Lake Auburn Road Race – June 6 2009

June 10, 2009

Team Quad sent up a contingent of riders for both the Men’s and Women’s cat 4 races in Auburn, Maine over the weekend. The weather was perfect — sunny, upper 60s and little wind. Reports from Jeremy Katz and Kate Leppanen for the Men’s and Women’s races follow. Photos below courtesy of Charles Wescott. Overall results for the day were a 7th place finish for Andy Tucker and pack finishes for Nessim Mezrahi and Jeremy Katz in the Men’s field and 5th for Nancy Labbe-Giguere and 6th for Kate Leppanen.

Jeremy’s Report

We got to the course start with lots of time to spare and actually had the time to pre-ride a lap of the route. So we headed off as a team to recon the course and jog our memories from last year. It was good to do as little things like “landmark for the turn before the hill” doesn’t stick with you for a year… but half an hour before the race start it certainly does.

The race itself was to be three laps of an 11.5 mile circuit. It started with a quick downhill followed by a little bump and then a steeper little climb. Then a few turns and a mile or so with a slight downward grade to the back half of the course which was about six miles and pretty much flat. This was thus a bit on the fast side. The course then took another turn and began going back up towards the finish with one steeper and then one longer and more shallow section to a bit of false flats for the final kilometer or so. Total of about 600 feet of climbing a lap. Pretty much good pavement for the entirety of it, well marshalled, etc. Honestly, it’s a great course and I was looking forward to coming back and doing better.

In the Men’s Cat 4 field, we had six people in the field out of a total of somewhere between fifty and sixty — myself, Jim Gomez, Charles Wescott, Nessim Mezrahi, Kenton Eash and Andy Tucker. My personal goal was to finish with whatever the main pack ended up being and from a team perspective, we were hoping to get someone at least in the top ten. The race started on time and it started out pretty quick. I was at the front and was able to maintain my position through the fast descent in a nice improvement from last year. The first lap continued pretty quickly; I know I saw an average speed of above 25 mph at one point on the back stretch. When we hit the big hill up to the finish, that dropped a bit. We had definitely started to drop some riders off the back, though.

The second lap was much of the same and I realized that hanging on was really about all I was going to be good for. I did get in some good work with moving up in the pack and raising my comfort in doing so. It helped that the peloton for the field was pretty smooth overall. The exception was that for every corner, the speed dropped somewhat dramatically and then people accelerated like hell on the other side of the corner only to let up after 100-200 meters. A little annoying, but I kept with it. Andy and Nessim spent some time during the lap attacking and trying to weaken some of the stronger riders in the field. I was content to just sit in and let things happen.

By the third lap, I realized that the only Quaddies who were left were Nessim, Andy and myself. I talked briefly with Andy and he said that Nessim was going to try to set him up with a lead-out. I didn’t really have anything to add to the effort, so just was going to keep my head down. I also noticed at this point (not far into the lap really), that there was a rider a little ways up the road and that the pace car seemed a little further away. Not that I was going to be able to do anything about it. As we started up the hill for the finish, though, the gap dropped — by the time we were cresting the second hill up to the finishing flats, we passed the guy who had jumped off the front and this was when people really cranked it up a notch.

With a little more than a 1km ago, someone decided to start pushing for the sprint and I decided I had done enough to accomplish my goal. So I sat up and got passed by 6 or 8 people coming across the line about 26th although I did make it look like I was sprinting for something. Andy ended up with 7th and Nessim was somewhere in the pack between 15th and 20th. All in all, not a bad day

Kate’s report

Another race, another couple of lessons learned on what turned out to be an exquisite day to ride the bike. As an improvement over last year, I got an early start and rode up to Maine with Jeremy rather than getting hammered in Maine with college friends. Also improved was the weather, the lack of pounding rain or oppressive humidity was quite nice. After putting in a warm up lap with what turned out to be a rather impressive turn-out of Quaddies and mentally marking how many times the final hill false flats and which is the turn before the hill, I cruised around near the start line to keep my legs warmed up. While I got to the start line a solid ten minutes early, I found that I was among the last person to line up which put me solidly at the back of the pack, not the place I wanted to be going down the first big hill.

Although we were ranked separately, the Women’s 1/2/3 field started with the Women 4s.

We roll out down the hill and I rue my crappy position in the back of the pack as I watch the leaders flatten themself into an organized aerodynamic position and those of us in the back fiddle with our position and nervously tap brakes to avoid slamming into less aerodynamic riders. It did put me in a fabulous place to watch Talia slip herself from the absolute rear of the pack to the very front. Amazing pack handling skills.

We hit the little wall and I make the critical mistake of fumbling to get into the small chainring at the appropriate time. Chasing from the back of the pack, I yell at the riders that I pass that we need to work together, that we can catch the peloton rapidly speeding away. I fall in with a group of largely PVC riders and try to organize a chase. I take a pull at the front at a solid 25mph and flick my elbow to go to the back. The pace drops to 18mph. I yell more and move back up to take another pull. I pull off and the pace dips again. The wheel car pulls past us. This is not working. I move back and look at our group; Kim Z. of Green Line Velo is riding very steadily and seems very strong. Continuing my theme of yelling at people, I tell her that we’ve got to hammer if we have any hope of catching the leaders, I’m going to go and I hope that she follows my wheel. I go, watching the leaders now disappear distant over a hill. Together Kim and I chase. No one else from the group follows us.

As a two woman chase group up against a good sized peloton of very strong riders, a lot of them 1/2/3s, we do not make contact with the peloton again. We do not see the peloton again nor do we pick up any of the riders that inevitably fall off the back. Working rather well together, we trade off taking pulls for the remaining 35 miles. I slow up to keep Kim with me on the hills, she neutralizes when I drop my chain (again!) as we enter the 3rd lap. As is the nature of bike racing, the glorious partnership we’ve had for three laps dissolves as we reach the final climb. I’m pretty sure that Kim can outsprint me so I give every last thing I have on the climb and spin my way up the hill. I sprint to the finish line, although there is absolutely no one around me. I find out later that the main field finished an intimidating 16 minutes ahead of me. Sixth place for the day, not too bad but I wish I’d actually maintained contact with the group for more than 1k. The big lesson learned (or rather the big lesson reiterated) is that you should never wait to close down a gap. Gaps just get bigger with time.

Post-race, we stayed around to the start of the Pro 1/2 men’s race–I do so love the whoosh sound the pro race makes as they roll through. There were also post-race free massages and I enjoyed a glorious 12 hours without pain in my left shoulder for the first time in just about a year. Very briefly, I considered trying to convince someone to drive me to Auburn the next day for the crit. I tell myself that the legs could have probably endured it well enough but I was not mentally up for another 5 hour car trip.

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Posted by katzj

Sunapee Road Race–Women’s Cat 4 May 14, 2009

May 28, 2009

Sunapee was my sixth race of the year, including training races like Wells and Charge Pond, and my fifth straight race in a row. Looking back, I felt good but I mentally was not totally in it. I further now realize that I was *way* overtrained by the time that Sunapee rolled around.
For a women’s 4 race, there was a pretty big showing of somewhere around 40 racers. All of the fields rolled out from the start/finish line within half an hour of one another and my field queued up behind the Pro/1/2/3 women. Despite my field having rather different bib numbers, I know of at least one Cat4 racer who went out with the 1/2/3 field by mistake. Aside from that rider’s mistake, the race organizers did an amazing job getting everyone queued up and out on the road on time. Best organization I’ve experienced at a race.
But onto the race itself. The race organizer informed us before we rolled out that there would be a hard right hand turn after a fast descent and that we needed to watch out for the new traffic island (which wasn’t there last year) and warned us that there would be a section of very broken up road. The other Massachusetts riders and I later discussed the matter and we’re still unclear which section was ‘bad’…by our standards those roads were in fine shape throughout.
We roll down the hill and through the traffic circle for a brief neutral rollout. The pack is somewhat sketchy but nothing too bad. NEBC sits comfortably and numerously at the front and I continue my stupid trend of sitting too far back. Although the yellow line rule is supposedly in effect, it is blatently ignored by many. This irritates me.
There’s some initial sketchiness as some riders mid-pack abruptly swerve and bump each other. Someone either hit and killed a chipmunk or ran over some very fresh roadkill–I really don’t want to know which it is but I’m pleased that no one crashes and that my crappy pack position keeps me clear of the carnage.
A crash, for unknown reason, goes down fairly early into the first section of flat road but I hear later that no one’s badly hurt.
Then we hit the long climb. I’d looked at the profile online but I realize that the elevation profile didn’t really translate well to actually anticipating how the hills would play out. One of my teammates referred to a Mt. Suffering and I incorrectly assume that the long climb is that. It is not.
I do my best to chase down the largely NEBC break that goes off the front but fail and end up working with a group of chasers from a whole bunch of different teams. On the downhills, I make up some ground on the lead group and attach myself to the wheels of those who’ve not been able to follow the break.
We go through a couple rolling hills, some tough and not too bad, and establish ourselves into a relatively decent paceline. The woman in front of me in the line fails to pull to the side when she blows her nose and I get her snot on my jersey and glasses. Again, I am irritated.
Then we hit a hill that my mind, at least, is going to call Mt. Suffering. I look at my GPS and it reads a 10% grade. My group and I slog up it together with no attacks. We hit the final rollers and are going into that aforementioned right hand turned when–crap.
My left contact, for reasons unclear to me, rolls back behind my eyeball. Trying to navigate the speedy descents, I jam my finger into my eye and attempt to locate the thing. I succeed in moving it into the corner of my eye, totally distorting my vision. I cannot see well and accordingly, drift to the back of our paceline, continuing to jam my finger into my eye. I really want to see. In addition to half-deaf, I am now half-blind…all on my left side. Going down the last big descent at 45mph, I realize that I am not going to get the contact out nor will I get it into a workable position in my eye to be able to see. I make the hard right run with a good deal less confidence than I’d like. There’s a small break in my group and I try to close down the gap working with two other riders. Again, fail.
Then my chain drops. I watch the paceline I’ve been working with so long speed into the distance. Without having stop, I manage to coax my chain back onto my chainring and hammer home to the finish. Going up the final approach to the finish line, I give it every thing I have even though no racers are at all in sight. Following my finish, I gratefully manage to shift my contact to a location in my eyeball where I can sort of make out indistinct shapes on my left side once again.

Got 16th, as it turned out. For having done far too many races back-to-back so early in the season, I’m pretty satisfied. Two weeks off from racing before Lake Auburn Road Race!

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Posted by oceansword

Sterling Road Race May 9, 2009

May 19, 2009

For the very first time ever (I think?), there were an amazing four Quad women in the Women’s 4 race at Sterling. I’d done the race last year and recalled the course being hilly but not overly technically difficult. The race starts with a two mile neutral roll out and then a neutral climb up this small wall of a hill; the race then begins in earnest with a long grind uphill that Christine correctly described asthe “pain cave” followed by a fast rolling descent, another vaguely uphill grind along the highway and then back up that sharp little wall. Repeat for three laps.

Last year, I saw NEBC line up their people at the front and go for a break but was unable to get my act into gear or organize the other dropped riders into an effective chase. If I’m not getting hugely stronger in races, I am determined to be less stupid at the very least and I was determined to get one of us Quad ladies in the break when it went this year.

The four of us lined up in a rather non-optimal position toward the back as we rolled out for the neutral roll out. Right away the pack was somewhat sketchy with people jockeying for position and shifting around in the pack; the pace was mellow but not entirely ‘neutral.’ In ‘neutral,’ we ground up the hill en masse and the race began at amoderate pace. The slow grind up the “pain cave” hill was fine with a pace in the low 20s for the most part; I expected a break to go along that stretch but no one went. I was dealing with some nerves handling in a pack so I was sitting too far back to really move up or go for something. As we hit the rolling descents, the pack got sketchier with a lot of random breaking and cursing. There were some accelerations off the front but, as Jeremy has often said to me, attacks on downhills are really not that effective. Without working too hard, I was able to close down the gaps that formed. A couple racers fell off the back on the rollers but all the Quad ladies stayed in it with Nancy maintaining a very strong and dominant position atthe front, pulling some but not too much.As we sped along the highway portion of the course, I noted that a CVC rider was pulling at the front and a couple other CVC women were moving to the front to attach themselves to her wheel. Okay, I think we have a break setting up.

With several CVC and Talia of Cambridge Bike at the front, someone had just dropped the hammer when…most of the pack went down just to my right. I saw a couple people bump each other, try to recover, and a girl somersault right over the handlebars. I steered left to stay clear and attached myself to the leaders.

Clear of the carnage, I yelled to my fellow racers in the break that there’d been a wreck just behind us and we took the tempo down a notch; not too many reattached. Those of us who didn’t wreck broke into three smaller groups at The Wall. Never a terrific climber, I fell to the back and yelled at Jon on the sidelines (my fiance) to find out if the Quad women were okay since I’d seen none of them since the wreck. Post Wall, I traded pulls with Daria from CVC; we could see the pink jersey of Talia in the distance but didn’t have the legs to close. Along the highway portion on the 2nd lap, Nancy (who had gone down in the crash) impressively caught up with us and proceeded to take massive pulls; she let me know that the Quad women were fine although Jen had also gone down. As we hit The Wall for the third lap, Nancy (still in her big ring) takes off up the hill. Daria looks at me as Nancy upshifts to a harder gear and drops us, “Your teammate is a machine!” she says. Daria then heads up the hill and despite mybest efforts I couldn’t follow her wheel. As we grind up the long slow hill, I can see Daria look back for me for a mile or so for me but I’m just utterly unable to close down the gap. I’m tired, I’m in the pain cave. I can see Nancy ahead of Daria the whole time, the three of us strung out in our own respective time trials for the last lap of eight miles. I remember to actually shift down to my 25 as I grind up the Wall the very last time and end the race in 10th place.Post-race, I find out that all of my team is okay except for some scratches. I know at least one woman went to the hospital but I’m not sure who.

On the way home, we buy a first aid kit to keep in the car. Seems reasonable.

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Posted by oceansword

Spring arrives to New England

May 17, 2009

Spring finally returned to New England and with that comes the season of good riding… pulling off the leg and arm warmers and feeling the sun on pastey white skin with the wind on your face without a balaclava. It’s a wonderful thing.

It also means that the charity riders are beginning to come out in force on the weekend rides with Bobby Mac out of the shop. There were probably the better part of fifty people who came out last Saturday and Sunday for rides of distances of up to 55 miles. Yesterday, a similar number came out as Bobby stretched the ride to a 62 mile loop (four people rode the entire loop) while there was also a group of Quaddies racing at the Sunapee Road Race and a small group that followed Walter on a century to southern New Hampshire and back.

Come out and join us sometime. Weekend rides leave from Quad Cycles at 1043 Mass Ave in Arlington on Saturdays and Sundays at 9:30 am as long as it’s not pouring rain. And by the end of the ride, you can sit and enjoy the sun at Starbucks.


Some of the team relaxing at Starbucks after last week’s ride

Bobby Mac arrives at Starbucks after shepherding in the last of the riders

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Posted by katzj

New Sponsor: Gu

March 10, 2009

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Posted by katzj

New Sponsor: ROL Wheels

January 30, 2009

We’d like to welcome our newest sponsor: ROL Wheels.

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Posted by katzj

Wishing it was summer: Boloco Heart Break Hill Grand Prix

November 11, 2008

Just before the category 3 race at the Boloco Heart Break Hill Grand Prix back in June. (The race report from back then is here.)

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Posted by katzj

Saco Bay Criterium

November 2, 2008
The Saco Bay Criterium (category 3) was a 1 hour technical criterium.

The winning break formed early, including QuadCycles rider Christian Eager. He eventually finished 2nd to Manny Goguen.

Controlling the pace.

Glenn Ferreira comes in for first in the field sprint behind the break away.

Photos by Rachel Kester.

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Posted by katzj

Quad ‘Cross: This Weekend! + Riding/Driving Directions

September 23, 2008

Directions to Quad ‘Cross


Middlesex Community College

591 Springs Rd
Bedford, MA

Google Maps view




By car from Route 128 North or South

  • Take exit 32 onto Route 3 North
  • Follow route 3 North 6 miles and take exit 27 Concord Road
  • Turn left onto Concord road
  • Follow Concord road 1 mile turn left onto Technology Park Drive
  • Follow Technology Park Drive .6 miles
  • Turn right onto Orchard then left into Middlesex Community College Campus

By car from route 495 North or South

  • Take exit 35 onto route 3 South
  • Follow route 3 South 7 miles and take exit 27 Concord Road
  • Turn left onto Concord road
  • Follow Concord road .7 mile turn left onto Technology Park Drive
  • Follow Technology Park Drive .6 miles
  • Turn right onto Orchard then left into Middlesex Community College Campus

By Cross Bike from the Bedford end of the Minuteman Bike Path

  • Right into parking lot at the end of the trail
  • Cross Loomis Street onto the Narrow Gauge Rail Trail (just to the right of Express Pizza)
  • Follow NGRT, turns to dirt, 2 miles to the Fawn Lake Conservation Area parking lot
  • Right onto Sweetwater Road, follow .1 miles to end
  • Straight onto dirt trail .1 miles
  • Right onto Fawn Circle .1 miles
  • Left onto Springs Road .25 miles
  • Turn Right into Middlesex Community College Campus

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Posted by katzj

Quad Cross 2008

August 20, 2008

Welcome to the Quad Cross 2008 information page. More info will be available in the next few days. Check back soon for detailed information including race flier, registration links, course information and more!

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Posted by katzj

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