Concord 30th Annual Criterium

The Concord trip brought some excitement to the WOE racers this past weekend, seeing it meant the void of races was no more (several races already on the schedule for the upcoming weeks). However, they were not to excited about the 4 hour drive to get to Concord, NH. So naturally they planned around this and went down the night before, in two different groups. Jeff/Tim to Tim’s brother’s and Bruce/Ashton to a hotel in Concord. Each group had it’s own little excitement, with Jeff and Tim getting lost on some dirt roads (at 10:30pm) which pretty much led to no mans land, but through the use of 2 GPS’s they were able to make it to their destination okay. Ashton and Bruce didn’t leave Plattsburgh until late in the evening and made it to Concord around 2am, only to be quickly awakened by a fire alarm at their hotel at 4am. Needless to say they were both a little tired the next morning, at least Ashton was fashionable in slippers.

Tim and Jeff were the first at the course and quickly picked out a strategic parking location for the team, near a parking lot and pretty much in front of a café. Things got interesting quickly as Jeff saw a car going backwards on the course almost wiping out a few cat 55+ members, while Ashton and Bruce saw a car back over someone’s bike.

Concord Criterium map and profile. (20 laps, 56ft elevation gain/lap)

Cat. 4 Race

After warming up by the cars Tim, Ashton, and Jeff spun around a little more and got acquainted for a few other racers and individuals working the race. Soon they were called for staging, but found out that all the other racers were there already. Tim soon pointed out a whole and got the team in a better position for the start. On the first lap there was almost a crash simply because the back of the field could not see the narrowing of the road and a few riders almost crashed, Jeff included.


*our pace car, lasted all day without having to fill up once!!*


Thing were going pretty smoothly until we had to move up in the field. Jeff didn't realize he was in his small ring and spun himself to death trying to catch move up. He was soon dropped on the 8th lap or so, but then followed the motto "never quite, never stop trying." Ashton and Tim took on the rest of the race pretty well staying near the front. Everything was going prefect. Ashton was riding like a champ and Tim was helping him by coaching him into positions and giving him some room to move around. Unfortunately the last lap ended this perfect day. A most likely inexperienced rider, or just a reckless one, took a line that wasn't there and caused Ashton to crash. Ashton himself made it out alright, but his front wheel just will never be the same. Tim luckily made it around the crash and represented WOE well with a 10th place finish.

Cat 3 Race


*Bruce at the starting line, for the first time in a long time*


Bruce went into the race with a game plan and that is what he stuck to. He knew what wheel he needed to be on and that where he was for most of the race, with his opponents marking him as well. It was a fast pass race and everything seemed to be going smoothie with no crashes and no one really causing too much trouble on the course.


*Bruce holding his position around turn 6*

There was a small break away of at the most two riders for a very short time due to prim laps causing the field to bring them back. For the most part about 90% of the time the field was together, the pace just causing the field to stretch out. With about 5 laps to go the announcer of the race predicted a final bunch sprint and that is exactly what happened. The field came around the final turn and racers started sprinting away. However, some started to early and died off, while toward the finish line three racers remained in the hunt. Bruce was among them, in 2nd/3rd position. The winner came in a second or two before Bruce, but with an epic throw of the bike, Bruce was able to take second. Not bad for his 1st race back sense Syracuse.

*Bruce just sneaking in there for 2nd place*

After the race the team went to a well-known Mexican restaurant “Margaritas.”. The restaurant historically was a prison, but now serves amazing food (pretty sure the team gave it 5 stars). They piled into their little 6ftx6ft jail cell, reminisced about the race, ate some great food, and probably made their waitress think they were crazy.




DAY 2 APP. GAP TRAINING!

Do to some busy schedules and recent lack of sleep, the team decided to sleep in...until 7:30am. After meeting up they ran around White River Junction for a while looking for a good place for breakfast, and oh did they find the mother load. The Farmers Diner in Quechee, VT (another 5 star experience). Everything pretty much homemade and serving sizes out of the world. To say the least everyone was full.

Once the team arrived at the base of App. Gap, the ride planning took place. Originally it was suppose to be a 60 mile ride, but with individuals having to get back, it was shortened to just 25. But the 25 miles were no joke, it was pretty much climb the back side and then turn around and climb the front side (side GMSR will be going up).

APP GAP Training Course and Profile!

Jeff took his time going down the decent and checked the roads and profile a little bit, before he climbed it, only to find himself left behind. So once again Jeff almost screwed up the ride because there was a "T" intersection and he had no idea which way his teammates had gone. Eventually he found a man mowing his lawn and asked if he had seen a few riders, the man kindly said yes and pointed him in the right direction. Soon after Tim, Bruce, and Ashton came back to see where the heck Jeff was. Reunited they pedaled a little further into Jerusalem and then decided to make the trip back up the mountain.

They chilled out at the top for a minute or two and talked about the climb, then started our final decent. Mainly due to the fact that someone somewhere was enjoying the view from the top with a little wacky tabacy. The decent was fast and probably wore out a few break pad, but all in all it was a great ride and an important one. Back at the cars team WOE celebrated the only way team WOE knows how to celebrate. With a six pack!!!!!!!





Next stop the NY Capital Region RR (Saturday Aug. 14)!!!!!!!!!!!