game over?

It doesn't hurt all the time, only when I stand on it. Not much bruising, but that will come. I'm praying for enough recovery to allow me to race Gloucester in three weeks. I promise to be good until then... promise. Here's the story...

Yesterday the whole family made the trip to Bedford for a new cross race at Middlesex Community College but upon arrival we discovered that the relatively small field (50) for the elite master's was full. I jumped on the 3/4 waitlist and 15 minutes prior to start, I got the call: I'm in.

Third row spot, but no big deal, this one doesn't really count. This race is training, time to try something new and/or stupid. It ain't Gloucester. At the gun I'm 9th or so into the first few turns and 6th by half way through lap 1. The speeds are low and I didn't want to be behind a crash on the loose peety run up with a quick transition to a bony peety downhill. I moved to the front and came through that section in the lead. Feeling less constrained by the pack, I set my own pace and was soon enough well off the front for the first 3-4 laps. A Cambridge Cycles rider came up and passed, I was tiring but noticed that only he, Rosenthal and Lynne Bessette were gaining. I couldl live with that. Rosey caught me next, and offered well wishes/condolences as he rode past. Bessette was on me with 2.5 to go and passed me at the S/F line, pulling me back up to Scott a bit. I was resting a little bit on her wheel and decided to get in front of her for the run up as she had bobbled it earlier and again I didn't want to get held up because someone else did something wrong... even though it was Lynne Bessette.

Off the bike to hurdle the barrier and start my run up when my right foot lands sideways on this rock trying to support all my weight. It rolls to the outside and I go down. Race over. Season over? Man that hurt. I crawl under the tape and the EMTs are there with ice, ace bandages and no ibuprofin. The rest of the day kind of sucked.

On a good note, Saturday the Zanconatos invited us to join them apple picking and we had a great time. Last time we all went apple picking it was late in the season and they just told us to gather some apples up off the ground. No thanks. These babies were perfect. It was a beautiful fall day but our bellies ached from eating too many apples.

new york

It is going to be a long fall, should I use up so many tokens just to watch Vervecken race in Long Island? I figure the wife will be worn out from cross well before Thanksgiving, and three days in NY won't help.

What the hell were they thinking with this photo?

Sucker Brook 2007

As race announcer Joel Brown said today "The New England Cross season is officially underway." Sucker Brook is simply the first real race of the year around here, and as good as it has been run in the past, they outdid them selves this year. New stairs and a bridge over the muddy dip, slightly longer laps due to more time spent riding the field, a better (ridable) path through the sand, stakes dressed with double tape and set into individual holes someone drilled into the asphalt, course crossing gates.... These guys invested some time into this event and it showed. Sucker Brook just joined Canton and the Verge races at the top of the schedule here in NE. Who drilled all those holes?! Incredible committment to improve this already great race!

Enough sucking up to the promoters...let's get to the racing and my first report of the year! I drove up early with Dr & Mr. Z for an early women's clinic to find the course similar to last year. The biggest difference for me was that they used much more of the field and set a straight shot through the sand. Also no barriers at 30 mph like last year. All good changes IMHO...

I lined up on the front row for the elite masters 35+ and had a great start, getting to the first turn 2nd or 3rd. There were some studs there and I felt pretty relaxed for a half lap hanging with the front group of 8 or so. I clipped a stake on the left hand 180 after the sand pit and lost contact with that group: I wasn't going to be able to stay with them for the full 45 minutes anyway. Those guys don't slow down... ever. I hovered around 9-10 going into lap 3, when the rear wheel goes soft right at the pit exit before the fields. I ran/rode to the other side and got a new wheel, then pulled back maybe 7-9 others to finish 21st. Not bad... the guy who told me I was going flat finished 12th, so in the end I really didn't loose that many places, but there were some guys ahead of me that are usually well back. (The winner of this race took 5th in the elite race later on.) But my day wasn't over...

Immediately afterward the master's race was the 3/4 and during the last lap of the elite master's I could see that those b@stards were already lined up three rows deep! I made my way down after crossing the line and settled in the back row. Another good but much more physical start: I passed a lot of guys and got to the first turns around 7th or so. The Huppers (MZ, SR, PVB, & JJ) were all right there and good friend KA was behind just a bit rocking the single speed. I was working just as hard as in the race before and my lap times were just a bit slower, but the front guys weren't riding away like they do in the master's race. It seemed like the group forming just ahead of me was composed of a different mix of the first 4-5 guys each time I looked up and they weren't going up the road very far. On lap 3 or 4 I noticed a Hup rider in the swamp and figured it was JJ right away. He had ridden the 4 race earlier and a series of mechanicals knocked him out of that race, so we had joked that he needed to find a way to finish a race. Well, there he was in the swamp surrounded by EMTs and getting strapped to a backboard. Great. I hoped that MZ and SR weren't thinking about their teammate too much because while they had gotten out ahead of me a bit earlier, I was bringing them back mid race. The next time around I was hoping to see 3 to go and when I saw it was 4 I took a bit of a mental hit. The legs were still turning but I was tiring from the day and they started to pull away. I was just a few seconds behind them and a few in front of Ziemba when I noticed my rear qr was unlocked. A quick stop to tie that down and wouldn't you know JZ and two others fly by. The Waterboy was coming up to, after winning the b master's earlier in the day. I ended up riding the rest of the race with JZ as the two others got away and stayed there and Waterboy seemed to drift back in the final two laps.

JZ & I worked together a bit... more to maintain our gap than make up ground I think. I tested him a bit on the s/f straight with a little sprint at two to go and he looked good. Crap. He flew by me easily in the woods on that lap but I brought him back and then passed him pretty easily in the sand pit when he bogged down a bit. I was thinking I shouldn't have shown him that speed just there, but he wasn't going anywhere so I knew we'd have a friendly but competetive battle on the last lap. At the bell I lead an easy pace up hill to see if he'd attack and when he didn't I felt relief because I was spent. I put in a little effort after turn one and he stayed with me. I kept the pace up through the field to keep him behind me before the stairs and over the barriers and then put in a defensive surge in the woods to prevent him from blowing by me like he had the lap before. One last sprint through the sand and he was still right there, getting through cleaner this time, but still just back maybe 4 bike lengths. Onto the pavement I gave it all I had and held him off for what turned out to be 10th. I congratulated him on a great battle and thanked him for a great race. Fantastic job Justin... Thanks again. SR & MZ ended up 6 & 7... excellent results. PVB was 4th, about what he should have done. He looked great. The first race was 8 laps and took 43 minutes which included a half of a lap running and time spent in the pit. The second race was also 8 laps and 43 minutes with the only mechanical a quick stop to set the quick release. That give you an idea of the difference in speed between the two.

Post ride I caught up with JJ who had been released from the board. He was fine but a bit woozy and sporting a nice shiner. That kid has a good disposition though and he'll be back. I pretty much spent the weekend with him, his friend Sara and the Zs... A great couple of days. Others spotted at SBC included Eyebob and his smokin' hot wife... I wish I had a few more minutes to talk to her! Wow... anyway... Waterboy as I said was riding well and RS rode a singlespeed for some reason. He must enjoy pain.

I'm so psyched the season has started and it was great to see you all.

Back to School

Can Europe be more Euro? They have track school for kids in Britain. We've got the NRA.


Sprint School is cool for kids | BikeRadar Gallery

That's "Mr. 30-39 men's sport Mass State Champion" to you...

Funny thing. Last night I decided to enter my first mtn bike race. I've been mtn biking since 1994 but never did a race. Long story short, the race was local (7 miles or so away) and was the Massachusetts State Championships. After a good start, two guys rode away and I ended up third. They were from CT, leaving me the first MA finisher. It was hot, dusty and very hard. One hour, 22 minutes w/an average HR of 173.

I'm having business cards made up tomorrow.

My buddy Zank didn't fare as well, he crashed half way through lap 2 of 3 and pulled out. I feel bad because I kind of guilted him into racing: today was supposed to be his day off.

Pan Mass Challenge Aug 3-5, 2007

My PMC started on Friday August 3, 2007 with a 40 mile ride from West Springfield towards the official start the next day in Sturbridge. I rode in memory of my aunt Judy and she lived in West Springfield, so I felt that starting there was more fitting.

Getting through Springfield was super sketchy but soon enough I was in Wilbraham on much quieter roads. The first 20 miles was very hilly and hot: much more difficult than I had hoped for but I finished the 40 miles to Southbridge at a leisurely 14.5 mph. It took exactly three hours like I planned: mostly because of the climbing and not because I had taken it super easy like I wanted to.

Friday evening I got registered, grabbed some food and watched the opening ceremonies. The volunteers were there in the hundreds and everyone of them was friendly and grateful to the riders. The positive energy was contagious. This was by far the best supported ride I’ve ever done. Recalling Jim Sullivan's 2004 IMLP experience, I passed on the “B!TCH” socks at the expo and bought some cool Space Invader ones instead.

I arrived at the official start an hour early on Saturday morning to see that the football-field sized “20+ mph” corral was nearly full. I used my cyclocross starting skills and placed myself and bike right up front, a good move in hindsight as I got up to the leaders straight away on Rt 20. Being further back would have made the first few miles much more challenging and dangerous.

Last year I heard that there was a group of around 20 riders that stayed together for 80 miles before things started to break up, with a select group of 6 eventually finishing together in Bourne at 11:05 am. This year the front group was down to 6 with a huge gap back to the next riders after just 15 miles. I saw the wife and kids in Sutton which was nice. Andy Salmon joined us about that time as we rolled in a pace line through Whitinsville, topping 35+ mph on the flats at some points. Andy stayed with us until Mendon and we kept the pace high right through to the Dighton rest stop at mile 70. We saw a lot of empty lawn chairs along the route and most of the intersections we got to after Attleboro were unmanned as the police had yet to arrive. Our lead support car was great though, handing out water and blocking traffic at the intersections for us so we could just roll through. After the Dighton stop we were down to 4, then just 3 with 30 miles left (with only myself and Tyler Munroe taking turns in the wind for the last 20). We fought hard to beat the earliest ever arrival time of 10:45 am but missed it by 4 minutes. We ended with a 23 mph average for the 110 miles and my avg HR was 147.

The après-ride at the Mass Maritime Academy was great: plenty of food and drink for everyone, but I was feeling the effects of the two days of difficult riding. Bad leg cramps, a horrible massage, an entire day in the sun and lying awake in my tent that night until 1:30 am lowered my expectations for Sunday a lot. I knew that if the legs felt as bad in the morning as they did that night I would have trouble about half way to P-town.

On Sunday morning I missed the “official” start of 5:00 am by 40 minutes, although people start leaving the MMA as early as 4:00 am from what I’m told. While part of me wished I’d gotten going on time so that I wasn’t stuck behind half of the PMC and facing the entire 80 miles alone, it was good to have the pressure of another hammerfest off as I wasn’t sure how I’d feel anyway. By the time I rode over the Bourne Bridge, I knew it was going to be a good day. The crowds were out in force, there were riders everywhere, and the legs felt 100%. They had told us to ride single file but no way was that possible: there were just too many people. Imagine having to run the Boston Marathon single file... not happening! I spent most of the first 30 miles riding right on the double yellow line shouting "on your left." I must have passed 2,000 people, maybe more. Things finally thinned out in Barnstable and by the time I got to Brewster I would go for miles between seeing anyone else. It got a bit harder to keep the pace up without anyone to try and catch, but the speedometer was still consistently around 20-21 mph and there were no signs of the cramps I'd had the day before. The crowd support was fantastic the entire day & “the hedge” in Brewster was really great: hundreds of screaming kids holding up huge thank you signs while standing (inexplicably) on the other side of a long hedge. The family was out cheering again in Eastham so that was a nice little break. I was joined by Bryan Gareau with around 15 miles to go, and he was nice enough to tow me through the windiest parts of the cape just before P-town. I finished at 9:35am or thereabouts, and based on the number of bikes on the racks at the finish, it looked like I was about the 15th person to arrive. Saturday was 80 miles, 20.4 mph average, 137 avg HR. The biggest heartbreak was discovering that the beer tent didn’t open until noon: 2.5 hours after my arrival. It was worth the wait.

Thanks for reading and for supporting my fund-raising efforts! WE sent $5000+ to the Dana Farber, and I can't thank you all enough... Stick your spare change in a coffee can marked "PMC donation for Matt" for next year.

Thanks - Matt

PMC Day1

I'm about to leave West Springfield. I had a nice dinner with Ahmad, Ryan and a friend last night, and we talked about family, the Cape and how everyone here has been getting along without Judy. She's dearly missed, but memories of her fill this house with warmth.

Speaking of that, it's going to be pretty warm out on the road today but I'm going to try and avoid the mid day sun by starting out a bit early. I hope to be in Southbridge by noon at the latest.