“Sometime late last fall I selected the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic as my priority race of the year. The rational was simple: Fitchburg was known to be a challenging race that had a reputation for outstanding organization. Sprinters/Leaders jerseys, competition on GC (rather than the often ridiculous omnium scoring), the opportunity to watch some of the best pros,  and the chance to ride and act like a real euro-pro for a weekend was sufficient for me to justify the cost and vacation time it would require. Traditionally, time gaps at Fitchburg have been created on the TT and the Wachusett Mountain Road Race, but the circuit race and the criterium are technical enough to eliminate less-efficient riders. Most importantly, the race was well balanced. The time-trial is a difficult rolling affair, but not so long that a strong rider could open an insurmountable lead. Similarly, while the climb to the mountaintop finish at Wachusett was steep enough to shatter the field, it was not so pronounced that a pure climber could dominate the weekend off of one good ride. Since I fancy myself to be good at everything (but really great at nothing) I signed up for Fitchburg with dreams of cracking the top 25. Although I am relatively new to cycling, my athletic career really began when I took up rowing during college. Sure, rowing helped me to develop my aerobic capacity and leg strength, but more importantly, it helped me learn to be mentally tough.

Stage 1: Best Western Individual Time Trial
The course: A rolling out and back 7.1-mile individual time trial that will favor a rider with a compact position and an abundance of power.

When I pre-rode the course almost a month ahead of time, two things stood out in my mind. First, the TT started uphill. It was not really a climb in as much as a persistent uphill grade for the first mile and a half. Secondly, the final climb to the finish was steep enough to extract serious time from anyone who cracked on the way up. It was hot Thursday when the three of us (Robbie Kollar and Erick Pierce included) warmed up for the TT. I was more than a bit jumpy as my nerves frayed just thinking about what was to come. I suppose the downside of being highly selective with your races is the pressure and nervousness that inevitably comes with basing your season on only a few efforts. I like to think I respond well to adversity, but no matter how many times you’ve done it before, you can never really be sure until the moment arrives.

5-4-3-2-1….and my moment was up. I pushed hard through the first 1.5 miles, constantly reminding myself to crest aggressively and stay positive even though my speed was slow. I was encouraged that I was able to hold 18mph over the steepest sections (something I had not been able to do in practice) and therefore avoid having to get out of the saddle. I firmly believe that one of the hardest things to do is to stay confident during a race. Our minds and bodies are more in tune with each other than we often realize, and while our minds can sometimes drive our bodies to extraordinary heights, all too often, it seems it is our bodies that dictate to us. It’s easy to convince yourself you can succeed at home on the couch, but being able to convince yourself of that at 30 miles an hour while sweat is coming out your eyeballs, you’re getting tunnel vision and you feel nauseous is an entirely different story. Our brains simply act different when the body is under duress, and the seemingly logical strategy you had previously decided upon now appears ludicrous. For me, the mental toughness necessary to override my body’s objections is entirely a function of preparation. A former coach used to remind me that the will to win wasn’t nearly as important as the will to prepare to win. Winners pay the price and if you’re willing to train like a champion, at race time you simply have to quiet your mind enough to allow your body to do what it already knows how to do. The 2nd and 3rd quarters of the race were fast as the course leveled out and I was able to hold well over 30mph for the vast majority of it. My speed increased further in the last  quarter as I rocketed down the hill that I had struggled up at the start. Fortunately I had just enough energy to big-ring the finish climb and power to the line. Before I had even finished throwing up, the officials announced my time to be the fastest on the day so far. The time held up, and by days end, I was on the podium pulling on my very own bright orange bulls-eye.

Afterward, another racer commented that he’d give anything to be in my shoes. I thought about it for a moment, and then asked him never to say that again. I had set this single time trial as my priority race for the entire year. I had planned for it, prepared for it, and subsequently came out and crushed it. I would like to say that I was excited and happy to have accomplished such a great goal, but instead, I was mostly just relieved to have lived up to my own expectations. Perhaps the same internal pressures that drive me to succeed keep me from fully enjoying the results.
My time: 15:06 Average speed 28.2 mph
2nd @ 0:18
3rd @ 0:21
4th @ 0:21

For those of you who are real gluttons, here's how the rest turned out:

Stage 2: Aubuchon Circuit Race
The course: a 3.1-mile circuit with one steep 2-tiered climb.

To be fair, I had not seriously contemplated winning the time trial. I was hoping for a solid ride and a top 10 finish, but the orange leader’s jersey I was now wearing changes things. The leaders jersey is heavy with expectations and cold with the glare of 150 other riders looking to exploit a single moment of weakness. The fields in New England tend to be larger, better organized and much more aggressive than what we typically face in the South, so holding the jersey for even one more day would be a major accomplishment for our team. Erick and Robbie were excited and reassured me not to worry, as they would control the field. The
game plan was for me to sit in and try to conserve as much energy as possible for the wicked road race on Saturday. For me the circuit race was much more nervous than difficult. Simply staying clean and out of the wrecks was the priority as Robbie and Pierce closed down nearly every break. A couple of crashes shook things up, but the field was so aggressive that I often stayed out of trouble by jumping onto attacks. My guys worked their tails off for me to ensure no one got away  while I was able to conserve as much as possible. The three of us finished safely within the field for a “Same Time” and a hold on the leader’s jersey.
The only bad news of the day came when the fifth-place contender on GC won the stage. Stan “the Stanimal” Jurga picked up the 10 second time bonus for the stage win and joined a growing bunch of contenders at just 20 seconds back. A strong time-trialist who can sprint? This was clearly someone to keep and eye on. I would have to try to drop him on the Wachusett  climb before the finish because I seriously doubted I could match that type of wicked sprint.

Overall GC after Stage 2:
Overall time: 1:15:13
2nd @ 0:18
3rd, 4th and 5th @ 0:21

Stage 3: Wachusett Mountain Road Race
The course: 6 laps around an 11-mile loop with 2 climbs of significance. The first, a 0.6 mile wall averaging 15% grade, followed shortly by a slightly longer 2-mile climb averaging a 9% grade. On the final lap, the race heads into Wachusett Mountain State Park for a climb to the summit that covers 650 feet of climbing in just under a mile. All tolled the Road Race covered more than 1000 feet of climbing per lap; enough to dent the legs of even the strongest climbers well before the assault on the summit. Our goal today was to limit time losses, and fight like mad to stay in the top 5 on GC. At 170lbs, I didn’t foresee myself being able to climb with some of the wisps that had shown an innate ability to fly up hills in the circuit race. Hopefully I had already put enough time on the little guys to hold my position.  The race opened up with a quick rollout and a flurry of attacks. Since we didn’t have the firepower to real back every break, we made the conscious decision to try to save our legs to real a break back late in the day. The plan almost backfired. By the second lap, the Green jersey was up the road with a couple of riders low on the overall. Initially the plan worked well, as the breakaway fought it out over the sprint points while allowing the GC contenders  to avoid the sudden accelerations and roll along at a steady pace. However, as the day wore on, it looked more and more likely that the break might actually stay away. On the climbs I was able to drift back a little to avoid running into the red zone, though the climbs were
certainly taking a toll on my legs. Why did I have to eat that bowl of ice cream in April? By the 3rd lap, Erick Pierce went to the front to take up the pace-making duties to try to limit the time-gap to the break. Every time over the climbs, EP would get dropped, only to keep fighting and bridge his way back to the leaders. He was able to pick his way past the shelled riders on a fast descent and time trial hard to hook back up with the rapidly shrinking field. Without a word he would ride straight past us to the front and drill the pace all the way around to the next climb. What an impressive ride! Although the highest placed rider in the breakaway was more than a minute down, with a 2:45 lead holding on the last lap, the situation began to grow dire. Only on the last lap did the other GC contenders finally send some teammates to the front to help Erick bring things back. True to form, Erick
led to the start of the last climb, using his last bit of energy before popping and having to ride the rest of the way home alone.We were in danger of letting things slip as the breakaway still had 2 minutes nearing the final loop climb before entering Wachusett State park. Patrick Sheehan of Peachtree bikes contributed to his fellow Georgians by keeping the pace high into the bottom of the climb. A good climber himself, the pace had been so hard all day that after a tremendous effort, he could only slip back as we passed the ranger station and started the final climb to the Summit. Thanks Patrick! As the race kicked up for the last time, the field shattered and I was without teammates, alone with the leaders. The attacks started early as the GC contenders saw their opportunity for the overall win. I was able to ride on or near the front and limit the damage until the lead group, now down to 7 or 8 guys, arrived at the steepest section of the course; a nasty little incline nearing 17% but still more than 600 meters to the finish.

While pre-riding the course with a good friend of mine a few weeks ago, I had commented that the steep section might be a good place for an attack, to which he responded: “Erik, if you’re going to go there, you gonna’ need to have the f***ing gas,” because it was still so far from the finish. Tired of riding on the defensive, I summoned all my energy and attacked with everything I had. Only one rider was able to counter as we passed the last remnants of the breakaway. The lone rider who followed my move sprinted around for an amazing win, while I was able to finish second (and hit a new max heart rate!). Somehow I had managed to not only hold on, but to actually consolidate my lead to more than 30 seconds. The view from atop Wachusett Mountain was stunning. I donned a fresh orange leaders jersey and waited for my teammates.
Overall time: 4:23:25
2nd @ 0:33
3rd @ 0:38
4th @ 0:39

Stage 4: Workers Credit Union Downtown Criterium
 

If it were a softball game, the downtown criterium on Sunday would have been called on account of the mercy rule. Except for the brief moment of sheer terror when I got bumped out and had to hop a median, the criterium had all the excitement of a firing squad. With a substantial lead and the two best crit riders in the field at my disposal, the other GC contenders didn’t stand much of a chance. Pierce and Robbie rotated on the front hunting down every break and reveling in the utter devastation they were causing to the field behind them. After three difficult days of racing, these two seemed to delight in inflicting a little pain of their own. Rather than simply keeping me safe, they were determined to put a very large Aaron’s stamp on the race. Congratulations boys! We just do what we do.
Final GC Overall: 5:21:35
2nd @ 0:33
3rd @ 0:38
4th @ 0:39

Overall Cat. 3 winner Erik Koep with his orange leader's jersey.

Eric Koep with his teammates Robbie Kollar and Erick Pierce.