Supported rides and races will be announced.

New PVC kits/clothing will be on hand for pick up for those that pre-ordered and additional PVC clothing is available for purchase that evening.

Hors d’oeuvres will be provided, and there will be a cash bar.

Come socialize with your friends and find out more about what PVC has to offer. Members and non-members alike are welcome. An event like this only happens once every four years! Be there.

If you’d like to renew your membership today, that would be great!

Master Worlds Cyclocross Race Report

Women’s Helmet is black/blue and offered in two sizes – small and medium:

Men’s Helmet is white and offered in three sizes – small, medium and large:

Please submit your orders with Cyclemania by December 17th. Cash, check and credit is accepted for payment.

New Gloucester proved to be a true test of bike handling skills  with the amount of mud and grass accumulation on the bike. Equipment failure seemed to be standard for the day with close to 25% of the cat 4 field DNF with broken dérailleur and hanger combination. The weight of most bikes was 10-12 pounds heavier than when the race began. Even after a post-race wash there was still 1/2 pound of grass in my drive train.

Anyway, the weather was typical fall condition, a tad on the warm side (55 degrees) but very wet in the field sections. The cat 4 race began up the paved hill into a right hand turn. I had started the day with close to 40 psi in both tires, not thinking the early grass sections would be slippery. This hypothesis proved incorrect as I was first into the turn onto grass and proceeded to crash into the first off-camber hill. Reacting quickly I was able to get back on the bike without losing my position. After a brief exchange of positions with a rider from Colby/Kissena Cycling club, I took the lead again and tried to open a gap.

I was able to put 30 seconds between myself and Chris Syer from Bikeman.com for the next few laps. As I was coming around for another lap I saw that the officials were in the process of changing lap cards and I was unsure where we were in the race. I heard the bell lap over my shoulder and tried to focus on not “fading” on the last lap.
It was really encouraging to hear all the OA riders behind the tape cheering and encouraging their teammates. Paul Weiss was offering some great advice as I was passing by “only critical shifts, only when necessary”. Seeing the amount of bike attrition that day, this was definitely important. I was able to spin the remainder of the last lap with minimal shifting and was able to enjoy the gap I created and coasted home in first place. My first place finish yet this year. After taking two second places at Gloucester and CascoBay races, this was a much enjoyed bonus.

I hope this qualifies for an upgrade so that I can join the ranks of the Masters 35+ field. Thanks again OA folks for coming and watching and cheering for the “early race”.

Here are the new kits for 2012:

2012 PVC Men's Kit

2012 PVC Women's Kit

You can download/print the order forms for the Men’s kit HERE and the Women’s kit HERE. Payment by cash and check accepted, sorry no credit cards. Make checks payable to Portland Velo Club for the full amount or a minimum of 50% down with your clothing order along with 2012 club dues ($30.00) paid in full by November 15, 2011. Checks and order forms can be mailed to Portland Velo Club, PO Box 15093, Portland, ME 04112 or dropped off at the kiosk at Cyclemania.

We anticipate the orders to arrive after the first of the year.

Happy shopping!

Women’s order form

Men’s Order Form

Hey all ‘cross fans,

The Cat 4 Masters 35+ race at the GP of Gloucester yesterday ended up a tad on the “wet” side, rather different than last years course. But this is cross season and is to be expected. The rain did let up for the race , but the corners ,and the really interesting run-ups , were greasy.

I missed last weeks Vermont race so this was my season opener and I made the usual careless preparation mistakes that one encounters at the beginning of any seasonal transition. I was so focused on making sure I made the correct equipment choices: tire pressure, MTB shoes, kit, rain jacket, etc, that I did not fill my water bottle for the trip down. I got there and realized that all I had to drink was my cup of coffee. Not the best way to start a race  being under-hydrated.  The warm up was great though with no rain, stayed dry, but for some reason was chilled (probably due to my hydration level).
I assume , based on my Crossworld results from last year,  I got a front line start. Real nice!

The start was also uneventful as well, barring the usual poor line choices by a few riders unsure of the “friction coefficient” of cross tires and wet pavement. Shortly we entered the start of the tape maze with a nicely constructed run-up stairs section. This was followed by some off-camber switch backs. Making this section required skilled riding or hike-a-bike technique. The only barrier sectioned followed, flat and fast section, just as I was hoping. I had been working on my cross mounts and dismounts this week.

A sand section and more tape followed. The last technical section were the run-ups on the north side of the course. The new run up appeared to be a bridge that had stairs on one side and a ramp on the other side. Really cool.

As I was making my way through these obstacles, I noticed that I was picking off the few riders that were in front of me. A rider from Alpine Clinic was exchanging lines with me for a few laps. We eventually put a 30 second gap on the field. I had led most of the race but a last lap slide-out on a grass corner ate up some of my time. I started feeling some tension in my right hip and the Alpine Clinic rider passed me , no worries, I felt good and I had been riding the last technical sections well. Unfortunately, he was able to get a 10 second gap and I heard the announcer shouting words of encouragement. It ended up being a sprint finish, and I had the disadvantage coming up the hill in second place and just couldn’t close the gap.

Second Place. My best result in cross yet. Really great race and I look forward to JamesTown and CascoBay next week!

I registered for the TD Bank Mayor’s Cup Professional Criterium in mid-August before I knew it was going to be the USA Crits series championship. I had heard a great deal about the race from friends and thought it would be a fun way to end the road season. The race was certainly fun and it was very neat to be competing in the middle of a city like Boston, but it was definitely not an easy race to end the season on.

I arrived at the Government Center in Boston with about 30 minutes to spare. I quickly kitted up and picked up my number only to find that they were calling riders to the staging area. With no warmup, I knew my legs would not be happy. To top it off, I was starting in the back of the 100+ rider field. I had been told that I really had to start at the front for this race, but I didn’t think much of it until I actually saw the course.

When we took off, things immediately stretched out. We made our way down past the first two turns and took off on the backstretch. Just as predicted, the legs were screaming. All I could do was sit in and hold on for dear life. After about 15 minutes of this, I managed to start working my way through the field. I always felt like I was making good progress until we hit the back stretch and I could see how big the field actually was and how many riders were in front of me. No matter how many people I passed, it felt like I was still sitting in the back. Luckily, the pack seemed to balloon mid-race after the start/finish line. I was able to shoot up into good position and stay there for a lap. I got my confidence up and wanted more so I tried to get even further up by passing on the inside of the 2nd corner. This turned out to be a big mistake though as I lost all momentum after getting cut off and having to brake. It took a lot energy to get back up to speed and I burnt a big match. I had to spend the next 5 or so laps sitting in and recovering. Definitely learned a lesson from that one.

With 7 laps to go there was a crash in between turns 1 and 2. The legs were back now, but I was also sitting pretty far back so I was forced to slow again as I made my way around the downed riders. Once again, I found myself burning another big match as I sprinted to catch back on. This was where the race really got fast as teams started queueing up at the front. There was little I could do at this point but sit and hang on. The rest of the race was really just surge and recover since things were so strung out in the back. On the last lap, there was another crash on the 3rd corner. Lots of riders went down in this and I had to slam the brakes. There was no way that I could do anything and I just had to roll in with the rest of the riders for 62nd place.

This was definitely a tough race tactically for me. I learned a lot of valuable lessons though and I am eager to learn from my mistakes. Overall, this was a great experience. It was such a neat feeling to be competing among so many big names and in Boston. Such a great way to end the road season.

Time for some CX now.

On the 18th of September, I traveled from the University of Vermont to the coast of NH for the Portsmouth Criterium. Having done this race last year, I knew that it was one that I could not leave off my race schedule. This is truly one of the best venues in the Northeast – big and enthusiastic crowds, great setting, and good sized fields with well-seasoned riders.

If there is one late season crit to watch, this would definitely be it in my opinion.

The race got off to a good start with riders attacking. There were some very strong riders who were determined to get a break started and this kept the rest of the field on edge and the pace high. I found myself sitting in the back and riding the tail for the first few laps as I had had a bit too much coffee and was a little jittery. I was back to normal in about five laps however and started to work my way into the middle of the pack.

The attacks kept flying and the primes kept coming. Because of this, the pack began to really stretch out and only came together a few times. I was just hanging on to wait for a good time to move up further and I soon found my chance. About halfway through the race, the pack ballooned on the backstretch and I was able to move up the right side of the road. Just as this happened, an attack flew from the same side. I found myself trying to bridge up with this move, but decided not to do so once I realized there were others that were more willing to pull everyone back. I let them take over and sat in.

The lap cards were quickly coming to an end and it was time to start thinking about getting on a wheel as the break was coming back. I was sitting up close to the front when the last break was caught and the peloton quickly ballooned. I was forced back as riders shot up the sides and I found myself in pretty bad position for the last couple laps. I tried to move back up, but the last laps of a race are not the right time to move up. I ended up finishing in the field for 38th.

The race could have gone better, but I am still happy since it was such a great day of racing and Joe Lynch was able to go solo for the win in his race. An amazing feat by any standard.

I will try to keep this short as I know many of you saw the length of my last memoir and pressed the delete button!

This year, Eric L, Carl, Graydon, Gene, Ed and Chris showed up for the Cat 3 race. I was determined to not drag the whole field around with me if I went and to support my teammates if any were able to get up the road. I managed to sit in for about 4 laps I think when I made it to the front and bridged to a dwindling one man break by riding through a prime sprint. I ended up with 6 (I think) boys in a terribly disorganized break. Looking back, I noticed that at first, we only had the field strung out behind us. But after a bit, another look revealed we had a REALLY nice gap. So I talked to my breakaway companions as sweetly as I could regarding going through corners single file so as not to slow the group and pulling through to share the workload. After a lap or two of this I decided to try yelling at them. Still, terribly disorganized with me doing all the work. On the next prime lap, one of the CCB boys actually went for the prime with no discussion. Much to early for such self centered tomfoolery, particularly from a man so unable to work a minute ago. So, I followed, on his wheel but with a muted effort, slowly turning it up, knowing he would fade after his effort. I turned the screws just a bit more as I passed him while pulling away to the side for the proverbial shake and bake. DISMISSED…. A look behind revealed that indeed, the rest of my companions were dismissed also! Not really my plan, it was only to make the CCB guy suffer for his efforts. But, what the heck? Why not try to do something with such a nice gap and sizable gap behind that! So I asked myself what Hank or Fast Fred would do?

After this point, I am not able to comment intelligently on the rest of the race. I put my head down and started trying to focus on a pace I thought I could hold for the next 35 minutes or so. I thought about missing the selection at the Clam Festival and how I felt I let my team down, I thought about riding the Raymond loop in the rain alone, I thought about sitting on the guardrail with Eddie and Jack waiting for the ambulance after I ran Hank over at another Clam Festival and the entire CycleMania Crew, “Joey, what can WE do for YOU to keep you on the road?” I thought about getting dropped on East Hawley Road earlier in the summer and taking a pee break when I was supposed to be leading out Jeff for an intermediate sprint at Green Mt., I thought about Doc Brown’s (OA) efforts on my knee and my struggle to ride to the stoplight on Blackstrap during my recovery with my dad, I thought about the patience and support my family has given me. I thought about how many of you push me and support me and then say “nice job Joey”, what did we do? Well, Art, Graydon, Gene, you listen. Jurgen, Aron, Chris G., Joe R., Eric W., F. Fred, Uncle Troy, Brett, you guys push me when I am tired and my legs hurt…. You attack me when I am already on the rivets, you call to make sure I got home if I get a flat.. Deirdre, you give me the Hall Pass to go!

So, if you are receiving this note, it is because I look at today as something that would NOT have happened if you all did not play some part in it. Thank you, from the very bottom of my heart.

3 PVC riders raced today Goerge Bennington, John Meerse and Me.   Got in a bit late so I wanted to get a lap in between races and got on the bike with only the street clothes and a helmet (No cleats on).   It was a cool course with a long woods section including a hairy 180 bumpy off camber turn.   I took this turn a bit fast and rolled my tire in it.   Ouch.   Well now I was to do 2 races without a spare bike.   Not good.   The Masters 45+ race was a fast start and I seemed to be up in the top 3rd.  Things were good until I hit that 180 degree turn again and this time it was Tom Stevens, who fell right in front of me and I had to choice to run over him or his bike.   I chose the bike and really missed most of it luckily.   This put me back a few places again.   There was a woods single barrier that I ran the first lap because it was bunched up.   The laps after that I could bunny hop the barrier but found my front chain ring was coming off and going between the double sided front guards (I run a single up front).   This was not good.   After the race Mark Wysoki (the race mechanic) told me I needed a new chainring and chain and to space the guards better.   Who knew.   The bad thing was, I lost the font ring chain about a dozen times, which does not make for fun riding.   Getting off my bike so many times really has a slowing effect on forward progress.   It was fun to have George Bennington in the race.   He was having a great day, and we ended up riding together for about 2 laps.   With 1 lap to go I rolled my back tire on a really difficult off camber section after the double field barriers.   Lost many places getting it back on.  Not the best race I have done….oh well.   I saw John Meerse after the race but did not see him during my race since the 35+ started ahead of me.

It was hard to even start to the Elite race knowing I had 1 good bike, and 1 with a rolled tire on the back that was delicately partially glued on.  So I started off the back of the elites with 5 McCormack brothers ahead of me.   Yes 2 National Champions and now the oldest sons of Frank are racing.   Really cool to see and fun to race with.   I did my best to race with the previously rolled tire and front part of the chain falling off.   It seemed like an eternity but I finished after getting lapped not sure how many times…..

It is good to have race days like this before the season gets into full tilt.   I will hopefully get some help from Cyclemania this week and repair my bike and work on the body all week.   Next weekend VT Verge Series 2 day race.   Looking forward to that one for sure.