Plainville Spring Series #1 & Bethel Spring Series #2

PLAINVILLE 

The team always looks forward the Plainville series and it was an up and down type opening day.

Peter Kenny unfortunately crashed in the Cat3\4 race and fractured a couple of bones. He will be out for a few weeks.

Dillon, in his first race of the year, was able to take 6th in the finish of that race, 3rd in the field sprint.

In the Masters Race, Antonio and Bruce held tough for the duration against an impressive field. Antonio was able to pick up a valueable upgrade point with his 6th place sprint finish. Nicely done!

In the 123 event, Tim, Hunter and Joe did their best to be involved in all the moves. The race was controlled by full CCNS and Northampton Cycling Club squads. Tim and Hunter got into the best break of the day, but it was too crowded, and was eventually brought back with a few laps to go. Tim hung tough up front and managed to score 5th place in the field sprint.

BETHEL

Only a few out for the team today. Hunter, Bruce and Antonio made it 2 days in row. Miguel and Dave LaRue were also out. Antonio finished top 20 in the Masters race. Hunter got into a break in the opening laps but was caught in 2 laps. Shortly after that, 2 pro's, one from Team Type 1, snuck away and quickly rode off the front, making it a race for 3rd in the field. 6 laps later Hunter bridged up to a big break that had 13 guys in it. That break would get to about 30 seconds up on the peleton but 45 down from the 2 leaders. The chase group stayed off the front for almost the entire rest for the race. It would be caught with 4 to go and Hunter had to settle for midpack finish for the 2nd week in a row.

Ronde de Bethel - Bethel Spring Series

The team had an ok showing at the season opener in Bethel.

Antonio, Miguel, new team member Dave Larue, Monty, Hunter and Tim were out.

No one had great results, although Tim picked up 13th in the 123 race along with a couple of primes.

Everyone is looking forward to the Plainville opener on Saturday.

The race season is coming up quick

It doesn't take much to get us excited for the new racing season when the end of February is in sight. Today it was seeing Joe K on the podium of 2011's race in the official Nutmeg Games announcement email.

New England Regional Cyclocross Championships

Day 1

35+ Race

Tim rode a smokin race! He stayed in a super fast group all race long and was leading the chase group in third place going into the bell lap. A couple of small mistakes during that last lap cost him the podium but he hung on to finish 6th place. A good amount of footage of Tim can be watched here.

 Day 2 

Elite Men

Tim, who never races at any speed other then "full", went back up in the super cold for day 2 and the Elite Race. He finished 13th place. Report coming soon.

Here's Tim chuggin thru the sand pit. Day 2

Cat 3 

Cosmo had a great race. Finishing well in the money at 5th. Great finish to his super long season.

Limestone Cross at the Kiln - Atlantic Regional Championships

Cat 2,3

     Hunter takes the win! Hunter took the hole shot and never looked back. The course was mostly grass with an couple of intense, steep uphill sections. One set of barriers was the only time off the bike. Plenty of rain during the week made most of the grass sections super soft and slow. There were lots of tight, twisty, slick turns... Some of which stayed in the shade all day and had a layer of ice on them.
     Hunter was able to carefully pick his first lines thanks to the holeshot and after the first lap he had a narrow 3 bike gap over 2nd place. He hammered out a fast second lap, putting several seconds into his lead and he continued to extend it out to about 20 seconds over the next few laps. He rode the last lap carefully, which let the chaser get back a bunch of time but Hunter still rolled across the line with a safe margin. An impressive wire to wire win....
 Hunter closes out his long season with a shiny Gold medal from the Atlantic Region Championships.
He also ends the MAC series Cat2,3 in 6th place. Pretty good seeing as how he only did half the races in the series.

SalvageCross

Men's Open

    After hemming and hawing over whether or not to go due to lack of training, slight cold, and just plain old holiday-time laziness, Joe K decided at the last minute to race Salvage cross race in Manchester. He lined up with the Men's open class, a small field of only 14 riders but with the likes of Todd Bowden (Canadian National Champion!) and some other fast cat 1/2's it was no easy race. Conditions were great, sunny 40's for the start.
    The course was super technical, lots of "S" turns, many off camber sections, a tough steep hill run up, and few long grass straight sections. Joe got a good start in the second row and was in the top 5 heading into the first corner, he stayed with a group of three for the first two laps. After that the gaps started opening up with a solid 30-60 seconds between all the leaders. Joe rode a clean race without any mistakes and held a solid pace all race long to finish 7th. Great way to close off the season

Cat 4

Sean takes 15th place from a big field in Manchester. Well done! Report coming soon.

Geler Votre Cul Cyclocross

Cat 2,3

The Votre Cul course was on fairgrounds in Eastern Maryland just over the Delaware state line. The course itself had a lot of different features and was long. Lap times were about 8 minutes for the 2,3 field. I was lined up first row because a couple of the regular series racers weren't there. I got the holeshot off the line but was passed a few turns later by one rider. He was going good and got a bit of a gap but I kept him right there. The rest of the field was close behind. The first time thru the steep ride up guys dabbed behind me which let me loose in pursuit of the 1st place rider. A short while later he faded and I caught and passed him. Soon after that though Alex Bremer, who is the leader of the series caught and passed me. I stayed close to him but He was gaining on every straight power section. I would make back time on the technical sections but it wasn't enough to bring him back.

2nd place for the day.

The Ice Weasels Cometh

The Ice Weasesl race has become New NEgland's informal season ending race party and there is always a good time to be had there. plenty of fans and racers braved the cold temps to either close out the season or make sure those that were going onto Nationals, New England Championships, or any other last races got in a good workout

Cat 1,2,3 & 35+ 

Tim and Larry entered the masters race, which was raced along with the Cat1-3's. It made for an interesting race and Tim struggled a bit but still finished a solid 16th place out of 70 starters. Larry got in at 48th but we bet he was taking beer hand-ups during the race.

Tim, banging out a
good race.

Cat 3 

Cosmo rode hard and pulled out all the stops to get the victory in this race. He probably ended up sacrificing a solid chance to get 3rd place in his "I'm all in" approach, but ain't nothin wrong with that. He takes 4th on the day and looks to continue with a good ride at the New England Championships at Fitchburg next week.

NBX G.P. of Cross

SATURDAY

Master 35+

Tim and Larry ! The dynamic Masters duo!
Tim finally gets a good call up and makes good on it! He had enough points scored to get a 2nd row call-up... 16th to be exact. He advanced on that as per usual and fought up to 3rd place during the first lap. Tim has been getting better and better all season long ( his first full CX season ) . He had to settle back into a group fighting for top 10. Tim got caught out at the sprint finish and lost a spot to settle in at 11th. His best so far for the Verge Masters series. Larry also rode to a season best 22nd place in the race. Great job guys.

Cat 3

Cosmo found the Cat 3 \ Junior field to be a little chaotic. He went down in the sand run due to someone crashing into him and that put him out of the usual first couple of groups. He rolled in 32nd, ready to rock in roll the next day. Dave also raced Saturday and finished 66th.

SUNDAY

Elite Men

Hunter's "elite" racing season ended with Sunday's race. The tight, twisty course never has suited him well, and starting dead last again in the field of 48 was going to make it a challenging day. He rode a clean race, except for one instance of a rider hitting him during the beach run. 30th place on the day. Hunter will race the Cat2\3 race in NJ next weekend as his season ender.

Master 35+

Tim was back at it today, and he also found Sunday's course to be harder then Saturday's. He toughed it out tho and finished a solid 15th place. Tim now looks to have a good ride at Ice Weasels and then take a shot at bringing home a regional championship jersey in Fitchburg in 2 weekends.

Cat 3

Cosmo rode with a fire in the belly today and it showed. 15th place

Baystate Cyclocross, the Verge Series, Sterling MA

Saturday 

Elite Men

Hunter P started in the last row of about 40. He got up to about 25th midway thru the first lap but then crashed badly in a sandy corner. He rode on to the pit without the use of his front brake, switched bikes and managed to chase down 4 riders before getting lapped and pulled.

35+ 

Tim put the throw down and finished 15th place. He managed to avoid a first lap crash and chased down riders all race long to get up there.

Cat 3 Men

Cosmo was riding a different bike ( again ) for the Cat 3 race. This time he was more comfortable and finished a strong 16th place, just getting beat to the line by a young McCormack.

Sunday

35+ Race

Tim was joined by Larry today and the 2 were a bit tardy to the line. Tim didnt realize that would mean no chance of getting to his 3rd row callup and therefore started last row. Kudos to him anyway as he raged his way up another 14th place finish in the Verge Series 35+ men. Larry rode strong all race and finished 33rd.

Cat 3 Men

Cosmo takes 19th place but manages to get some coveted air time with the jersey on Cycling Dirt SWEET!