Conference noted::bicycle

    I think the course may have been short.  My Avocet read 23.7.  As
    a result, I started my sprint way too late and got caught in the
    shuffle.
    
    If the course was a full 25 then your average speed had to have
    been greater than 25 MPH.  I calculate it to be 25.8 MPH for a 58:14
    time.  Is this correct?
    
    -Robin
    
    

    Mark Reid of MRO won the citizen's race.  Maybe he'll read this
    note and tell us how fast he was going.
    
    Phil

    >.2 Yeah, I came in with something like too on my Cateye. I had
        23(?) something for the distance and read a 24.3 for an avg.
        speed. Same boat on the sprint too. All of a sudden we were
        in the common, bunched up and no place to go.
    
    >.3 Which age group was Mark in? I thought Ed Ryan won ours (30-39)
        but I'm not sure of who won the others. I know Robin Schulmann(?)
        won the women's 20-29 division.
    
    I don't know about anyone else, but it seemed a little leasurely.
    I felt like I was ready for a race after we finished.

    It seems to me that we had alot of DECies in the race.  I know of
    at least two others.  If Mark did win the men's division then DEC
    won the race for men and women.
    
    Too bad there isn't some kind of company team.  
    
    -Robin
    

    I was speaking wiht someone in the race who rides that course regularly
    and he said his computer always comes up with about 23.5 miles.
    So it seems it wasn't quite the 25 they advertise. I agree with
    Chip that it was well run and a nice course but the pack discipline
    was non-existent. Got so bad in the 30-39 pack after about 4 or
    5 miles out that it was bordering on dangerous so a friend of mine
    and myself just dropped back and let them go. The pack wouldn't
    break up (must have been 40 people or so I guess) and there were
    some slow riders in the front blocking the way. How often do you brake 
    on a nice smooth downhill with no driveways or intersections on it? 
    This pack was on the brakes all the time.  My friend and I cruised
    along for a while and then caught up with that same pack after it had 
    spread out a bit. The people left in it were pretty good
    (discipline-wise) and we had a good time the last 6 or 8 miles or so. 
    Ended up doing a 1:05. I'm no speedster but I do what I can and I 
    concentrate on being a good rider when riding in a pack.

    						Thom...

    I rode the men's 20-29 race, which was fortunately the first wave
    to go off (no problems mixing in with other waves).
    
    I finished in 55:27, but my computer had 24.0 miles, for about 26mph.
    
    I was able to win the race thanks to an unselfish teammate. We got
    off the front with a mile or less to go (just before the uphill),
    and just hammered as hard as we could. Actually, Dan Massucco my
    teammate (finished second) pulled most of the way to the finish;
    I took one short pull. Team tactics ... we wanted one of us to win,
    and Dan was the stronger rider that day. HE did almost all of the
    work to ensure that the breakaway was successful; I rode his wheel,
    and sprinted for the win (3rd place was closing FAST, and almost
    nipped Dan at the finish). 
    
    The pack was one of the craziest that I've ever been in; about 60
    people large, yellow line violations all the time, prople who couldn't
    ride a straight line, bumping off me at times ... one bad crash
    by some dude that had previously bumped into me & others because
    he couldn't ride a line, prople taking stupid chances squeezing
    towards the front, yelling, swearing, one guy on Scott bars without
    a helmet riding all the time over the yellow line,   CRAZY!
   
    One amusing moment came when this mad, mad pack passed a state cruiser
    and the trooper yelled out to us (over a bullhorn) "STAY IN A SINGLE
    LINE."    yeah, right!
     
    The positive points were that the course was well organized & well
    marshalled at all corners. The large size of the lead pack made
    the 26mph average pace seem like a Sunday ride; I felt like I didn't
    work at all - until the critical break a mile from the finish.
    
    Mark
                                                                    

    Don't blame the riders. There just aren't that many road races in
    Massachusetts, so of course a race like this is going to attract
    everyone and his grandmother.  The problem was the course
    wasn't equipped to separate the strong riders from the weak riders. 
    That's what hills are for.  The staggered starts and 8-people-per-line
    rule at the start do no good if the course itself only serves
    to congest the field, not separate it. 
    
    When my pack (30-39) caught the pack in front of it with about
    8 miles (I think) to go, the swarm of riders was *worse* than
    at the start some 16 miles back!  I knew when the packs mixed it was 
    going to be trouble, especially if a break formed and those in the
    middle (like me) rushed to join it.  So I moved left to swing to
    the front to be with any break that might form. Problem was, over
    a dozen other riders had already thought the same thing, and were
    already over the yellow line while moving up. Then when the truck mentioned
    in .0 came the other way, back into the pack they came, and crash!
    
    Anyone who did Piche's up in Gilford a couple of weeks ago knows
    what a few hills can do to break up the pack.
    
    -Ken (who got caught behind the crash, and finished just behind his
    grandmother)
    
             

     Congratulations Mark. We got the same message from the trooper.
    The people who weren't laughing at him were verbalizing the same
    thing - Ya right! What planet are you from????
    
    Chip

    Does anyone have any info on the 1990 Kiwanis (North ANdover,MA)
    road race? Is it happening? When? Last year the race was held
    mid-June. I'm looking for registration forms for some citizen
    racers in my club, but I haven't heard a word about the race... 
    
    Mark