View Housatonic Hills Road Race in a larger map
The Housatonic Hills Road Race is road race held in Southbury, Connecticut. The course is a 27 mile route through the craggy and wooded hills surrounding Roxbury and Southbury. The course features long climbs, short and sharp hills, fast descents and the switchbacks of Constitution Hill Road. The race is an epic, mid season classic event that like a siren song, beckons riders from the O/A Cyclemania Masters Cycling Team and elsewhere to participate. Frame and Wheel rationalized the long drive and the overnight by calling this race the last event before a mid season break from racing and training. Frame and Wheel joined about 70 other riders in the Pro 123 category racing 81 miles or three times around the loop.
Frame and Wheel tracked the race, or the part that Frame and Wheel managed to complete, with an Android smartphone, and posts the terrain version of the map with some labels so that the viewer can get a better sense about the details of the race. Total moving time duration is 157 minutes (includes a short warm up), total distance is 52 miles, average moving speed is 19 miles per hour, maximum speed is 49 miles per hour, total elevation gain is 4,630 feet, maximum elevation is 916 feet and maximum grade is 30% (Frame and Wheel is not sure if this is accurate, although there is one very steep but short section that feels like thirty percent).
Frame and Wheel includes the details in the labels on the map. The main observation about this race is that it requires great strength and endurance for the climbs, very good energy management technique and good judgement. Frame and Wheel clearly lacks all of these things on this day: Frame and Wheel is frequently riding in the open off the back of the field, especially on the downhills, and is lured into a few accelerations that create some gaps, but no breaks. A savage surge up Constitution Hill on the second lap, led by Cameron Coughburn (Jelly Belly Kenda) burns up the matchbook, and the following accelerations prevent any opportunity for recovery. At the bottom of Hunt's Hill climb, the resulting 20 man break is caught by the rest of the field and Frame and Wheel's huge effort is for naught. Frame and Wheel watches as the field steadily moves up the road.
The race is over for Frame and Wheel. Unable to catch on to the stragglers, Frame and Wheel spends the next hour and a half or so creeping through the woods of central Connecticut. Frame and Wheel ruminates on the race and marvels at the cycling excellence of the riders in this category: Frame and Wheel notes the technique of Mr. Coughburn, who sits at the back of the field (familiar territory for Frame and Wheel) and then advances on the climbs at high cadence. Frame and Wheel looks forward to some vacation time.
Frame and Wheel abandons at the beginning of lap two just as four team mates are finishing in the 40 plus category. A terrible crash in the last kilometer claims a team mate. Frame and Wheel and the rest of the OA/Cyclemania Masters Cycling team spend the next few hours managing this catastrophe and the usual Shoulda Woulda Coulda post race analysis is ignored. Frame and Wheel sees more of the emergency room than is desired and feels like a bullet has been dodged. The sirens of the Housatonic Hills Road Race have had their way again.
Frame and Wheel includes the details in the labels on the map. The main observation about this race is that it requires great strength and endurance for the climbs, very good energy management technique and good judgement. Frame and Wheel clearly lacks all of these things on this day: Frame and Wheel is frequently riding in the open off the back of the field, especially on the downhills, and is lured into a few accelerations that create some gaps, but no breaks. A savage surge up Constitution Hill on the second lap, led by Cameron Coughburn (Jelly Belly Kenda) burns up the matchbook, and the following accelerations prevent any opportunity for recovery. At the bottom of Hunt's Hill climb, the resulting 20 man break is caught by the rest of the field and Frame and Wheel's huge effort is for naught. Frame and Wheel watches as the field steadily moves up the road.
The race is over for Frame and Wheel. Unable to catch on to the stragglers, Frame and Wheel spends the next hour and a half or so creeping through the woods of central Connecticut. Frame and Wheel ruminates on the race and marvels at the cycling excellence of the riders in this category: Frame and Wheel notes the technique of Mr. Coughburn, who sits at the back of the field (familiar territory for Frame and Wheel) and then advances on the climbs at high cadence. Frame and Wheel looks forward to some vacation time.
Frame and Wheel abandons at the beginning of lap two just as four team mates are finishing in the 40 plus category. A terrible crash in the last kilometer claims a team mate. Frame and Wheel and the rest of the OA/Cyclemania Masters Cycling team spend the next few hours managing this catastrophe and the usual Shoulda Woulda Coulda post race analysis is ignored. Frame and Wheel sees more of the emergency room than is desired and feels like a bullet has been dodged. The sirens of the Housatonic Hills Road Race have had their way again.
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