Green Mountain Stage Race, Hurricane edition!

One-quarter of the planned racing up at GMSR was unceremoniously canceled today, when part of the crit course flooded in the midst of a steady, soaking downpour.

The net effects of the stage being canceled are three-fold: 1) The Champion System Racing did not get the chance to try and move Sergio onto the points podium. 2) I was deprived of the opportunity to embarrass myself in front of the crowds of adoring fans, as I have done each year I've raced GMSR. And, 3) I got home much earlier than anticipated, despite driving home the whole way in terrible weather -- and now have a little time for a quick race report. I had something of a revelation while racing this weekend -- a revelation that can only come in the midst of a hard stage race, at the end of a trying season.

I need to think my revelation out a little more fully before I write about it here, so stay tuned!

As expected, the race was a wash, results wise. Also as expected, I really enjoyed spending the weekend in Vermont, and found the race to be a lot of fun, and well worth the (long -- nearly 1,000 miles) drive.

I did have good legs on stage two, which was a modified circuit race in Hinsburg, a last minute substitute for the traditional course in Waitsfield, which was ruined by Hurricane Irene. With long climbs at a shallow grade, I found that I was able to stay comfortably in the field, even when the pace ratcheted up, and thanks to some confidence-inspiring wheels, I was able to descend well enough to maintain position, instead of doing my escape-out-the-back routine. Sergio snapped up some sprint points at the first intermediate sprint, so we both thought it would be a good opportunity to get him a stage result.

Unfortunately, the run-in to the finish was on a narrow road with exceptionally shitty pavement (even before the hurricane). While trying to advance my position on the right shoulder in the last seven miles as we rolled along at speeds around 30mph, I, rather abruptly, found myself out of pavement, and careening across a sandy turn-out. A few others had taken similar detours. My wheels made horrible noises as I hit a few larger rocks and I thought I was going to die. I didn't, though. The back of the bike fishtailed a bit in the sand, but I kept rolling, eventually slowing enough to hop back onto the road. Once back on the pavement, since I hadn't died, I decided to see about getting back into the race.

Of course, by that time, the peloton was a good 300 meter ahead. There was a CCB guy between me and the peloton, so I figured I'd catch him and we'd work together to get back into the race. A big effort got me onto his wheel, but I quickly realized he was done for the day, so I pressed on along, burying myself to make contact -- which I eventually did. In retrospect, I should have called it a day at that point, been thankful not to have been dropped, and chilled at the back of the field all the way home, while Sergio took care of business on his own. Instead, I immediately started to advance through the field, again on the right shoulder. I had made it about half way through the field, and we had about 3 miles remaining, when I got pushed into a second sand trap. I hit this one at a slower speed, so it felt safer, but I instantly lost all the ground I'd made up -- and decided to pull the plug. I rolled home a few minutes after the field, while Sergio, who pretty much doesn't need any help (especially not from me) sprinted to 9th on the stage.

The next day saw another modified race, thanks to Irene. We still started at the Sugarbush ski area (albeit, at a different base area from usual), and kicked off the race with a long, neutral descent. Then, instead of turning south along the ruined Mad River Valley, we turned north and followed the first portion of the original circuit race course. After the KOM, a small break went off for the sprint points, so I went to the front for a few miles to try and keep Sergio close the points. Unfortunately, neither of us had thoroughly read the race bible -- all three point spots were already up the road, but we both thought there were two more up for grabs. So to, apparently, did the three guys who tried to beat Sergio. He did, however, win the meaningless field sprint. The race's first 30 miles were pretty fast -- we covered them in 1 hour and 10 minutes, even with the slow neutral parade through Waitsfield-- but the race slowed a bit when we hit a short dirt section.

That was followed by a climb that was substantially less fearsome than either the Middlebury or Brandon gaps (both out of the race due to Irene), but did role and step for a while, and deposited us into the face of a strong head wind as we headed back south. Knowing that I didn't stand much of a chance of being able to keep up with the climbers on the Baby and App gaps, I made an attempt to get up the road -- bridging to a CCB rider who apparently had the same thought. Unfortunately, the douche from JAM Fund/NCC who had the yellow jersey jumped onto my wheel, where he sat and refused to pull through, dooming our move (which didn't have much of a chance anyway) with his presence in the process. Oh well. Perhaps he didn't know that I was significantly down on GC?

Predictably, I got dropped on Baby Gap, then it started raining as I dragged my sorry ass to the finish.

Monday, by comparison, was much more successful: Once the stage was canceled, I had a nice lunch with Ben and Marcus from Round Here Racing, then drove home in on-and-off rain, and on-and-off traffic. All in all, a great weekend of racing!*

*Note the omission of any mention of the stage one time trial..