The Internet of Bikes: 17th Annual Sterling Classic Road Race

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The Annual Sterling Classic Road Race is a road race held in Sterling, Massachusetts. The course is an 8 mile loop that features a short steep climb to the start/finish, a series of rolling hills and a long, relatively flat straight away section that leads back to the start/finish hill. The race this year featured dry conditions and temperatures in the 60s, a stark contrast to last year when the race was soaked by a torrential downpour and temperatures were in the 50s. The image at the top of this blog is from Sterling 2010, a race that ranks close to the 2011 Quabbin Reservoir Classic Road Race on the Learn to Suffer Index (LSI). Sterling is a regular event on the OA/Cyclemania Masters Cycling Team race calendar, and Frame and Wheel joined by team mates Aaron Buterbaugh, Steve Edwards, Joe Lynch and John Meerse in the 35 plus category. There were about seventy riders in this field racing 48 miles or six laps.

Frame and Wheel tracked the race with an Android smartphone and inserted some labels that try to help the viewer get a better sense of the race and the course. The total distance (including rollout and return to the school) is 51 miles and total moving time is 136 minutes. Average moving speed is 23 miles per hour and maximum speed is 43 miles per hour. Total elevation gain is 2,863 feet and maximum elevation is 655 feet. Maximum grade is 13.5 percent. The batteries on the smart phone held up fine.

The field hits the start/finish hill hard and the pace remains high right through the following climb, which is more gradual, but longer. No breaks form and it becomes clear to Frame and Wheel that the field is not going to let this happen, at least on the first lap. The field flies through the following rollers, with some attacks coming on the gradual climbs on the back side of the circuit. The field enters the wind swept straight away and the pace eases up. Frame and Wheel gets to the start/finish climb first and holds on to perhaps win the King of the Mountain or more accurately, King of the Hill (Frame and Wheel is not entirely sure that the KOM/KOH was on lap two and forgot to check at the end of the race).

No breaks form despite attacks from a number of strong riders on the second part of the climb. The field is single file, but nothing snaps. The field races through the rollers again, with some attacks coming on the fast downhill corners, and on the straight away, but again no breaks. 

On the straight away, Frame and Wheel's front wheel is clipped by a rider seeking protection from the wind. Frame and Wheel is simultaneously nudged by the rider to the right and then is off balance and tipping over to the left while the front wheel buzzes against the rear wheel of the rider to the front.  In a moment of weirdly calm clarity, Frame and Wheel sees the spot next to the yellow line where Frame and Wheel will land. Perhaps in that same moment, Frame and Wheel's front wheel slides off the rear wheel of the other rider, and the bike rights itself with such force that Frame and Wheel's left foot unclips. A chorus of nervous laughter and a comment about "no place to go" from behind suggests that Frame and Wheel would have had company in this "mishap". Frame and Wheel is through with trying to conserve energy by sitting in during this frequently twitchy section of the course and decides to ride at the front for the rest of the race.  

Bill Yarbroudy (Narragansett Bikes) savagely attacks the start/finish hill the next two times around and opens up a gap each time. Frame and Wheel hangs on and hopes that one of these efforts will stick. One of the attacks opens up a dangerous gap, but once again it is reeled in by a strong field on the following rollers. Frame and Wheel keeps the pace high on the gradual climbs on the back of the course and follows a few attacks on the straight away in the hopes that the field will let one of these attacks go just long enough for it to have a head start on the start/finish hill. This is clearly not happening today and Frame and Wheel dimly begins to think that the race is more like a criterium than a road race. The last lap witnesses a signature surging attack from Johnny Bold (Corner Cycle) that brings Matt Mitchell (545 Velo) and John Meerse (OA/Cyclemania) perhaps ten seconds out in front of the field on the straight away. Frame and Wheel is finished with this race and observes from a safe distance as the field inexorably closes on the three riders, absorbs them near the beginning of the start/hill and then shoots up the hill to the finish. Frame and Wheel creeps over the finish line as a statistic, but is pleased with the effort and the fact that Frame and Wheel is in one piece and not hypothermic as was the case in 2010. Frame and Wheel is grateful for the support and camaraderie of the OA/Cyclemania Masters Cycling team and congratulates them on their great efforts. Frame and Wheel is also grateful to be able to compete in a category that is characterized by such great competition.

Hitting the hill hard, but unable to get away.