Under near perfect conditions early Sunday morning, ECV was well represented at the Blue Hills Classic in Milton, MA.  The course is a very nice rolling 7 mile loop around the base of the Blue Hills reservation with a single, fairly long and gradual hill top finish.  3 laps for the Cat 4 & 5 races, 6 laps for the Masters.  Cat 4 started at 8a; Cat 5 at 8:05.  Masters started after the 4 & 5 races were done, around 9am.

  Masters 35+ (1-4) - Kevin Buckley was our sole representative in this one; we saw him start, but unfortunately had to get back home and therefore do not have a report on his race; hopefully, he can let us know how it went.  Though we can definitely say that he looked very sharp at the start . . .   Cat 5 - ECV fielded its biggest group of the day with 5 riders in the field of about 45: Norbert Burggraf, Dave Dishaw, Dave Halligan, Bill Harrington, and Ron Smithers.  The ECV riders rode strong, remaining well positioned near the front for the entire race.  Entering the final and decisive climb, the pack started to stretch out up the hill to the finish.  Norbert was in excellent position when he unfortunately flatted his rear wheel and pulled off; witnesses saw smoke coming from his helmet amidst curses in German.  A crash also occurred about this time, where about 12 riders went down, though thankfully the only impact to ECV was a rear wheel bump to Ron Smithers who skillfully stayed upright despite a bent derailleur hanger from the incident.  Dave Halligan continued strong with the front riders to the top, while Bill Harrington was close behind picking-off waning riders.  Dave Dishaw and Ron Smithers were shortly behind Bill doing the same - no doubt the weeks of Spank'oM paying off for these guys big time on this finish.    When it was all over, ECV scored 2 in the top 10 w/Dave Halligan grabbing 5th and Bill Harrington 10th place, while Dave Dishaw & Ron Smithers finished strong in 22nd & 26th, respectively.  Surely Norbert would have been in the top 10 too had he not had that flat on the final climb, but he did get credit for finishing, marking one more race towards the Cat 4 upgrade.  All in all, a very good showing for ECV in the Cat 5 race.   Cat 4 - ECV was sorely missing the presence of Mark Bissell, as he continues to recover from his tragic crash at Turtle Pond a week ago (we're all pulling for Mark to get back with us soon).  But I was healed enough from my crash last week at Turtle Pond to give it a go; so on my dented bike, I lined up with Jack Hayden, and we got going with what looked like a slightly less than full field of 75 - I'd say 60 or so.    I've never ridden with Jack before, but I thoroughly enjoyed him in this one - he easily won my vote for Most Aggressive Rider.  About 2 miles into the first lap, we rounded a corner, and Cambridge Bicycle had 10 guys on the front controlling but not working so the pace was a bit slow.  Out of nowhere shoots a flash of 2-tone blue, as Jack buzzes them all and jumps off the front.  Other riders quickly chased and gobbled-up Cambridge Bicycle.  It turned out to be really good for the pace of the entire first lap, as that first time up the hill up to the finish was the hardest of the three (unfortunately).    The race settled in after that - Jack stayed in the front 20 or so riders, while I floated up & back, trying to stay safe to achieve my top goal today of not winding up in the ambulance for a 2nd consecutive week.  Jack went off the front another time, but other than that, the race was pretty uneventful.    On the last lap, I lost him, as I faded back winding up in about 40th or so - and the whole field still together - not good positioning at all for me.  I thought it would start to break-up as we went up the final hill, but it incredibly did not - it was slow and packed; the pace felt like we had 3 more laps to go, when we only had 1K to go.  And in my case, no place to go!  I finally saw some daylight to my right and cut across to the far right for the last 4-500M.  I found a lane and shot up the side reaching the front few riders (Spank'oM paying off for me there too!).   But not in time - I ran out of tarmac to reach the front 4 guys, but hey, I was still upright on the bike and made it over the line - a much better feeling than last week.    For all the spice he added to this race, Jack earned a 15th place finish, and I think he was pleased with that in his first race of the season.  For me, I managed to grab 6th which unfortunately was 1 out of the money . . .