Fitchburg Longsjo Classic

Tuesday blog post of last weeks race...yah it was pretty hard as I had Internet but just really didn't have the desire to write after doing each stage.

This race was named after Art Longsjo(pronounced Long'show) an American cyclist/speed skater who was the first person or perhaps American to compete at both the Winter and Summer Olympics in 1954. Two years after this he died in a car accident. He was from Fitchburg, MA and they created this race in his memory. This year was the 50thy anniversary of the race.

The hotel we stayed at was called the Crocksette Inn, it was not the nicest hotel, but the dinning room had all these pictures from years past, as everyone who is anyone in North American cycling has been to this race. It had pictures of a young young Lance, Greg LeMonde and others along the dinning room wall.

Anyways enough about that, this was a fast race for sure. Tour de Beauce it was not, the PRO men had a field of 180 guys. And it was all pro guys as they even had another cat 2 race for the Elites who were not pro...even the women's field started with 130.
This race was fast from the gun. The thing about American racing is it is usually fast, short courses, crit like in nature, but put 180 guys on small circuits that wind and go up and down...

We started the show' with a 15 km TT, it was a pretty cool course, with lots of fog. It went ok for both Tash and I, but proved that "ok" in a NRC race is worth about 40th place...ouch. Funny thing is I was going pretty fast...just goes to show you that tt's must be practiced.

Fridays road course was a zinger. 5km circuit with a steep 200 meter climb that was proceeded by a 100 degree corner in which you had to jam on your brakes, the was pinned at 60km/hr single file on the back side of the course. I attacked once when it started raining and shortly after my glasses fogged up, I took them off then got a piece of debris in my eye while the roads litterally flooded in front of us and I went backwards and was jsut a little too far behind to make the break that stuck. Tash made the front group, but just lacked some positioning in the uphill finale.

Saturday was the queen stage, 180 km for the boys and 120 for the girls. Man it was hard for sure. I covered some moves, got in a little mini break that came back, positioned myself well, but just was a little too far back on the last lap and had to close a bit of a gap at the top of the climb and it cost me in the end, I finished in the main group, but had used that top end needed for the end one lap too early.
It was a nice 200km of riding though as with the warm up and a little ride after I was at 200km for the day. Also, we hit 96.9 km/hr on the downhill...yah I told you it was fast. I was actually looking down a few times and saw 93km and tucked a little lower to try and hit 100...but just couldn't hit it.

Tasha was going for sprint points and apparently dusted the first few uphill sprints so convincingly the Collivita team gave up the chase uphill and waited for the pack to help.

Sunday Natasha wanted to try to get into top 3 for points as there was some sweet $$, but without a lead out her efforts were good, but not quite enough to get it. Good on her for mixing it up in the sprints with theses teams as I think she learned some good lessons about positionning and timing in these types of efforts.
I wanted to do a good warm up before the crit as this race was supposed to be preparation for next week and beyond but it was super hot and muggy so I barely rode 20 minutes before the race. An early break went and I just waited and gambled that it would come back as this was going to be a two hour crit. Natasha gave me some good feedback about the circuit and she was spot on...there were several places to move up without effort, but it had to be done slowly and I basically went from the back to the front and figured out how long it took me to do this. I had to do something to keep my mind focused as two hours is a long time to go round and round. So I drifted back, but not as far and did this again, then i stayed near the front as I could tell the race was actually starting, the break had been out all day, was loosing time. THe team of the leader of the race, those guys were going backwards, it was getting aggressive. This this guy from BMC team did the craziest move in front of the corner trying to prove that he was a big shot. Man this got me so mad as he basically tried to take me out...I wanted to punch him...but I just sprinted by him in the next straight away, I sprinted up to him and I was so mad I just kept on accelerating and found myself in a great position near the front...shortly after it was go time.
I went from the front to the break and rode through them and a couple guys joined, we were off.
We had a bout ten guys then Charles Dionne came across with two others I believe so we had 13 guys and we were in it for the win! I knew Charles was the guy to watch, obviously.
But with 3 laps to go they called out the Gamblers prime. It clicked, this is my shot, I got myself into place, I had to fight a little then on the last straightaway I waited and times it perfect to come around three guys from Team Type 1 to just get it at the line. Very close. I came around the outside just squeezing through a small hole that only Glen Rendall or I could fit through. People were shocked to see me come through as it looked like they had it and the announcer called out the wrong name as I went across the line. Ok this this cost me going for the win, as I finished 9th out of this group, which 9th actually is a good result at an NRC race, but lets just say it was worth it. Maybe you won't hear about it on Cycling news, and maybe I had the legs to win today but I took a gamble and it payed off. Sometimes you have to roll the dice. Really, it would have been nice to win, but the opportunity was in front of me so I did what came naturally without over thinking things.

A little respite today and I'm off to Tour of Quebec tommorow. Rest is for the wicked.
PS I knew it was going to be a good weekend as my number was 88...double infinity when it was sideways. Am I superstious? Maybe a just a little stitous.....but not super.