The Marblehead Race ... In Training

Sunday March 25 Swam at the JCC
Monday March 26 
Tuesday March 27 
Wednesday March 28 16.5 miles around Marblehead
Thursday March 29 Spin Class with Andrew at the JCC. Rode to class.
Friday March 30 Off
Saturday March 31 Rode 30.9 miles to Manchester. Cold weather
Sundy April 1 Rode 10 miles around Marblehead Neck. Watched the Michael Schott Memorial Circuit Race and Vito Visconte's race in the 4/5 category.
Monday April 2 Off day

Tuesday April 3 Spin class with Margie. Rode to class. Then rode 16.8 miles around Marblehead. Broke a spoke.
Wednesday April 4 Rode 19.9 miles around Nahant on Trek.

Marblehead Race

Michael Schott Memorial Circuit Race
Each year, I've watched like a doggie in the window the CCB circuit race around Marblehead Neck. A friend of mine, Bruce, used to race it. I would stand at the end of the causeway and watch the action. After attending MS GLOBAL last year, turns out I know the race director, GH! And, also this year, Vito, also from MS GLOBAL, was racing in the category 4/5s. For some reason, I couldn't sleep the night before, as if I were going to race. As if. But it turned out to be a beautiful day, though it was chilly at the start. It warmed during the race, and you could see some of the riders suffer as they had too much clothing on.
Vito did well. He hung up at the front of the pack until the end, before Dean Phillips of FitWerx2 in Peabody blew the doors off the pack in the last two laps. Geoff was busy pulling riders off the course to avoid them getting lapped. It got tense whenever SUVS full of "blue hairs" would meander through the course unaware there was a pack of bicycle racers about to sprint down upon them.
The way the course is set up, right up a steep climb near the finish, is pretty tough. That's where Vito hit the wall in the last stretch. Watching the race made me want to try and race, but it also made me realize that I would have probably been spit out the back and pulled off the course before the jig was up.

 

Race director Geoff gives the thumbs up on a perfect day  left
Dean Phillips, a co-owner of FitWerx2 in Peabody, easily wins the category 4/5 race. I think it's time he move up a notch, don't you!   bottom