Stage 1 WMSR [Men's Cat4] - Michael Rowell 7-19
What a turnout for the stage 1 individual time trial at the Working Man’s Stage Race in Amesbury, MA last night! NEBC/Cycle Loft jerseys as far as the eye could see. The Cat4 field is nearly full with 56 starters for the night on what it would be hard to describe as anything but absolutely oppressive weather. Temps at start time were still well in the 90’s with humidy at least as high and air quality in the hazardous range and a moderate breeze starting to pick up along the course.
Being a regular at the CBTT I was hoping for some good results. I’d pre-ridden the course and was optimistic going in. The course was rolling with a couple of little rises and one good sized climb. Once on course I got moving well and felt pretty good until I started the 1st slight down (what I expected to be a really fast fart of the course) which was in a wide open field and hit a strong cross wind. From here I could see my 30 second man and spent the next couple miles trying to reel him in. I caught finally caught him about 3 miles out but that was the last person I saw.
Throughtout the race I felt as though I was struggling which, in hindsight I guess, I always do in a TT.
To my surprise when the results came in I finished better than I thought and saw my name listed in 4th position. Tonight we have the circuit race and look forward to some cooler temps and overall better weather. NEBC has a ton of talent in the Cat4 field so I’m sure we can look forward to some good NEBC results being posted for tomorrow.
One note, I happened to speak briefly with the winner last night. He put in a TT time that was a full minute ahead of the #2 person and 1:18 ahead of me and also had the 3rd fastest time overall. He was saying how he’d just got into road racing from Triathlons and was recently denied a category upgrade because although he had ample points, he didn’t have enough race experience. I suspect he is the man for us to watch closely this evening.