap and lost my connection in the midst of posting. Errrr. So here's the super short watered down version. The rain early on was miserable, but we rode out of it after 10 miles or so. Numerous attacks during the first half of the day, but the field stayed together for most of the race. Fast forward to the end. A split occured on the final 5k in the park and I managed to stay with the front group.This group also split in half and there was also a nasty crash that nearly took me out. I hung on and finished toward the back of the front group. Tough to tell since I was basically seeing stars the last k but maybe top 25 or so? I'm pleased with the result . This race is only in its second year but it's one of my favorites. Awesome course, nice roads, and well-organized. Not sure about the whole non-USAC thing, but he's got a good thing going here. 5-6 other MRCers out there today - some other stories to be shared.

[BTurner]

Cold. Wet and very cold. Pain. More pain then pop. Dry roads and riding with civil, or almost civil people. Pop pssssssss. Len thanks for the tube toss and PJ thanks for the post race beer. Maybe it was the racing on Saturday and racing in the 35+ today but that course is relentless. My back is torn up but Mr. Jose and a little Motrin is working on it.

[Len_E]

Brutal. Raced the 35+ with John and Bill and learned far more than I wanted, mostly about make lack of fitness. These 35s don't mess around. Ten miles into this 62 mile torture-fest the attacks began and basically didn't stop. Although I don't know what happened at the front of the pack because I didn't see them after mile 15 or so. I quickly hooked up with 5 others and we chased the lead pack for 20 miles or so and then decided to work together, cut our losses and survive as a group. This worked well and we picked up a steady flow of riders shed by the lead pack over the remaining 25 miles. This group ended up being probably 15 or 18 riders and we fairly together until the last 5 k when the smart ones who let about 5 of us pull over the 15 miles took off. Live and learn.
The course is great and I probably would have enjoyed it with a bit more fitness. Contrary to earlier reports, this is not a series of rollers over 62 miles, there are some serious climbs and the pace gave us no time for recovery. I'll come back next year but with a bit more time in the saddle and in the hills.
-Len

[Smudger]

A bit late getting to this but most has been said. 35+ race went pretty hard from the start. Turned out of the park and the pace was brisk. Team tactics by the Corner Cycles crew was to send someone off the front on every climb to soften up the group and get rid of the baggage. 20 miles in I became a piece of that baggage. As Len notes there are some pretty long hard, not quite climbs, but at that pace they really hurt and there is NO rest on the course. Hooked up with a guy from NY and rode together with him for 20 or so miles until we got swept up by the bigger chase group with Len and Bill (I didn't actually see Bill cause he flatted as soon as I was caught). The group were doing all sorts of stupid things like attacking each other. I managed to get things organised a little and worked with Len and a couple of others to keep the pace going. Let a little gap go when we entered the park which was silly but managed to pull back most that went up the road on the climb to the finish. Didn't see much point sprinting for 38th place.

We were caught by the 3's as we approached the line and managed to get a perfect ringside seat for a group crash that was so close to taking PJ out the race. He managed to avoid it and had an amazing 18th place finish. Great result and he brought the beer. What a guy!

[carlshimer]

Just found out that the race reports are in a different forum.

On a lark, Sunday opened up for me and I decided to ride Quabin in the 5's. It was a huge field and I was not in the front at the start. That was the mistake. About 10 miles in a gap opened - I saw it and tried to get to the front of my group to bridge. But to no avail - while I managed to get a couple of people riding a paceline we couldn't bridge up. All we ended up doing was ending up between the lead group and the last group and expended a ton of energy. bleh. From there on a club ride to the finish.

Not that I am strong enough to upgrade, but I have done Quabin twice now and since it isn't a USA cycling race - does it count towards a cat4 upgrade (e.g: one of the 10 races?)

[PJ McQuade]

Carl, sure it would count. I don't think upgrade points exist in a non-sanctioned event, but in your case (5-4) Quabbin would definitely fall under the defintion of a mass-start race.