Race Report: GMSR, Stage 1 Time Trial

GMSR, Part 1 - Why I Raced, and Racing Against the Clock

(Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 will be posted within the next day or two.)

Before I get into the “race report” for the Green Mountain Stage Race time trial, I need to spit out some thoughts about why I raced.

When I was a rower, I did dozens of races – but I never once competed at the Head of the Charles, arguably the biggest regatta next to the Henley on Thames. To this day, I still say that I’ll one day race the HOTC.

If I ever stop racing bikes, I didn’t want to say I skipped out on the Green Mountain Stage Race.

Green Mountain, to my knowledge, is among the hardest courses and most competitive fields for all-categories of amateur racing in the east coast. Or so I’ve been told. It’s a huge event and a big deal, quite frankly.

My team gives a bit of extra support to racers that want to race competitive events like GMSR. This being a huge appeal, I had secured some extra funding for nine of my teammates, though two more had shown interest. We were also going to stay in a conveniently located and conveniently cheap ski lodge with five other racers from MABRA.

For many different reasons, only six NCVC racers actually registered for GMSR (one stayed in his own lodging). Only Nate Miller from Squadra Coppi tagged along with myself, Schlomo, and Yon in the Cat 3 race. James L. raced the Cat 4. Monika was entering the Women’s Cat 3/4 event as her first competition as a Cat 3.

Apparently there’s just not much appeal to racing in September at a far-away logistical nightmare of a race as tough as GMSR. But I didn’t want to miss out.

- The Time Trial -

I’d consistently earned top-ten results in time trials in MABRA, though I was never near the winning time. Placing 38th on the first day of GMSR, in an 81-man field, was a slap of an awakening. I had few delusions of grandeur, but I didn’t think I would succumb to fodder so quickly.

The race went smoothly, though. I had a darn good warm-up in the heat. Every racer is required to use mass-start equipment, but I had my skinsuit, Tarmac SL with Carbones, and my aero brain bucket to fight the wind.

I started the short, flat stretch into the right-turn in the big ring, only shifting down (I have a compact) when I really needed to. The TT points up immediately, though it’s never steep. I hit a tempo and grinded a high cadence in the “invisible aero-bar” position up the straighter parts of the hill.

One funny thing about GMSR is that the Tech Guide used miles, but the courses were all marked in kilometers. Somewhere up the climb I saw 9K and then 8K and started calculating how close I was to the top of the hill. Just then, my 30-second man started breathing down my neck. I’d been taking the beginning of the hill fairly conservative (though my heart rate would disagree) so I could crest the stair-stepping false flats and windy pitches at the top all-out.

My 30-second man starting to pass lit a fire under my butt and I really got into a painful groove. I simply rode away from him, and caught up to within 50 meters of the guy ahead of me by the top of the actual climb.

The rest of the TT drops gradually downhill. I tucked again, and grinded away trying to catch the guy in front of me. About halfway on through the course there’s a slight dip, and I caught him on the way down. Simultaneously, another racer zoomed by me like I was standing still – but it was a different guy from the joker who tried to catch me too quickly up the hill. (I figured out later he blew up badly.)

With my 30-second man down, I tried to at least keep pace with the tank that flew by me. I couldn’t quite do that, but it kept me pushing harder than I would have alone. For better or worse, I’m a reactive rider. I ride and race better when I’m responding to what is happening around me. Following the tank’s pace didn’t catch me up to him, but we were both catching up to two more riders.

The final kilometer of the TT course is silly and fun. It drops horribly steep down a hill, and returns equally steep up the other side of a ravine. I tucked on the downhill but saved the legs. Since I have a compact, I kept the chain in the big ring and again, didn’t blow up too early on the hill.

About 200 meters after the bottom of the hill there was a lady sitting with a clip board on the right. From what Schlomo had told me the finish would be farther up, so I hesitated but ignored it. The other riders were still racing, anyway. This woman yelling “almost there” would screw with a lot of riders, though.

When the hill started to crest, I started grinding. It suffices to say I was in a whole world of hurt, which I’m sure this report doesn’t quite reflect. By the top I’d gotten into a good sprint for the line, though I think I could have started earlier since the course flattens out by the finish.

I finished in 15:50 – faster than one of my teammates finished last year for a top-20, but I was middle ground in 38th place. I was also the highest placed of the NCVC riders by over a minute. Schlomo placed 71st and Yon was 79th. He may not like me saying it, but Yon missed the Lanterne Rouge by 0.33 seconds.

The other boys at GMSR – they can roll.