In case anyone is wondering I have been racing the last 3  weekends since busting my collarbone 6 weeks ago at a race down in  Rhode Island. I started with Jimminy Peak , a hilly road race in the  most Northwest point of Mass. New York really. That didn't go well,  should have listened to my wife and stayed home. That was 3 weeks  after the crash, maybe too soon. I couldn't pull very hard on the bars  when I stood.    

The next weekend was Sterling another road race in Mass. this one  big hard climb and a finish on a steep wall. Things went a lot better.  Larry Poulin came with me and we did the master's race. He got in a  good early 3 man break away and they looked good as gone.  Unfortunately we caught Larry a mile before the finish as their break  fell apart the last 8 miles. My role was to take a teammate to the  base of the hill with speed and let him try and finish off the climb  to the line. The hill profile was very close to Robinson hill on our  wednesday night ride. He is quicker than me on that type hill. All  went right according to plan. He jumped around me just before the hill  and I still had enough left to jump back on the 5 man train he was  in . We were approaching the hill with a slight gap on the field and  only 100 yards uphill left when 2 pick up trucks pulled in front of us  right in front of the cop supposedly directing traffic. They both  panicked and jammed on the brakes instead of accelerating ahead. The  first guy slammed into the tail gate and my teammate squeezed through  them. The rest of us came to a dead stop as the field had time to  react and go around the trucks. My teammate got 4th and I didn't crash  so that was ok in the end. Still I was wondering if this was the way  the rest of the season would go.  

 Next was Sunapee NH. Another spring Classic hilly RR in New  England. Jeff Fisher and Larry came with me. This was my 5 week point  and I was close to 100%. Another hilly race though, not to my liking.  All 3 of us rode well though. We missed the 4 man break that went on  the toughest climb but we thought it would come back before the  finish. We all hit the finish climb near the front just 11 seconds  behind the break. I managed to hang with a group of 8 guys just a few  seconds ahead of Jeff and Larry for 13th overall. Not great but OK for  me in this race.  

 Finally this past weekend we started doing some Crits. I went down  to Hartford Conn. to do the Pro race Sunday afternoon. Plenty of big  shots there, Lot's of pro's on their way to Somerville NJ for the race  the next day. Most of the team was there for this one. I had great  legs and rode aggressively but smart. Got near the front with 5 to go  and stayed there. Coming into the last corner Frank was right  alongside me and jumped hard taking the corner wide, I should have  trusted him and followed especially since I felt the guy in front of  me wasn't going fast enough. Sure enough he died right in the corner  and I had to pause before squeezing by him and the curb. I re- accelerated but lost 6 places with 300 yards to go. I still finished  ok but Frank got 4th. I should have been glued to his wheel, he can do  this in his sleep. Google Frank McCormack to get an idea what I'm  talking about. Some stats-- 28mph ave 170 average heartrate, 194 max.  

 I jumped in the car after and drove to New Jersey for the Tour of  Somerville Monday. I signed up for the Cat 2 race and the master's  race right after. I don't know what I was thinking signing up for both  races. I lined up with a bunch of Brendan look alikes, all young 20-30  year olds lean and mean looking to make a name for themselves with a  big win at Somerville. I'll bet I was double the age of at least 80 of  the starters. last time I did this race was a few years ago with Tom  Gosselin. It was all I could do to finish in the field, so fast and  hard!   

This time I was feeling a lot more confident, especially after the  way things went the day before. We started fast but I had no problem  staying near the front. I felt like I was floating almost effortlessly  for the first 15 miles biut I knew that would change with 5-6 laps  left in the race. The fireworks started with 6 to go. Huge attack  caused a 20 man split off the front but I  was ready and went with it.  I was hurting but not in any danger yet. We sat up a lap later and the  field came back together. Then with 3 to go (3.75 miles left) Things  went crazy. We had been doing 28mph the whole race then it upped to  30mph. I was still good sprinting out of my saddle over and over to  stay ahead of the waves trying to pass. I was getting hit from all  directions but staying calm. With 1 1/2 miles left it upped to 32mph  and I was about 12th wheel thinking I was fine but dammit guys were  still trying to move up on me. I'm going 32mph and getting swarmed  just before a hairpin turn with 3/4 of a mile left WTF??? Now I'm back  to 25th again. I make the left turn watching my tire come within  millimeters of hitting the outside curb while I feel my inside pedal  graze the pavement as I pedal though. I straighten up and sprint past  5 more guys as we hit the final 1000 yard straight away to the line at  36mph. With 500 yards I jumped out and passed 10 guys. Top 10 was  right in my grasp. I looked up for the line and it was still 100 yards  away, I called down to the engine room but nobody answered. I got  passed by 5 guys right at the line and ended up 17th.    

 Once again 28mph average speed, and 169 ave HR. Last minute of  the race average 35.5 mph peak of 39.4 mph, average heart rate 180  peak 190. average watts 651 peak of 1254. The last 7 minutes of the  race my average HR was 178.      It was all I could do to stay upright after we crossed the line.  60 seconds later my heart rate was still 173 and they were lining up  the Master's to start. I didn't have time to cool down, it was 88  degrees there. I got help re-pinning my race number on and grabbing 2  more fresh bottles and jamming a couple clif shots down. They said go  and my HR was still in the 140's. I just sat in the first half of the  race and finally started to recover. I knew I pretty much used  everything I had in the first race so I had to be careful in this one.  I did everything right and came out of the last corner 10th or so and  started my sprint about 400 yards out with everyone else but I had  nothing left and could only manage 7th. That was ok but I really was  there to win. This race was only 26.5 mph. Just an easy spin with a  bunch of old guys,    not!!    

Our race is next, Looks like the whole Fuji team is coming and we  will do the Pro race.