(WIP , again, to give this some headway time- it’s a very fast and busy week, and with #exeterclassic tonight ain’t nobody waiting for all of the pictures to appear before posting)
Let's talk about this picture:
Thank you soooo much Katie Busick. I could write a novel about how everything is perfect in this shot and how difficult it is to create it
The hardest bit about bike racing are the tangible takeaways. All day you can talk about the negative effects of training, the high barrier to entry and the brutal crashes. It's not fun, and as an athletic hobby it's not for everyone. Even if you're cool with all of that, it's still important to sit with yourself and recognize why do you like lining up every race. There are a lot of intrinsic benefits to racing bikes, and the ones that keep me coming back are:
-the thrill of the (calculated) risk
-pushing the limit
-sharing that with others
As great as all of those are, they're intangible. I'd stop risking my body on two square inches of rubber if I could perfectly crystallize that mood, - that's at least one benefit of writing about how races unfold. That and pictures, especially because watching a race as a spectator is difficult. It's in a large part why I scrounge the digital world for bike racing pictures, and half of why I put up with social media
I've been coming to Fitchburg every year since 2015. I had no idea about its storied past in American Bike Racing History - to me, what mattered most was I living back home at my first real job and I had a little extra money to pay for this slightly-more-expensive race. It was still soon enough after college that I was figuring out how to have a social life— so I sent a group message to all of my collegiate racing buddies (the other benefit of social media!) saying we should all meet in Fitchburg that day
That rainy Sunday, some friends came only to watch, three of us raced in the semi-amateur field, I finished behind some kid with an insulin pump, we ate pizza at Espresso's and I gave away the rest of the homemade brownies to the spectators in the beer garden
The race is hard. It takes place on a hill, with the start/finish line about four-fifths the way up, leading into a hairpin that turns downhill. After about a thousand feet of accelerating descends, there's a gentle S- bend that is perfect to take at high speed. The bottom of the hill comes to flat wide road that runs for another thousand feet before pinching into two tight uphill turns. The road then widens up again as it goes forward twelve hundred feet up false flats and uphills to the finish (and then you do it again!)
Overall, it makes for a difficult course. Half because every inch punishes you for even thinking about slowing down and killing momentum. The other half because the roads are so wide, shrinking and widening to the final two normal-width corners throws off packs of racers. You can armchair theorize how to perfectly ride this, but remember this is the semi-amateur field: if everyone could execute as well as they imagined, we'd all win and solve cancer, politics and climate change in the same afternoon
National Criterium Champion Emma White, leading the women’s Pro Race. If someone’s going to all of that, she’s our best bet. Photo by Katie Busick
Afterward that 2015 race, like after almost every race, someone would ask me how my first time at Fitchburg went. I didn't know yet how to articulate or value my experience beyond saying what place I got. It was never "first" and it wasn't this time, so people would shrug and change the topic. But that was a shiny new memory of friends and bikes, and it was enough to want to come back next year
Every year I've had a different reason to specifically line up at Fitchburg, and also gotten an interesting memory
2015, before: Just want to see the collegiate cycling homies!
First and only time hopping over a falling racer at speed (this is dumb you and should never attempt do this)
Think Taylor and I are the original collegiate homies that have showed up every year
2016, before: Thought that after ten years of racing meant I "deserved" a win! (so patently false)
Too timid after a head crash the day before and realizing I should work with a coach if I ever wanted that win
Forever that guy jamming to the music
2017:Willing to do anything and everything to get over a break up!
After doing this once halfway through the race, did it one more time for the final lap and crashed out the two racers tailing me
2018: Might as well use this sweet fitness I've built up while waiting for jobs to get back to me!
Best personal finish and FINALLY figured out how to ride every inch of the course efficiently and smoothly!
This one’s 2017, because apparently I avoided the camera in 2018. Photo by Jeff Cote
Took a long time to be honest with myself that the real reason I showed up every year was to race my bike as hard as possible and enjoy a beer with friends on outside while watching the pros go at it. How many other places can you do that!? Beverly and Haverhill, which are ALSO my favorite races! (why yes I have a lot of favorite races thanks for asking)
For this year, 2019, I had a couple more fun reasons to line up; new coach and I agreed this was my last major chunk of target road races before focusing on cyclocross and not-bike life; having the largest semi-amateur team presence in the largest field for the day; after spending years talking about this race to friends and having that being the impetus to wear Sunapee Flames and race bikes; and New England Crit Week
Just kidding, I wanted to race my bike as hard as possible and enjoy a beer with friends outside while watching the pros go at it
Seriously though, after a first season of having a significant number of teammates, we could actually do team things! Team talks! Team warm ups! Team tactics! Most of us haven't raced with more than a couple of teammates, so proper strategies were relatively new to us. This spring we tried some very specific plans with little outcome, so for this big race we agreed to "be ready" at two laps to go and try to string it out "at the right time." Apparently that was an exciting enough of a plan that Comrade_Zcientizt, having already raced in the amateur field, wanted to double-up in the semi-amateur field with us
Sound vague? It is in part because no good plan survives first contact with the enemy, and the enemy in this case is not getting dropped from the pack or crashing. A good plan covers and plans for every contingency. A _great_ plan has target primary and secondary goals, and capable people that improvise. Which is basically what I quick highlighted to Comrade_SweetSkills as all seventy racers lined up
Interestingly enough, Comrade_Sweet_Skills was the insulin pump kid I finished right behind back in 2015. Sometimes it's a wonderful small world
Whistle goes and we're racing. And racing. And racing. We hit a couple of speed personal records for the first few laps, and the pace settles a bit. These days semi-amateurs are more fit and have the internet to study up on race craft. It's no excuse for instincts or handling skills, but you could pick up some basics: everyone knew to coast the uphill hairpin and avoid brakes at the bottom. Today, it was clear that everyone's general plan was a similar sort of, "stay calm until later"
If you've never ridden in a criterium, there are a lot of great written accounts of what the experience is like. In a sentence, you can imagine it as a mosh pit concert with more harmony and a hell of a lot more confusion. And it's still physical exertion bit, so it's also painful and harder to focus. At the semi-amateur level, the overall skill level is enough at the basics to handle things when it's easy but it's not a guarantee of how racers will react to sudden shifts
Another day I'll expand more on what all of this means and a play by play of how a race plays out, but today this story and the team talk was all about "being ready" at two laps to go
And it's going well! There are some typical nerves that I get with racing, and I had extra because of so many teammates to be worried about. We're grown-ups - we signed up for worst, but nobody actually wants the worst to happen. Yet Comrade_Sweet_Skills, Comrade_Skimeister, Comrade_HuezLikeHup and Comrade_Zcientizt are all riding smooth and away from other troublesome riders. For a vague plan, it was looking nice
A little too nice though. The entire field is starting to look antsy. Nobody feels completely confident enough to drive a break off the front, and everyone feels too fresh. Riders start getting twitchy. A couple start yelling at each other as the front of field widens and we cram against into one broad strip. Comrade_SweetSkills draws next to me at the flat run and asks, "WHAT'S THE PLAN"
"THE PLAN IS-"
Wait
After these bottom two corners the lap counter will read two to go
Never before in a race have I had this many teammates. Who knows when I would have many again near the end of a race
"THE PLAN IS TO BE READY NOW. WE'RE GETTING YOU TO THE FRONT"
Comrade_SweetSkills moves in behind as the field funnels into the first corner, going from fifteen wide to ten. After spending the whole race relaxing on this section, I start ramping it up and we float up the street, moving past the back half of the field as it pinches from ten to five wide. Manage to maintain enough speed out of the last corner and the pack goes from five to three wide. Forty riders up I can see two teammates sitting near the front: at the most ready spot while doing the least amount of work
Start/finish line is about a half mile up still. It'll read two to go. Everyone will be in full fight or flight mode then
"STILL THERE"
"KRAMER, GO"
Moving up along a fast pack within the slipstream is simple enough. Towing a teammate at the fastest speed possible while not dropping them is an art: Comrade_SweetSkills has been racing about as long as I have, and it’s almost rehearsed as we do it . At one hundred feet to the line we're nearly at the front as everyone is strung out single file all along the stretch
Ten riders from the front I can see it's Comrade_Skimeister and Comrade_HuezLikeHup sitting staggered in fourth and sixth wheel. Perfect. I nudged a spot in the line to make space for Comrade_SweetSkills in eighth position. So many teammates, and they're exactly where they need to be
"KRAMER I'M GOOD"
The front couple of riders slow a bit, and without looking you could feel the rest of the field starting to come around. behind. In another moment we'll get swarmed and lose any advantage from moving up so far
Lap counter in the distance flickers from red hexideicmal three to two
"KRAMER I'M GOOD"
There's a bit more panic the second time Comrade_SweetSkills says this: he can sense what I’m thinking, he's trying to tell me to not do it
I'm aware. I'm also aware that as the biggest team here, five out of seventy was the best odds of winning for the day. Four out of seventy will be good enough
Thirty feet to the start/finish line and I move in front and for the first time all day I drive the pace. If someone has a picture of me here grinning and waving fingers for "two to go," I'd really appreciate it
At the start/finish line it's two to go and everyone starts panicking as for the first time all day we keep accelerating into the hairpin. This is new to everyone, and they don't know quite how to respond. I can sense a few racers jump in behind on my wheel as I keep speeding up the hill
"KRAMER GO"
No idea who's saying this. It’s thankfully not my teammates: they’re sitting smart and waiting for any suckers to jump with me. As for the random shouting, it's a common tactic to shout encouragement at someone in front of you in hopes of panicking them off their gameplan into doing extra work
Too bad that was the plan. Strava shows we're pedaling hard and it’s the fastest we've gone all day up and around the hairpin. Instead of coasting, I keep flicking through gears to find the best one to sprint on, and bobble my balance while standing on the pedals on top of Fitchburg
"KRAMER GO"
My favorite bit about this picture is Katie literally finds that perfect moment in my fifth Fitchburg race where I find the gear that feels right, seat myself back down and yell back to seventy screaming racers "BUCKLE UP" as we punch it into the downhill
Thanks again so much for this shot, Katie Busick. Sorry, Little_Jam, looks like you were first sucker there
Best Fitchburg memory ever
Then ten seconds pass and my legs finally give way after seventy seconds of bringing my teammate to the best position and I have to peel off
And then the field fills the road width. Again. Most positions are reshuffled but three Sunapee teammates manage to maintain the good position in the field. At this point I'm really done. Heart rate had spiked as high as I could allow it, and my body was screaming that was enough
Good news is so’s everyone else: We go by the lap counter for the final lap and half of the field is cross-eyed and too gassed to focus properly for the last two minutes of racing left
The front forty racers bomb the descent and then there’s the worst kind of screaming, the one of pain and breaking bikes. Apparently a clumsy racer leads into the first uphill corner and loses control: I'll see him later sitting on a stretcher with his forehead sliced open and fitted for a neck brace. Unfortunately Comrade_Skimeister gets hit in the chaos and also crashes. Comrade_Zcientizt ends up riding into the back end of the chaos and goes down: thankfully they both get back up. Comrade_SweetSkills loses a couple positions avoiding the carnage and a few more as he contests the finish sprint. He's had a lot of Fitchburg races and a lot of good results, and he ends up getting his best Fitchburg result for the day
For me, no results. Again
Check up on teammates to make sure they’re good. Nobody needs a hospital and nothing’s broken. Perfect
I drag as many of them as I can plus some more to the beer garden on course and buy them all a round as thanks for coming out. For some of them, that’s their first Fitchburg memory: Hope it was a good one
Katie Busick is probably so confused that there’s no pictures of me with some tongue out- sorry, #necritweek is serious business
