Warren, MA
Sturbridge, Massachusetts is home to Old Sturbridge Village, a mandatory field trip destination for every New England child. Bordering on creepy, campy, and educational all at once, the Village P.R. machine implores you to “Take the whole family for an outdoor experience that is sure to excite and astound them all.”
The Sturbridge Road Race does its best to emulate the exciting and astounding outdoor experience that Sturbridge Village provides with a 15-mile race course (new for 2008) that assuredly goes through Sturbridge at some point. The course features undulating terrain and a 4km stairstep climb into the finish that is a welcome replacement for the downhill finish of years past, since it makes the race safer and vastly more interesting.
With around 1,000 feet of elevation gain per lap, the plan was to be attentive and aggressive as soon as the neutral parade up the finishing hill was complete and the racing began. The team started the attack yo-yo, with each move staying out a bit longer than the previous one until Jason Beerman was able to go clear at around mile 10 of the 60-mile race. He got out of sight and rolled for a while until Nerac’s Ward Solar and Targetraining’s Matthew Baldwin bridged up to complete the break of the day. The three riders went steady around the course, trading even pulls and staying as efficient as possible. With two to go, the three had 2 minutes on the shrinking peloton and with one to go, they had a little less than a minute on a burgeoning chase group that was chomping at the bit.
The three were caught with about 10 miles to go in the race by a group that numbered around 12 riders, including Kenda/Raleigh’s Toby Walch and Adam Sullivan. This new front group kept hesitating and never fell into a steady rhythm, as no one wanted to expend themself too much before the decisive finishing climb. When the climb actually came, the group burst apart, with wreckage flowing out the back like a proctologist’s worst nightmare.
When the dust had settled, Adam had gritted his teeth for 9th place.
Full results are here.