EBCC

We need a race report. 50+ 3rd.

Tour of the Hilltowns M50+

The new course is great. You begin at Berkshire East Ski area and head out for (in most cases) 2x31 mile loops. Around mile 4 you hit the first of two successive climbs, each about a 1/2 mile long with grades up to 10%. 5 miles later you begin another climb, this one about 6 miles long with a grade between 2-4%. You get on top of that and you are in rolling terrain for about 8 miles followed by a fast descent and more rolling fast terrain to the finish (or to do all over again if it's lap 1).

Gerry has commented previously on my tendency to warm up quickly on the hills and that certainly came in handy here. When we rolled out of the start and into the first set of climbs I calmly worked my way towards the front and by the 2nd hill found myself at 3rd wheel. Three of us jumped and nobody followed. Yeah it was early, but nothing ventured.....

We had built up a 1 minute lead by the bottom of the long climb and kept a steady but maintainable pace all the while assuming that we would see either a small group bridge up or the whole field. That never happened. We ripped the descent and increased the gap as this was a narrow bumpy road where 3 riders could get through much quicker than a 55 man field. By the start of lap two we had a 3.5 minute gap on the field and it started to feel possible. We made it through the first set of climbs with the gap intact. About half way up the long climb we got word that there was one rider 2 minutes back (all bets were that it was Carl Reglar which turned out to be true) with the field at 2.5 minutes. It wasn't time to panic yet as they were just coming into the climb.

On the last push before the final descent the eventual winner (who had spent the whole time working on the best actor Oscar in a dramatic cycling role) pulled away from us to no one's surprise. My remaining break buddy and I were wearing thin at that point but both wanted to beat to field to the line which we did and then split the difference in the winnings. I was happy to see that our finishing time was the same as the field finish in the masters 40+.

Got to get a race recap from Tim back at the lodge. Congrats to him on a great finish.

When a break goes the lead car for the field stays in front of it. We also had a Ma state trooper at point hitting the siren whenever we came into more congetsed areas. The lead car was in communication with the following car (back with the main field) and they were able to measure the time gap and relay it to us.