Race Report(s): Tour of Washington County, Cat 4

Forgive the length of this report but there’s nothing like a stage-race weekend to bring the NCVC Cat 4 team together and perform. The story needs to be told. Any race hosted by Joe Jefferson just makes the experience even better. The strong roster included Chris Abbey, Eric Bruins, Chris Carraway, Mike Ephsteyn, Bert Garcia, Harry Goldman, Nate Hakken, Dave Kirkpatrick, John Myrick, Geoff Rezvani, Jeff Spaulding, and Drew Wisniewski.


Stage 1 – Smithsburg Road Race, 37 miles

After the neutral roll-out, the ref’s blew the whistle to start the race, and we actually slowed down. We took off a whopping 14 miles per hour. Our two crit racers, Chris and Geoff, took charge early on and took off with some Coppi guys. Mike, Chris A., and Eric flooded the front with a bunch of huge Coppi guys. (I think Coppi has a weight and height minimum this year.) The wind on the backside of the course was NUTS. A WWVC guy bridged up. Chris, Geoff, and the Coppi dudes didn’t last too much more than a lap. D-Wis then took off, again with the WWVC guy. Futile but fun.

On that first lap, Eric was in a small bunch of guys leading the pack into the false flats. None of them knew the course and the road guards didn’t either. Eric and some others took a detour straight, instead of taking the right turn. He’d jump back in though.

Throughout laps 2-3-4, only up the false flats and rollers were folks ever really picking up the pace. The wind was too strong on the flat section leading up to the feed zone, so we were riding at a snail’s pace. Everyone left the attrition to the hills. I tried a few digs into the headwinds with the stronger Bike Rack guys but we laughed at each other when we realized we were burning our own matches and gaining no ground hammering at about 18mph.

Jeff S. and I helped Geoff R. cover stuff up front, pushing the pace a lot too. There were some splits when some other teams helped on those rollers. The big guns were really drilling it at the front and stringing things out. Behind, Dave K dug deep to bridge some big gaps and stay with the lead group. Harry’s legs were giving him trouble, so he dropped from the race.

On the fifth lap, the group was down to probably 30 folks and shrinking. After dropping his chain, Drew started a grupetto with Nate and John trailing. Back in the autobus, they apparently discussed changing NCVC kits to camouflage so they could hide in the “pretty forest” next to the race course until we came by on the last lap..

It wasn’t as social up front. The fifth lap leading up to the main, steep hill was a painful pace. A few guys were hammering up front and Dave was behind me yelling to help them out. I did, until Dave K took over and showed me what he really meant. He nearly blew himself up but it thinned the field a ton more.

Lap six was one of the best one-man shows I’ve ever seen. Eric Bruins, a relatively new NCVC guy, is on loan from USC’s cycling team this summer. He was bitter about his first-lap detour, so he took to the front into the wind and set a steady and strong tempo for a while. Such a long while in fact, that Dave Kirkpatrick, for the sixth time in a row, was disappointed to know that the feed zone was closed. (Little did Dave know that “No Feed” sign was just signifying the end of the feed zone, and that the “Feed Zone” sign had just blown over.)

Nobody had the manliness or stupidity to overtake Eric until descending from the rollers. At that point, Dave, Jeff, and myself were well rested. Right before we left the loop, though, Dave’s legs locked up on the steep hill. About 15 guys were left in the mix now – 3 in NCVC kits. The leftover bunch was jockeying, so I followed Eric up the final hills with Jeff to my right. Cresting the 2nd to last hill, three Bike Rack guys took off. Eric had faded. Jeff and I got stuck in a bit of traffic. On the final downhill, I yelled to Jeff and he took off to bridge me up.

The race was about 40 feet ahead, so I sprinted like a freak up the hill, made up some ground, and caught one of the Bike Rack guys for fourth place with no time loss on the leaders. Jeff and Eric would finish a few seconds back, with Dave K at 50 seconds back. The rest of the main field was at 2:20 from the winner, Martin A. from the Bike Rack. His boy Tim Brown lead him out and took second. Coppi took third. (Fun fact: All of the top four finishers in this road race were in the winning breakaway last weekend at Murad, too.)

For dinner, the team crossed the hotel parking lot to Outback Steakhouse. A few notable moments there: Geoff Rezvani ordering some big chicken dish for dinner, with an additional Filet as a side dish. And then he called the waitress back for a salad, too. Two minutes later, we’re ordering some tasty beverages, and Dave K gets carded.


Stage 2 – Boonsboro Time Trial, 12 miles out-n-back

Personally, being 4th on GC going into the TT, I was in the mix of some big guns. I knew that two soon-to-be Cat 3s from Bike Rack were starting behind me, with Brownie chasing me. I’d never done a TT before, so I went into the race with a mindset of angry damage control. I had my road bike, regular wheels, clip-on bars I bought for $20, and a borrowed TT helmet. (Hey, you do what you can, right?)

There was a big headwind on the way back in, so my plan was to keep things comfortable and then comfortably painful. I had no delusions of grandeur, but stayed consistently strong, tucked and aero, and managed to finish with a kick up the final hill and a hint of wanting to die. I didn’t catch anyone, but nobody caught me. I’m content.

I ended up finishing 11th with a time of 29:13. Nate wasn’t too far behind me with 29:29 for 15th place. A TT hunk from WWVC totally obliterated folks, with a jock from ABRT close behind. GC was all theirs.


Stage 3 – Williamsport Downtown Criterium, 20 miles (28 laps)

The downtown crit had three 90-degree right-hand corners (one was a speedy downhill on a horrible road surface), then a narrow sweeping lefty, and a SHARP right-hand turn into an uphill finish. Conveniently enough, if you overcooked the fast downhill turn, you’d end up in a graveyard.

We found out the TT times and GC standings about 3 minutes before staging. After the TT, I was still the top NCVC guy in 11th overall (last man in the money) with Jeff Spaulding in 13th and Eric in 14th. I had 2 guys within 2 seconds of me. Priority number one was to protect the GC position. Secondly, try to set me up for a prime to get bonus time.

From the gun, Bike Rack and NCVC took to the front and hammered – particularly D-Wis. The guy was ballistic for the first third of the race and at every prime. The first five laps were insanely strung-out. It was ruthless, and unfortunately took its toll on Nate. A few laps later, Jeff Spaulding became a victim of Karma. After incessantly complaining about how dangerous this crit was going to be, his tire blew on the bumpy downhill and sent him skidding on his butt through the fast turn (lost some skin but he’s ok).

On nearly every lap, I had at least Geoff, Chris C. and D-Wis looking for me. I’d try to save energy in the sweet spot and then move up with a lap or two to go before the primes - it was relatively easy behind these guys on the uphill and top of the course.

They’d drill it and I’d be sitting pretty in the top 5, but through the final hairpin turn – on every lap – I’d just get slightly gapped. I was strong enough to close the gap but I burnt my sprint match too early for the primes. After the first and fastest prime, some gaps formed, so I worked with Martin (winner of the RR) for a bit to see if we could make some splits. It didn’t work, so I eased off. (Drew kept hammering.)

Here’s a testament to the team: the entire race, that’s the only time I was really in the wind. Other than that, I’d sit on guys wheels and catch my breath. Guys like Mike Ephsteyn might be pretty quiet, but he’s always in the sweet spot and is a perfect wheel to follow.

If there’s one thing I can appreciate in athletes, it’s the ability for people to execute when they say they’re going to do something. Chris Carraway is a cross racer with the ability to execute. He said his plan was to drill it from the gun, hope to last 20 minutes, and see what happens. That he did, and he obeyed the words of the fresh tattoos on his quads: “should stop, won’t stop.”

Before the third prime, I see Chris C. looking back over his right shoulder. He’s looking for me again. Then he sees me to his left, and shows a hint of a smile. “I have one match left, what do you want me to do?” I didn’t know what to say, but I wasn’t feeling so hot at the time having given some effort to the two previous primes. Chris was fearless and was navigating through the pack like frikken’ Magellan.

Carraway got me up the hill in front, and then I took Chris Abbey’s wheel and told him it was his turn. Oh boy, this junior can roll. He had some trouble in the hilly road race but not the crit. He dropped me off up front and drilled it. Then he nearly dropped me and everyone else.

I have the legs, I just don’t yet have those crazy fast technical suicidal hairpin pee-your-pants crit skills. My number one priority was to finish this darn thing, and I’m sorry I couldn’t finish what the guys started for me. It was killing me that I couldn’t get some bonus seconds since the guys were working so hard. In my mind, Drew clearly became the man to watch for the primes and sprints. He was flying up the hill every time.

With a few laps to go, Geoff and Dave K kept me where I needed to be and Bike Rack was following whatever crazy one of us was dishing out the pain in the front. With two laps to go, I came around D-Wis and told him that he could win the race. I was feeling confident to finish now, and our guys were rolling strong. They needed to go for it. On the last lap, there were a few Bike Rack guys leading the charge and Dave K, Drew, and Geoff are lined up with me on their wheel. I was probably 8th wheel going through the final hairpin turn.

No dice. The WWVC guy that killed the TT took himself out on the final turn, causing Dave to ride over him, Geoff to tumble into him, and Drew took circumnavigate him. I had to hit the breaks hard. The boys worked their nuts off and got screwed. I guess that’s bike racing. They awarded all of us the same time, but that was just dumb riding on WWVC’s part. I ended up finishing the crit upright, in a mediocre 11th place. Dave, Drew, and Geoff got the shaft.


Good Racin'

Because of the crash, the refs took advantage of the infamous “Levi Rule” so everyone was awarded the “same time” (aside from bonuses) on the crit. So even though the WWVC guy took himself out, he still won the overall race (we were just kinda bitter about that, can you tell?).

The results will show that Bike Rack dominated the weekend. In particular, Tim Brown had his boys working for him, and he took 2nd in the Road Race to his own teammate, then won all of the primes and the crit race himself. (The dude literally has 37 upgrade points from the last 3 weekends alone, Cat 3s watch out.)

The important caveat is that we raced excellently, gave them frikken’ hell, and made anyone who took the laurels earn them. The team finished with me 10th on GC, Eric Bruins in 14th, and Dave Kirkpatrick in 15th.

Overall, riding as the top GC guy on the squad, in my first “stage race,” was bittersweet. I wanted to do well in the road race and originally had no overall ambitions, but there’s no way I was gonna let up. The crit especially was just tough for me. But as a team, we were on par all weekend and I felt like a VIP with the NCVC secret service in the crit.

With some good friends constantly looking out for me it was a frikken’ honor to be a part of this squad. I’m sorry I couldn’t fill the void of a few seconds to land bigger prime bonuses, boys. But if our performance as a group was just a sign of things to come, these final few big MABRA races are going to be tons of fun.

I want to give special shout-outs to Geoff Rezvani, who’s moving soon and will be racing in Philly, and Chris Carraway, who’s leaving next week for a cross-country bike tour. You guys really killed it this weekend. Can’t wait to race with you guys again in the future.

Thanks for reading. See y'all at Reston.