2008 Gate City Cyclone Masters Team Report
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Conditions:
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Mostly sunny, dry and calm with temps in the lower 80’s. Overall, excellent weather.
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The Course:
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The course was a .75 mile circuit withing the park, around the baseball stadium. Pavement was generally in good condition and there was one mild uphill, lots of flat and a slight decline to the finish. There were six right turns and two left turns, one set being a sharp chicane.
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Results:
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NEBC had an impressive presence at the race overall but especially in the Masters field (mens 35+) with six taking the line.
- Tim Dodd – 7th
- Barry Greenberg – 12th
- Mike Rowell – 14th
- Jim Burke – 16th
- Peter Megdal – 41st
- Mark McMaster – DNF
http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2008/08/09-Gate-City-Cyclone-Criterium.asp
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Reports:
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[Tim Dodd]
NEBC had a great turnout for the Gate City Criterium Masters 35+ race, with Mike Rowell, Peter Megdal, Barry Greenburg, Jim Burke, and myself. This is a fast crit course featuring a minor hill/rise in it, a tight chicane and a very strategic last corner to a slight downhill finish.
The 68 man pack started reasonably with some minor first lap break attempts, then at the first prime, Mike Rowell put the hammer down making a huge gap to win some nice Giro sunglasses. The pack was motoring at 27mph the whole race, break after break would go off the front only to get swept up. Peter Megdal was very active getting into early breaks that looked good, but he was a marked man after last weeks win and the pack swept the breaks up quickly.
Riding hip to hip in the pack I decided to take a dig myself and hit it hard on the hill to get a gap, only one guy came with me, we traded leads a couple times when I
saw about 5 riders bearing down on us. This is what I was hoping for, a big break group. The five caught on only to sit up and let the pack reunite.
At the halfway point the a wheel prime was announced just as the pack was bearing down on a failing break group, Barry Greenburg was ahead of me on the wheel of two riders moving in on the break. I soft peddled to open a gap and nobody came around. The two leaders with Barry made contact with the break and hesitated, Barry punched it going up the hill to get a good gap. The pack swept up the break and suddenly everyone remembered this was a prime lap. I sat on a couple guys going after Barry, but Barry had his head down and used the gap to take the prime and a new wheel set.
With six laps to go, a group of roughly six riders dangling seconds in front of the pack and unwisely decided I should join them. I blasted off the front to bridge the gap and as I approached the group, I could see they were done, I sat up as well to see a thin line of riders bearing down on me. Scolding myself for wasting my energy for the finish, I drifted back for a couple laps. I had recovered somewhat but was well back in the pack. I took some risks with 3 to go on the top side of the course to force my way near the front.
On the last lap 3 CCB riders went to the front on the finishing straight and hammered it up the hill with Mike Norton, Sam Morse and others on their wheels. They cut the corners hard limiting chances of getting around them. There was some hip checking in the last corner forcing BOB’s John Grenier into the dirt, I stood on it after the corner, trying to catch someone, anyone, but I did not get anybody and one guy snuck past me at the finish putting me in 7th place.
Barry G came in just out of the money in 12th, Mike Rowell and Jim Burke closely following in 14th and 16th. Peter Megdal took it easy for a pack finish.
It was great to have a such a strong and active NEBC Masters bunch to race with.
Racing is fun,
Tim
[Barry Greenberg]
Congrats to all for a strong team showing in the Masters. And to the ladies for total domination. And to PeterB and PeterS for hanging tough in the Pro race and placing Peter Bradshaw 8th.
M35+: Fast race. F – A – S – T. When John Mosher says it was fast, it was fast. (Over 27 MPH) A fun course close to Boston and a nice day? Everyone came out and the field was more than double the pre-reg (59 starters). I finally got to the front when they called a preme: the big halfway preme of a Bontrager wheelset(!), so I surged away from the field and up to a little group that foolishly hesitated when they caught up to Sam Morse, so I jumped around them, thinking “This is gonna hurt – a lot!” By the top of the hill I had 75m and then just put my head down and took the shortest line around the course. It was a 4-deep preme, so there was a big charge to the line and I was relieved to hang on for the preme win. The max effort for 1:45 left me gasping near the back for a bunch of laps slowly recovering – the race was so relentlessly fast I barely had time to get back up to the front with 2 to go, hold position in the top 10 as the aggression mounted, then get to the line with the little I had left. I was officially scored as 12th, but actually took 10th: I counted riders ahead just after the line and was definitely 3 behind Tim Dodd in 7th (Nice!) The camera operator must have misread my number 478 and the 475 they listed as 10th. They paid 10 deep but I didn’t catch the error until after the 15-minute protest period because I was racing the P/1/2/3 immediately following… oh well.
[Mike Rowell]
What a fun race. Great course and excellent weather. After watching the women dominate we lined up as a real, honest to goodness team. Wow!
Off the blocks the pace rocketed. The course was fast and everyone was raring to go. A few laps in I was moving up on the outside at the start/finish when they announced a prime. I figured that I was already moving up easily so just go for it, so I sprinted out. Almost nobody responded so I kept my head down and rode for broke. A couple turns for the finish straight I could see one CCB ride a ways back so I gave it all I had and snagged the prime for some sweet Giro sunglasses. To my surprise there was a big gap. What the heck, go with it. I slowed a bit to get the CCB ride then picked it back up when he attached. We worked together for a couple laps but realized it was lunacy at that point in the race so faded back.
From there the team started covering moves and I think we had someone either in or chasing down almost everything. We were real players. Barry killed it for the mid race prime and grabbed a new set of wheels. Tim was all over the place as was Jim, whose back seems to be doing much better, and Peter who in now typical fashion tryed to break away at least once. The pack now knows that trick so was having none of it.
The last lap was MAYHEM chasing Bill Y. from NBX, who had gone solo and everyone else positioning for the sprint to get to the final corner before the finish. People were getting mugged and it was a street-brawl for position but we all managed to clump together toward the front after the final turn and sprint like mad for the line.
Tim is right, racing (especially with a team)is fun. Unfortunately, Mark M. wasn’t feeling terribly smurfy and was forced to withdraw from the fun.
[Jim Burke]
This was only my 4th race this year due to an extended period of “getting back into shape” after son #2 arrived. I took the same tactic as I did the week before in Concord, hide the first half, use as little effort as needed to move to the front & see what happens in the sprint. With the pace of the race & knowing my fitness level, I didn’t spend too much time near the front, did aid in some chase-downs & watched Mike, Barry, (Todd & Peter?) all collect primes. Nice wheels Barry. Did a pretty good job holding my position through 1 to go, but got tangled up with Tom Stevens through the chicane & lost about 5 places which I just couldn’t recover on the downhill finish (Topping out at about 40mph) ended up 16th.