Men's 3 and Women's Boloco Heartbreak Hill 7-1-08
Team Results
Scott Brooks 6th
John Broussard 14th
Mark Theeman 24th
Brooke O’Connor 25th
Sally Annis 37th
Dave Chiu 39th
Rebecca Wellons 42nd
Justin Howe 45th
Greg Roubidoux 49th
Tami Buhr 50th
Susanne Delaney 51st
Greg Brown
Sam Dery
Natalie Dumont
73 starters
Justin Howe my race report: i missed clipping in quickly at the start….and never got into the front where the smoother part of the race was. during the race i frustratingly spent my matches in the mid pack accordion instead of participating with the team up front like i planned to. 45th place finish, and not happy with it.
John Broussard
I think most of us were very excited about this race, being so close to home. I arrived there at 10:30 to cheer some friends on running the road race, so i just rolled around for a few hours chattin with greg brown, mike delrossi, ect. Registration finally opened up, and we held the team meeting. Nothing special, just the usual aggressive riding, covering breaks, attacking and do not chase teamates down. The course was fun, a few tight corners, and the one annoying hill into the wind.
I got a decent start, got clipped right in, and was top 20-30. I never saw a crach, or was threatend by a close-one. i saw a few small groups try to go off the front, but nothing ever stuck. I did not really no when to go, or if i should. finally with 2-1/2 to go on the hill i got a good spot on the right, and gave it a go, hopeing i could take someone with me. Unfortunatly nobody came with, so i gave it a go, and made to the start/finish with a gap. However coming around, i hit the head wind, and it just knocked me down. It could have to do with a tough race in providence saturday, and also that i was being chased. Combination of multiple variables i guess. From there i dug deep to hold on, got a good wheel in the sprint, but didn’t have much to go as fast as others.
Good job by scotty b. finishing 6th, and the laddies for jumping in to race with us. Alway’s fun to ride with them.
Julian Gent
Almost crashed at the beginning then had trouble clipping in. Had no trouble going from the back to front in the first lap. Was at the front for a while then dropped back to John B. Half way through ran out of water hanging out for an hour and half in the sun had taken its toll. Two laps to go I started shivering so sat up. Felt pretty good throughout the race until I got dehydrated. Note to self carry two bottles.
Greg Brown
Similar story to Julian’s. I’d been hanging out in the sun even longer. The race was fast and fun (and less sketchy that anticipated) up until lap 7 when stomach cramps hit… Game over!
Dave Chiu
Going in to the race, the team plan was to play it aggressive, it has worked well for us before especially in a race this short… the Myles Standish Circuit Race comes to mind. Heartbreak Hill wasn’t particularly tough, and there wasn’t really any other features on the course that would really split the field for good. But plenty of little turns that could make it possible to sneak away and out of sight… at least until you hit either Heartbreak Hill or the finishing straight.
I was pretty nervous for this race seeing how narrow the first section of the course was, full of 90 deg turns, road furniture, and freshly patched pavement, but chatting with some other racers eased my nerves a bit “think of it like a crit, if this were a crit course, those things would be nothing, so why should this be any difference?” Toeing up to the line, the women racing in the field got a front row call up and we were off, fast into the pedals and went hard for that hole shot (didn’t get it, but hitting that area at the front is certainly better than in the field), the narrow portion of the course turned out to be okay, double file through the first part, and single file through the area where the road furniture pinches in a bit.
I spent most of the race sitting in the top 10 or so, trying to look for a good move to go with, several strong guys rotated through and we’d often open up a small gap but nothing that stuck, Heartbreak Hill was deceptively long and the head wind didn’t make it any easier, any gaps that occurred before Heartbreak Hill were closed on the hill, and any gaps that formed on the hill were closed on the long fast run-in to the finish line.
Three laps to go Broussard made a strong move on Heartbreak Hill, but that head wind didn’t help him at all, coming thru the start-finish for 2 to go, he still had a gap on us and the field was chasing hard.
In the end, I paid for wasting so much energy on the defense… I was on Scott Brooks’ wheel as we were flying down the finishing straight when he started to gap me and I simply close it! Looking back I saw competitors from a rival team on my wheel, so I figured I’d really gap it and give the front group of 10 (including Scott) a better chance, so I eased up a bit and began to soft pedal. The gap opened up and the field surged around me, I coasted in just after the field.
Scott Brooks
For the past several years I’ve raced Cox Classic the week before Fitchburg. It’s always been a very high profile race that was in downtown Providence. The course was direclty across from the uber-mall and the State House. For several reasons, the course was moved and categories changed from a straight 3 to a 2/3 and included a pretty nasty hill. This year a new race was introduced in Newton and offered a chance to replace my beloved Cox Classic.
When I showed up to register, I was notified that the earlier running race had started late, which pushed the bike races back an hour and 15 minutes. Not a great start to a new race. Regardless, I registered and dressed, then took my bike to the course to preview it. It featured four 90 degree turns before entering the famed Heartbreak Hill of the Boston marathon for three quarters of a mile before snaking around the hospital and descending back to the start. The finishing straight was over a half mile run in with major speed.
At the start line, I weaseled my way to the front line and with Richard Fries calling the race, heard what I thought was a weird comment from Richard “The finishing line has no banner, so racers will be struggling to know exactly where the line is” Um, Richard, there’s a big blue tent and a mess of people at the finish, how’s that difficult to miss?
With instructions from the officials completed, the racers were off. I quickly found a place about five riders back and held my position through the first lap. As the laps wore on, I focused on holding to my position on the downhill, climbing controlled on Heartbreak Hill and moving to the front through the snaking section before descending again. This strategy worked very well, in fact late in the race I commented to Dave to drink, and realized that I was speaking in a regular voice, not one that was strained from racing.
With three laps to go, Paul Curley moved up towards the front and I decided to hold his wheel to the finish. Regardless of what happened, Paul would find the line at the finish. The pace jumped on the final lap and everyone got strung out. Turning right onto the descent, Paul was in the front five and I was sitting a couple back, just where I wanted to be. As expected, a surge of riders moved forward, and I rode them to the front. With 500 meters to go to the line the pace was in the high 30’s, I was just behind Paul and to the right. Paul went left to sprint for the finish. Boxed out from Paul, I went right and to the line. Very quickly I realized that I was spinning out my 53×12 at 122rpm’s and unable to stand to sprint. I remained seated and looked for the line. All I could notice was the amazing number of cross walks and stop lines. WHERE THE HECK IS THE FINISH LINE??? I continued to hammer for the line and crossed sixth. Regardless of where the line was or who I followed, I couldn’t have pedaled any faster. A great finish to a great day!!!