jameskpolk

I figure that a few of the New England folks will be spending their Saturday sweating off the pounds in the Berkshires.

I will be finding out (I suspect in painful fashion) just how well Blue Hill repeats prepares one for real climbs. I'll be in BU kit in the cat4 field if anyone wants to suffer alongside.

@shovel - I presume you'll be there, and I'll keep an eye out for you at Wells, too. Turns out I can't reply to a PM until I have 50 posts, but I look forward to meeting you at some point.

cheers

Grumpy McTrumpy

I am in the 40+

I did it in 09. It's a tough race, but not quite as brutal as some. The Killington stage three was tougher.

mike868y

I'll be there. Maybe I can actually finish this year :/

GirlAnachronism

I'm in.

FormerBMX'er

We'll see how well racing Pawling Mountain was of a tune-up.

I should be there in the 4s...545 Velo kit...smokin' tan.

queerpunk

East Hawley road is rough. If you get dropped, there's time to chase back on.

pjcampbell

cool race
I cant make it
E Hawley was a 20 minute climb at like 4.5+ watts per kg for me in the 4's .
funfunf fun
i should have signed up for this.

mike868y

Pawling Mountain isn't even in the same stratosphere of difficulty, imo.

TheKillerPenguin

Different races favoring different types of climbers.

Pawling is about punch. Hilltowns is about how high your FTP is.

I'll be there.

pjcampbell

i think the chase group typically catches the break...

TheKillerPenguin

The first time I did it, the chase group did get back on. The last 2 times, nope. I wouldn't bet my race on relying on that tactic.

pjcampbell

i wouldnt either.. id be in the break or at least try

shovelhd

The only reason I'm doing this race is that we are the host club and I am on the race committee. It is definitely not my cup of tea.

jameskpolk

Glad to hear there will be some others out there. It's nice to know both that a) it's important to try to stay with the lead pack on the climb, but b) it won't necessarily be the end of the race if I can't.

@BMXer - I'll keep an eye on the 545 crew in the field. Say 'hi' if you spot the BU kit.

cheers

FormerBMX'er

I've done Hilltowns twice now, took 10th as a 5, got caught behind a wreck at the front last year.

Pawling has all the climbing of HT packed into 38 miles, it's all about the effort and recovery.

Different races yes, but tougher in my mind.

Probably not racing HT this year as it turns out.

shovelhd

It took 7 hours, two cokes, a Mountain Dew, and five 24oz. bottles of water but there is at least a ton less sand on the course than there was yesterday. It's ready to go. The top of the descent on 8A is still the roughest part of the course with the longitudinal cracks. All holes of any significance have been filled. We swept every corner clean, and widened the shoulders as much as practical. Good luck and ride safe everyone.

TheKillerPenguin

Thanks so much for the work. I know how sandy that road usually is, so it's much appreciated.

shovelhd

You are very welcome. Try and say hello if you can. Good luck and ride safe.

jameskpolk

Thanks, shovel. I don't envy your being out there today.

Good luck all around.

cheers

bostongarden

I'll be thinking of you all as I have dim sum in Chinatown SF. Good luck.

Grumpy, I did it in '09 as well. I didn't come in last!!

carpediemracing 

Shovel - I didn't realize you were active on the other side of bike racing. Thanks for your efforts. You should be proud.

DennisD

My wheels didn't find any pot holes this year, unlike prior years. I also noticed that you did a great job clearing the sand from the course. Unfortunately though you didn't clear it sufficiently for bone heads like me who somehow found a sandy spot on the outside of the turn while taking a corner at mile 30 way to fast (more details here). Thanks for putting in all of the hard work for a race that is permanently on my race calendar!

shovelhd

Thank you DennisD. Don't feel bad about cooking that corner. A guy in the lead group in my race went into the weeds there, too. It's a fast, surprise corner. Now you know it's there. See you at the Rent?

CDR, I was on the race committee. The RD is a good friend and it our club's biggest race.

Overall, from everything I have heard, the race went very well. Some told me the roads were better than last year, others said they were worse. I'll take that as a no-change. From what I have heard, Plainfield is supposed to pave the worst of 8A before next year's race. We'll see. Financially I believe that we did well but I won't know until we meet in a few weeks.

mike868y

they can leave the pot holes if they flatten east hawley road

DennisD

Just curious -- was that one of the corners the race official warned us about before the start? If so, I need to pay more attention to the pre-race talks in the future... In any case, I look forward to meeting you face to face at the Rent.