Boston Harbor Circuit Race

At the very least, I looked good. The Boston Harbor Circuit Race is short enough (30 miles for Masters C, five 6-mile laps) that I was able to break out the long-sleeve skinsuit for the first time, and it felt awesome. I was hoping that the sweet duds would give me a little extra mojo for the race.

It was a beautiful day for a race: mid-60s, dappled sunshine through the wooded roads. I noticed driving in that the final stretch was narrow; at 1200 meters to go, you turned from a wide-shouldered highway to a shoulderless narrow strip of macadam, so you really wanted to be up front before you turned in.

I was a little late getting to to the line, so I began from my customary spot near the rear of the pack, figuring that I'd take the first lap to scope out the good passing areas, then make my way up through the race. That aforementioned wide-shouldered highway was great; it started with a big downhill, then a big uphill to the final straight. I could zoom down on the shoulder, then crank up the hill, grabbing places in chunks.

I felt pretty good, so I marked my areas the first lap, then jumped up a handful of spots for the next few laps till I was up in the top 10-15 for the fourth lap, and moved up a little more for the fifth lap. I was still feeling strong, and I wanted to stay really close to the front, because that is what had worked for me at Tour de Dung, and I hoped to employ the same strategy.

I stayed in the top 5 or so until the final descent on the highway; I bombed it down (Derik would have been proud, although there was no actual handling prowess needed) and cranked it back up, one of the first couple into the straight. Unfortunately, my left calf, which had cramped up at Seward last week, was putting in an encore performance. Screw it, who needs a calf?! I was able to hang with the top 5-6 guys and recover for a couple hundred meters, but now I'm in the 2nd row. Crap. I really want to be leading all these guys out to make them pass me, I sure can't outsprint them from behind. I should have migrated over to the yellow line so I could at least go wide at 200, but there's a Cucina next to me now. We're at about 800 meters, no one is speeding up and I'm itching to find a way through - there's another Cucina guy (one of a dozen) riding the narrow shoulder, so unless I'm in the weeds there's no way through there. 500 meters and no one has sped up yet; if anything we're more crunched together. Okay, once everyone goes, maybe I can swing up between the Fanatik guy on the line directly in front of me and the Cucina guy. Still, everybody's waiting for the sign; the pack has caught up behind us, and no one has pushed the pace. Finally we hit the sign, everybody goes - except the guys right in front of me. I almost rear-end them as they ramp it up perhaps 2 mph as the floodgates open on the left and guys go streaming by. I'm completely boxed in, and lose at least 20 spots in the last 150 meters.

That was a bit frustrating, as I was sure I had myself up for at least top ten, maybe top five, but I'll chalk it up to a learning experience that will serve me next time. I had a fun time, was able to race how I wanted (well, except for that last half-mile), and had a good workout on a gorgeous day. What more could I ask for? (Other than a state championship medal?) :)