Road Bike Racing - Going to the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic

I'm going to be traveling to Fitchburg, MA, on Wednesday to race in the four-day stage race. I will probably be posting some race reports shortly after I return on Monday. I'll probably post them here, and Rainman's thread (where my other race reports are) HERE (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8131)

You can check out some info. and such HERE (http://www.longsjo.com) .

Good Luck!! Bring back a victory.

Sounds like a great race. Good Luck!

Velo - Having just started racing this year, I thought a 4-day stage race would probably be a little too much for me . . . not to mention that it would really test my husband's already thin patience with all the time I spend away cycling. But I am definitely hoping to do Fitchburg next year, so will be very interested in your reports. I wish you the best of luck! :thumbup: (Wish I could be there too! :( )

Velo, I think we are ALL rooting for you. Go and have fun. Good Luck!

Wow!!! a 4 day stage race!!! Awesome!

Hey can we get Velo a Jersey that says Supported by
Bike Forums?

Velo,
you go girl.

Marty

I arrived back from Fitchburg, now. Race reports will slowly appear...:)

Thursday, June 27, 2002

Today was the first day and first stage of the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic in Fitchburg, MA. This stage race is the physically hardest race I do all season. Four stages, and all are tough.

The first stage is a time trial. They switched up the course on us, this year, though. Last year it was a 12-something mile loop, with some good sized rolling hills in it. This year, they had to switch the course to a 7.8-mile course that was not nearly as hilly as previous year’s. They did this because of traffic reasons, which I can fully understand because having the area where they had the time trial open to traffic wasn’t really that great.

I didn’t feel that great going out. There was a pretty strong crosswind, and you hit a pretty hard uphill right when you leave the starting ramp. After I made it up that hill, though I started to feel better. Once I made the first turn around (one of two, yes, weird), I started feeling really good. I was really motoring it. I caught my minute person (my 30-sec. person didn’t show) and passed her. Chasing down someone in a time trial is a great motivator.

The hardest part of the course is the finish. It’s a fairly steep uphill, up to the hotel where the finish line is. I just had enough to make it up in my big ring. I was contemplating jumping down to the small ring, but I had just enough left.

I felt I rode a pretty good opening time trial. I felt good, and much better than last year. Last year I went out way too hard, and once I hit the hills I blew. I got passed by three people, and didn’t pass anyone. This year, I passed one and didn’t get passed by anyone.

When I crossed the line, the announcer said I was in 23rd place, which made me happy. I sort of made a silent goal to be in the top twenty in the GC by race end before I rode. I wanted to see how my time trial showed up, though, before I made that goal official.

When everyone was in, and results were made official, I had fallen to 28th, but only 1:19 back to the race leader. I wasn’t too thrilled with loosing my place in the results, but the deficit wasn’t that much, and could be made up. Last year, I was over four minutes down, so the improvement was good. 28th out of 57 isn’t too shabby.



More too come as I get them ready...

Friday, June 28, 2002

Today was the second stage of the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic, a circuit race. The circuit racecourse is a pretty challenging one. It has 5 corners, and a pretty long, pretty steep, step climb to the finish line. Quite technical.

Our group of Cat. 3 Women had 9 laps of the course, or 27 miles. The start of the race was very hectic. For whatever reason, they decided to have the Cat. 1/2's, Cat. 3’s, and Cat. 4’s all out on the course at the same time!?! Our staggered starts had my group in the middle. Now, the finish line is on an incline, so it’s not the easiest to start on to begin with, and it’s pretty narrow which means a free for all to get good positioning.

Once the Cat. 1/2's went off, it was our turn. I picked a very bad spot in the line up, right behind two idiots. If you can’t get on your bike, you better go back to a Cat. 4! And, you probably shouldn’t be in this race, because even if you were a Cat. 4, you should know how to get your bike started if you want to race this race! Can we please have a basic skills check before we ride?!?

The rest of the race supported my hunch that I should become a Cat. 2. I’m a Cat. 2 on the track, and there aren’t even that many crazy women there! I honestly don’t think there was a quiet moment in the race without someone screaming, “hold your line”, or “watch out”! Maybe you should check your riding, and see if your riding contributes to your own screaming and yelling. Are you accelerating into the person in front of you? Are you going to a spot that isn’t open?

Then, what made matters worse is the fact that with about 4 laps to go, the skies opened up and let down a massive downpour of rain. And, at this exact moment the Cat. 1/2's were coming up on us, which meant our race would be neutralized for the time being.
Once we were safely passed, our race was un-neutralized, and we were on our way again. The rest of the race was raced in a light drizzle. I got a little nervous when my back wheel slid a bit in one of the turns. From then on out, I was very careful going around the turns, and decided just to sit in and stay safe for the remaining time. There was a time that would have been perfect for an attack on the last lap, right before the last turn, but I didn’t want to take the chance in that turn. A little disappointed that I couldn’t do much.

I ended up 37th for the day, didn’t loose any time, and remained in 28th in the GC. Nothing gained, nothing lost. The good news was I felt pretty good going into the next day’s huge road race stage.



2 of 4

Saturday, June 29, 2002

The third, and most challenging stage of the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic was today. The road race takes place on an 11-mile hilly loop. Each race’s final lap takes the riders over 2,000 feet up the ski mountain, Mt. Wachusett. 3-miles up…

My group had 4 laps, plus the mountain. This totaled 47 miles. Fortunate for us, the weather was at a much more comfortable state than last year. Last year it was teetering on 100 degrees, and high humidity. This year, it was the mid 80’s and the humidity was non-existent.

Because of the length, and course, the race usually starts off pretty casual. It did, and I was feeling pretty good. The backside of the course is rolling to flat; it’s the easy part. Then, you make a right hand turn and it’s all uphill from there. Once you’re over the steep part, there’s a long, fast downhill that isn’t in good road conditions. You can easily hit over 50 mph going down it. You’d be able to do much more, but you have to be very careful to watch out for the holes, cracks, and bumps.

So, the casual pace kept up until about halfway up the climbing section. I was still feeling pretty good, sitting about halfway back in the pack. I honestly don’t know what happened, but the pace picked up big time. Who knows, there might have been an attack. But, this left me hacking up a lung, and my legs were really feeling it. Last year, I was always back by a little gap though, and was able to catch up when the road started going down, so I wasn’t really too worried by it. And, there were pretty many women still left behind me.

We were coming into the downhill section and the big women must have used all the weight and more to get down that hill. By the time I reached the bottom, I couldn’t even see them anymore. And I was in my full-on aero tuck! I was being cautious because of the conditions, but I thought I wouldn’t be too terribly far behind.

Well, this wasn’t the way to be starting off the race, so I went into time trial mode to bring them back. About halfway through the flat section, I could see them up the road again. I was slowly bringing them back, but I could really feel it in my legs. Plus, I got stuck behind a line up of traffic, so that slowed me down in a crucial time.

Eventually, a small group that was left behind on the climb caught up to me. Our group averaged about 9-10 riders the whole time, with us catching new riders and dropping the old. I wasn’t happy to be behind the lead group, but it was better to be in a medium-sized group than going the rest of the race alone. We kept up a decent pace the whole time. Most of the time it wasn’t too organized, but I think we preferred it that way, because it was less pressure.

There wasn’t much of a chance that we were going to catch the group and stay in. So, the next plan is to make it to the finish, limiting your losses, probably more than if you caught up and got dropped hard because you were blown from chasing back on.

We kept a fairly comfortable, but fast, pace the rest of the way. I think we were all happy to get to the final stage of the day…the mountain…

I had been climbing every lap at the front of my group, so I was feeling pretty good about the mountain. As soon as we got started, I went to second place. I didn’t want to get stuck behind any slower riders halfway up. I stayed behind the lead rider about three quarters of the way, and then decided to go to the front and pick up the pace (nothing like a little friendly competition?). There was only one rider left with me by this time. She was content staying behind until the final leg of the climb. She started to come up on me, but I put in another acceleration, and she dropped back again (this is where the grade is…oh…22%…). She stayed back all the way until the right hand turn right before the line comes into view. I was just a couple feet before the line…when all of a sudden…she came flying up on the left side…and plowing into the gravel.

You have to understand that the line is about two feet before a gravel landing. The landing is as high as you can go on the mountain. So…if you go any further you’re going over the edge, into the trees, and south. So…this lady was a little on the weird side.

So, overall, I was disappointed that I didn’t stay with the main field. But, I was happy I was the first one from my group up the mountain (I opened up a pretty sizable time gap on everyone). I didn’t loose too much time, and I rode much better than last year. That last climb is still tough, though…



The attachment is a little view from the top of the mountain. The way we came up.
3 of 4

Sunday, June 30, 2002

Today was the last stage of the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic. The criterium is a nice short race to end a long, hard overall stage race. The course is a mile long. There is a long homestraight and backstraight, a hairpin turn, and a slight uphill to it. This makes for a pretty exciting race.

Our race went out fast. On the backstraight, I was in my biggest gear, and didn’t have a whole lot to push on either! The chaos slowed down quickly, though. Within two laps we were at a respectable pace.

The race, on a whole, wasn’t that eventful. I wanted to do well in this race, since I’ve been riding a lot of crits lately. But, the legs just weren’t there. I don’t think I was overly sore from yesterday, the pace was just too furious with no breaks.

When I got to the front (I hung out in the middle most of the race), I would loose my place in the hairpin turn, which was really frustrating. I’m not sure why, though. I was being cautious, yes, but not so much that I should have lost my place by so much.

I was in the first couple of riders coming into the hairpin on the last lap, but lost my place and then got shelled straight to the back when the acceleration occurred. I ended up finishing in the second half of the group, but I rode as hard as I could. You can only ride so hard, you know?

After this race, I’ve realized that you need to really spend a lot of time on the road to excel in the elite races, such as this one. Right now, I’m really not worried about it because I have a lot of time ahead of me, and I still enjoy riding the track. I’m nowhere near ready to give up the track, or even visa versa.

It’s been a good trip. Pasta buffet at the hotel every night, and breakfast buffet every morning, is really good. And, I got a lobster roll after the crit was over, today, at a McDonald’s up the highway. It was actually pretty good. I mean, come on, you can’t go to New England without getting something like this. I was thoroughly disappointed that I didn’t get to see a moose, though! But…there’s always next year!

4 of 4

Coolio Velo!!!

Velo,
Sounds like you had a great time! Thank you so much for sharing the experience with us. I love your reports!
Regards,
Raymond

Thanks for the report! I started reading this thread when the 3rd day was the latest post so waiting was a cliffhanger. Good luck with the rest of your racing season.
kev:thumbup:

Awesome job! I rode Wachusett to the top a week ago. Mind you, I am getting back into road biking after a 10 year lay-off. Quite the ride up the mountain!!

Wow. Very nice report Velo. I enjoyed reading it very much and congradulate you for giving the race some real 'stick' and for staying mentally positive even after some dissapointments. A few details were rather exagerrated about the course (3 mile climb? 2000 ft gain? It's actually only 1.4 and goes up about 700 ft.) but I can forgive you.:D ;)

I'm glad that this thread has resurfaced just in time for the 2003 running of the event which will start this coming Thursday. So, Velo, will you coming up again this year to compete, and if so in which race? I myself will be doing the Junior Men's Race, and am excited about it for several reasons. This year they made the Jr Men's race a qualifying event for the World Championship Team, meaning that ALL of the strongest kids in the country will come. I'm psyched to race a junior event with a field as strong as Nationals attracts. I'm aware of several dozen CAT 1 and 2 juniors that will be in attendance and all vying fiercely for good places in hopes of going to Worlds. 86 Juniors have preregistered, which is actually ABOVE the proposed field limit of 80.

Anyhoo... I've been tooling with the TT bike these last two days to get ready for the first stage. Maybe I'll write a report of my own once the racing starts. I cant promise though that my reports will be as super-fantastic as Velo's.:)

- Maurizio

Originally posted by Maurizio
A few details were rather exagerrated about the course (3 mile climb? 2000 ft gain? It's actually only 1.4 and goes up about 700 ft.) but I can forgive you.:D ;)

So, Velo, will you coming up again this year to compete, and if so in which race? I myself will be doing the Junior Men's Race, and am excited about it for several reasons.


Factor in the other climbs of the day; from the bottom of the course, you climb somewhere near around there, if I remember correctly. I should have made that clearer. It's not just Wachusset that goes up that much.

No, I won't be going to Fitchburg again this year. I leave on July 1st for Texas, for the national champs. Maybe I'll be back in Fitchburg next year, but we'll have to see because some of my goals are problably going to change (Jr. World's and what not.)

Good luck in the Junior race! That field is very competitve every year, and it'll probably be more so with it being a qualifier for Jr. World's. Have fun up there and ride hard!

velo

I was just teasing about the criticism.

Good luck in Texas. I'm heading down the Monday after Fitchburg -- I think it's June 30th.

I figured out that the average high temperature for College Station, Texas is 95 degress and humid. What the heck is with these unbearably hot venues!? Last year in Clemson was bad enough. I can't wait.:rolleyes:

- Maurizio

well since ya'll gonna be down heah in tejas
I might have to mosey on down to see you in
college station.
I was fixin to go anyhow.

Any track events at Frisco Velodrome?


Marty

College Station. Hot and humid is right. Spent a lot of time there myself.
Best of luck!

Gig'em Ags.

Maurizio - Then when you factor in humidity, it'll be even worse!

lotek - No, track is at the Alkek Velodrome in Houston. Personally, I'd rather come to Frisco!

Toothpick - Can you recommend anything interesting to do in College Station?

OK, Here we go...

Stage 1:TT

My start time today was 11:02:30, and I wanted to leave plenty of time to do a warm-up, and take things nice and slow to relax, so I planned on arriving at about 9:00. The drive is usually about an hour, but with traffic today it was a bit longer but I still arrived approximately on time.

After picking up my race packet, changing, getting numbers pinned, and setting up my trainer in some shade I started my warm up. IT WAS SO HOT. About 90 and very humid. Warming up without a fan was nearly unbearable. Although I wanted to spend 45 minutes warming up, I descided after 20 that I would just ride around so I would have the wind on my face. But my trainer's knob broke, so the trainer was stuck on the bike. Oh crap... Luckily my coach had a big wrench (Why? I have no idea but I am thankful.) and I used that to pry my bike free. I went to put on my race wheels then before continuing the warm-up.

With about five minutes to my start I headed to staging, and just tried to relax, and take-in as much liquid as possible because I chose not to bring any bottles with me on the ride. I was nervous in the starting gate and forgot the tune to the song I wanted to have in my head during the race. I was being held upright and stationary in the gate, when with only 1 seccond to the start, I was dropped. I WAS DROPPED!!! I had to unclip, and I pannicked as I got my foot back in the pedals and dashed out onto the course.

Things started really crappilly. To do well in the Junior race it's necessary that you be spinning your biggest gear of 52X14 the ENTIRE time, and my legs felt sluggish. I wasn't turning the pedals over fast enough, and I didn't have that supple "springy" feel in my body. After the first turn around I saw that the rider who started 60 seconds behind me was gaining ground on me. He was a favourite for the Overall GC, and is in fact the only kid in the country who has AUTOMATICALLY qualified for the World Championships. Still, I didn't expect him to catch me, and I was upset. He made the junction to me about a third of the way back. When he came past me, I stood to get the biggest gear spinning, and I held him at about 2-3 secconds. I started feeling better, and the effort that I was at to hold the gap to the kid who had caught me felt like the "right" effort for me in a TT. I rode very very fast to the finish to keep this kid from pulling away any further, and up the final hill I sprinted in my 52-16.

I'm really really dissappointed with my result at the end of the day. Although I rode the last portion of the course as fast as anyone probably, I started too slow and conservative, and my legs just didn't starte the race feeling supple. The fact that I was dropped in the starting gate may have hurt me mentally.

I ended the day in 26th out of 95 riders a few secconds less than 1:30 back. This is a terrible result. What made it worse is the kid that won (who is not the rider who caught me -- he was 5th) is someone whom I've beaten in time trials before. I was really not at my best.

Since I'm anonymous on GC, I'll be attacking hard tommorow, to try to force a selection, or get away in a breakaway to take back time. I like tommorows course a lot, and I've got the fury in my legs now. I may also end up helping out teammates who are in 6th and 9th, but in all likelyhood they will just conserve themselves in the peloton, not need any help via a chase, and just let the leaders take responsibility.

I'll be back with another report tommorow.

--- I should note: The best times of the Junior men in the TT at Fitchburg are faster than every other field, other than the Pro,1,2. And that's dspite the fact that our restricted gearing slows us down on all the down hills. The winner averaged 28 mph despite the hilly course. ---

- Maurizio

Velo,

The next step for Superdrome is to cover it.
there is already talk of a project.


Marty