George Ganoung wrote Fitchburg Classic Stage 3
Date: July 5th, 2008
Place: Ian 13th @ winner's time, George 73rd @ 2:58 , Bill DNF (GC Ian 27th @2:15, George 58th @7:38) Avg speed was over 29.2 mph
Location: Fitchburg, MA
Course: 78 miles, 25 lap circuit race with several with one steep climb each lap hard twisty downhill and uphill finish
The race: The race was fast from the gun and stayed that way, lots of attrition, even the pros were saying it was one of the hardest races they have done on the year. I'd like to say Bill and I helped Ian out today, but we didn't do much except occasionally be around for morale. Survival and being fresh for late in the race was all about positioning today, of course you have to have the fitness to get and keep the position. You had to be fairly high up going into the climb and then keep that position through the climb so you could be at the front and avoid the "snap" on the corners on the downhill or you were on the rivet for about half the course and then tired going up the climb the next time which just made it worse the next time around. Unfortunately Bill and I weren't quite as good at the positioning thing with Bill coming off about half way through the race (he wasn't the first or the last though). I made it to about 5 laps to go and then had a bad patch and came off as well on the downhill, I fought and almost got back on next time up the climb but couldn't quite make it and rolled into the finish with other folks who got popped. Ian confirmed today by getting a very strong 13th on the stage in the sprint up the climb and moving up to 27th on GC and into the NRC points. Tomorrow is the final crit. ***