ToBV recon ride #2

Earlier today, I braved the cold and snow to ride the ToBV course with promoter Dieter Drake, the majority of the Keltic Construction Cycling Team, the majority of the women from the Anthem Sports Elite team (I was the only member of the men's team present), and a few others of the capital region's most talented cyclists.

I'm gald that I had the afternoon free, and that I was able to ride the course with so many talented cyclists. However, I'm getting smarter as the race approaches, and I've realized that posting detailed descriptions of the course and its most difficult spots does absolutely nothing to advance my chances. In fact, if anything, it hurts my chances, as it gives away the advantage earned through sweat on the road to any of the thousands who read this blog each day.

Selfish? Yeah, probably, but so it goes. However, I would urge anyone racing in April to go check the course out. You will want to know what's coming.

Even if I'm not going to give it away here, I do want to get some blog fodder out of today's ride, I will offer an assessment of the course's dirt sections.

Today, almost all of the dirt was rock hard, and nearly smooth as pavement, and fast as a result. There were, however, two tricky stretches. On Mountain Road, in the Town of Easton, recently-graded stones mixed in with the dirt made for a very bumpy few miles. There is a smooth line, but, of course, I'm not going to tell you where it is. Anyone who has raced ToBV before should be able to find it without too much difficulty.

Secondly, there was one spot, toward the end of the race, on Stage Road, where a section of the road was washed out and road crews filled it in with tangerine-sized stones. It was only about a 100 feet long, but a very long 100 feet. By race day, these stones should be pretty well packed down. In the mean time, keep your speed up through the stones. I made the mistake of trying to change lines, and wound up loosing my front wheel out from under me, and walking across the stones.

Having now ridden the course twice, I'll reiterate a few of the observations I made after first riding the new course last October: though there is less elevation change, the climbs are steeper and seem to come closer together. Every climb will be decisive, and will make it unlikely that any substantial groups will survie to contest a spring in Cambridge.

After today's ride in the cold, and at a pretty good clip, I'll add one more observation: I feel for the pros, who will have to complete two laps of the course in Sunday's pro invitational. Ouch.

Dieter confirmed for those of us on that one of the US's biggest teams will be present in April, but I'll save that announcement for tomorrow, when it becomes official.