Killington Stage Race – The final Stage 5/31/2010
I knew today’s stage was going to challenge us as cyclists in monumental ways. I pre-rode the key parts of the course and drove the rest. Gary Kessler (KSR Race Director) laid out what I think is one of the best road races I have ever been a part of. I slept so great the night before. In fact, so good I would pay to get sleep like that all the time. John Grenier, Kip Stover (bikebarnracing.com) kept the house very low key which really helped. John really helped us by keeping our equipment changes organized and the bikes running in tip/top shape.
At the start of the stage John had the Sprinter’s Jersey and wore it proud. We worked very hard for the jersey and owe Kip a huge favor for his help. Without him it would have been difficult, at best, to achieve this goal. John needed to win the road race sprint at mile 25 sprint over both David Potter (Arc ‘en ciel) and Ron Bourgoin (OA Cyclemania). This placed a lot of pressure on me since the sprint was a ½ mile away from the first climb which was very difficult. It is around five miles up with the steepest pitches at the bottom. John demanded I not help him and worry about the climb but that was not going to happen. We were going to keep that jersey and if I needed to do the lead-out then I would. I could see how important this was to John and it meant a lot to me also.
The whistle blew and Randy Rusk (Arc ‘en ciel) shot off the front. Carl Reglar (Team Danbury) and Bill Shattuck (Corner Cycle) went right after. I started to react but held back since I changed my race plan to not go for the KOM and save the legs for the finish and get the best possible result. We could see the gap growing and the group appeared to not be concerned with so many miles to go. I spoke with John and said; “this is perfect, David and Ron are here and the sprint points will get gobbled up”. Jersey is yours and no need for a lead-out. So we just relaxed and cruised all the way to the hot sprint line.
We turned the corner onto North Road and started the five mile climb. I was 15 or so riders back and picked my way to the front. The climbing came easy and I was only at tempo feeling really good. I did the climb cautiously and stayed out of the wind knowing I needed to save something for the monster finish. When we reached the KOM the crowd thinned a bit but all of the super hero’s and strong climbers were there. I always remind myself of the talent in this field at big races like this. It pretty intimidating and awesome at the same time. I feel so fortunate to be a part of it and racing competitively at the big ones like this.
Next was the feed zone where John, Kip and I had a bottle waiting for us compliments of the “Ladies First” crew. Thanks so much! I knew feeding would be key during this race to have legs at the end and really stayed on top of that task. I fueled up with Clif Shots, Clif blocks and Clif Lemonade. Clif Bar did the job well, not one cramp all day.
We hit the dirt section on prosper road and the crew kept it in check and safe. This was an easy place for a mechanical problem or even a bad crash on the downside. We all knew there was plenty of time to show what we had on East Mountain Road. When we hit Route 4 the break was nowhere in sight. The OA guys went to the front and laid down some smack for Fred Thomas (OA Cyclemania). It was a heroic team effort and we were single file for miles and miles. When we finally turned the corner to the final climb I would say we had 40ish riders in the group. By the time we hit the switchback it was less than ten riders. Present and accounted for included; Fred Thomas(OA Racing, GC leader), David Gazsi (CycleLogicRacing), Jon Bold (Corner Cycle), Fabio Piergentili (WH Bagshaw), Lorenzo Caterini (HUB RACING), Cary Moretti (Project Freeride, friend from Canada and one tough racer) and Bruce Diehl (Sunapee). Shortly after the switchback Fred kicked up the pace with David in tow and we lost contact with them. The rest of us continued to work very hard and continued up the very long and super steep climb. I looked over at Jon Bold and always in awe at how well he climbs. This is a testament to his incredible fitness and ability to suffer with the climbers. He did such a super job that he put a small gap on the rest of the group just after I had tried the same move. The remaining five of us worked together to make time as it went down and I must say that the rollers really hurt. When we hit 1K to go it was the moment of truth. Jon Bold was ripping the last 1K and just a bit out of reach in 5th. Would I finish in 6th or settle for 9th? Wanting the highest position possible, I ramped up the pace with 500M to go with Fabio on my wheel. In the end Fabio nipped me at the line and I got 7th. I moved from 22nd on GC to 9th. The weekend was great for benchmarking fitness and allowing me to set some goals for fine tuning. This was a great weekend for Team Fuji. A big congrats to Fred Thomas on an amazing win and to former team mate Bill Shattuck (Corner Cycle) for winning the KOM from a break in the road race. Congrats to Carl on the RR win from a break and to Randy Rusk for making the move and I’m sure a huge part of making it stick. Like I say, look around and be in awe at these guys during your next race. We have some amazing talent in the Northeast master’s circuit.
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