Yarmouth Clam Fest Race Report

I took a break from the dirt (mud) and hit up the bike race associated with the Yarmouth Clam Festival put on by my road club Portland Velo. The decision was a bit impromptu as I originally planned to attend the EFTA Horror at Harding XC event. However, about ½ my road team was signed up and it was basically local, so I made the quick ride down.
Since I wasn’t putting a lot of emphasis on the event, I didn’t conserve energy and worked, rode, and played pretty hard all week. Thursday I hit up a small, but steady group ride put on by the CMCC out of Mathieu's Bike Shop. It was nice knowing there’s another option to ride with others closer to home. I also expelled some serious energy working at the lake house.
Nonetheless, I was good to go and so was the weather for once! The course was a 3+ mile circuit that was fairly flat save for one punchy climb after a 90 degree turn that lead to a LONG finishing straight. It reminded me a lot of the circuit race used in the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. We had a neutral first lap lead by the PVC women racers to celebrate the life of a former club member who was struck and killed while riding out west recently.
Start photo courtesy of Don McEwan


From there, it was on for 9 laps! Although there was no team communication prior to the race, I figured the strategy was simple and we would dominate the race given our numbers. I assumed we would have a strong presence out front, have at least 1 rider in every break, and/or launch attacks, and block. I was wrong. The rest of the 100+ field was pretty stout and included some well known pros. Our guys were spread out everywhere, myself included and there was no organization. We did have a guy or 2 get in a couple of breaks that didn’t stick. But there was an elite group that got away late in the race which didn’t include any of us and there was no organization to bring it back.

I’d like to think I did my share of effort joining a couple of break attempts and riding at the front while a teammate was up the road. But the climb was starting to take its toll and I wasn’t maintaining my position as we crested on the latter laps.
Annoying climb photo thanks to Don


To make matters worse, I mis-read the lap cards and I emptied the tank on the actual next-to-last lap! I was wondering why it was so easy to get to the front! What an ass! Ultimately, it came down to the last lap. The pace was fast and the entire field sped into the turn at the base of the climb. After an early incident where a Keltic rider went down and 1 lap where I tried the outside line, I suspected there may be a pileup as the field swept left off the turn. Sure enough, I heard the heinous sound of metal, carbon, and road colliding. The issue was the sidewalk curb was extremely difficult to pick out of the shade and it comes up on you quickly. It killed my momentum as well as half the field so I ended up semi-coasting home to an unceremonious 62nd. I have come to the realization I really don’t like circuit races. They are mini-versions of a road course run at criterium speed. They’re dangerous and HARD!
I had a chance to chat with French Freye and Hattie after the race who volunteered for the event which was nice. I then cruised to the lake house to meet the fam and indulge in the fruits of my labor on the dock I floated this week!


Next it’s back to the dirt for some fun cyclocross and a cross country event at Mt. Snow.