Step 1: Begin the morning with buckwheat pancakes.

Step 2: Race around the house like a mad man cleaning your bike and packing. (Forget to bring a jacket or vest.) Listen to the Strokes on the drive.

Step 3: Be sure to date your teammate’s sister. When she arrives to feed you at races, the added support of family will help emotionally your teammate AND you. (Bonus) Thank her profusely for handing you bottles during your race. [THANK YOU, BALEIGH!]

Step 4: Make the early break along with your teammate, Ryan, who will have spent the morning marshaling earlier categories and getting yelled at by passers by. Let him do that thing he does where he becomes a diesel locomotive (with a slammed stem) grinding out miles like some demon train possessed by night wolves.

Step 5: Tap into a type of genetic stubbornness that only an Italian raised in South America might possess. Close gaps. Chase down splits. Generally crush dreams.

Step 6: When a fellow cyclist in the break mistakenly believes the penultimate lap is the last lap, follow him feverishly until the last riders of the break blow up. Silently wave good bye to Ryan. Feel comforted in knowing that he will tweet this all later. #socialmediamaverick

Step 7: Turn into a form of pure energy contained in a MetLife-NorEast jersey and direct it at suffering.

Step 8: Pedal super hard.

Step 9: Over the last climb, channel every great cyclist that ever lived, contort your face into whimsical expressions of suffering and happiness, feel the wind hit your face just as you break free of your pursuers and extend into a messianic vision of glory, winning the race in front of friends, your father, teammates and the glaring lights of Russ Campbell.

Step 10: No big deal, really.

(Congratulations, Luch on an awesome win at Sterling!)

What this post is about is what we learned between the highs and lows of America’s Most Challenging stage race. Here they are:

1. We’ve got a helluva group of racers. Physically, this is a team that can compete with any regional team. We’ve got the right compulsions: the indulgent conversations on watts, the focused attention to equipment, the strong opinions on chamois placement and wheel selection. It’s the things that these guys do in addition to racing that is pretty cool. I’ll skip the celebration of everyone, but highlight that these guys don’t miss much of life.

2. We’ve got unbelievable sponsors. To the good people at Cannondale, if there’s another bike better equipped to handle the real-world rigor of New England bike racing than our team issue CAAD10 with Ultegra Di2, I don’t know what it is. Through the punishing weekend over an absurd amount of gravel (read: fist sized rocks) and I didn’t miss a shift. Amazing. To MetLife & NorEast, we’re very grateful we get to do this stuff.

3. Luciano & Ryan are heavy hitters. Luc cracked the top ten in Saturdays’ circuit race thanks to his ninja like skills over the rugged terrain and a sharp finish. Ryan missed out on a top ten due to poor course marking but goes uphill like a scalded-ass dog. Impressive rides from these guys and a harbinger of things to come.

4. People love us. We had amazing dinners courtesy of Ryan & Aaron’s respective partners, Amanda & Jen. We had ridiculously nice housing complements of Ben’s family. We were supported in the feed zone. We were photographed in our saucy kits. Thanks to the aforementioned, Jen & Amanda, as well as to Melina, Claire, Caroline for sharing the racecation weekend and supporting us as we play bikes. Thanks to Mattie for mocking her dad in spandex and to Thomas for finding the salamanders.

5. The Best is to Come. Sterling  + Sunapee in the next couple weekends. Stage Races. Crit season. It’s a happening and we’re fired up. Stay tuned.

QFTR (Quotes from the races:):

“You’re a living legend. Show us some watts.” – Peter Bell to Frank McCormick
“DUDE. BRO. I can’t believe you let him go.”
“Um…you’re back here too.” – Overheard in the field at Battenkill.

“Ben, let’s do something stupid, like cover an early attack and blow up. It’s gonna be sweet.” -Ryan Kelly at the opening of Saturday’s race.

So it was a long time between bike races, and though one would expect me to be SUPER ABSURDLY EXCITED about Marblehead, I was just MARGINALLY EXCITED, because maybe I am becoming an old person. But if I’m becoming an old person, maybe I’m getting old man power, so it’s really okay.

I rode from my house to a McDonald’s in Amesbury to meet Ryan Fleming and new teammate but dude you all know Aaron Hubbell. We drove to the bike race while they marveled at my collegiate-level foolishness to not bring a change of clothes with me.

Listen, when you have size 15 feet, you really don’t want to ride bikes with a pair of shoes and street clothes. It’s terribly annoying. Plus my shorts are pretty comfortable and I had on some chamois cream, so…whatever.

Upon arrival at the sandy parking lot of Marblehead, Peter Bell came up to us like some sort of beardless Santa with a sack of new clothing, and that was great. I love new clothing, especially when it includes well-fitting long-sleeve jerseys, as a good portion of my bike riding is spent in the morning hours when long-sleeve jerseys are my friend.

After the usual pre-race business of chatting and riding and discussing whether or not it was an appropriate temperature to go bare-knees (it was not, but don’t tell Luciano that, because he’s all “you guys check out my legs!”), the racing started! YAY BIKE RACING I HAVE MISSED YOU.

It was not warm, which is normal at Marblehead.

Marblehead is a strange race, because the promoting club CCB throws everyone who owns a CCB jersey at it. So, when there’s a move up the road with a CCB rider, you aren’t immediately sure if it’s watt-factory Tim Mitchell or some dude who is normal. Then, CCB also has Cameron Cogburn (winner of 2012 Mt. Washington Hill Climb), Dylan McNicholas (dude who spends every Wednesday night in the summer making me question my life decisions), Will Dugan (former Team Type 1 rider) and a pile of other dudes who they also just send off the front to make it interesting.

So you’re never really sure what’s going on, it gets sorta fast, and everyone is super excited because OH MAN WE ARE RACING BIKES!

The race saw a few moves go up the road and come back, and things were pretty normal until three to go when Tim Mitchell (aforementioned watt factory), a Keough (yep, one of them Keoughs) and another dude were up the road. I was getting to the point where I wanted to take a nap, as I had spent some time at the front of the race being excited, but once I saw Ryan Fleming at the front riding with gusto I realized I should try to be productive.

We spent a lap riding at a lively pace – lively enough that my legs and respiratory system started getting confused with what was happening – before I detonated at the bottom of the finish climb at one to go. Fleming eventually blew up shortly thereafter.

Luciano ended up 6th, and Aaron 8th (full results – please note the fantastic finish of Ryan Fleming and I!), so that is dandy.

Yay bikes!

We repost, for your approval, Ryan’s Portsmouth race report:

Portsmouth…

Whaaaaaat?!? A bicycle race report? Yep. They have been few and far between this year, because I got hit with a dumptruck full of adulthood and a Honda Civic full of Lyme Disease but hey, whatchu gonna do.(Excuses will be in bold)

I finished my Lyme antibiotics on Friday, and had been back riding my bike by that point. Lyme is a hell of a disease. I don’t recommend getting it. If a tick hold you up at knife point in the woods, just give him your wallet and iPhone and get the hell out of there. Don’t try to fight him off and end up getting Lyme.

So everyone had fast August legs, and I had (what felt like) mid-April legs. Not great.

I continued my solid race preparation by cleaning out the ground floor of my barn for about 7.5 hours on Friday. I told Amanda that if I lost the crit, it was her fault. To which she replied “There’s no way you were going to win anyway”.

My wife is very smart.

As this was my team’s race, I got to Portsmouth at 7:30 on Sunday to help out. I was lucky, and managed to snag a position working registration for the Kid’s race, in a chair, and with a friggin’ awesome lady named Ann. We talked a lot. When she was writing down day-ofs for the 4-6 races (I covered the 7-9 and 10-12), I was tweeting.

I found my teammates and hung around the start of the kids races before a lovely lunch at Ceres Bakery (one of the best places in Portsmouth) with the team and a quick car nap. Amanda bummed a ride with Robbie King, and she arrived to work the busy crossing by Breaking New Grounds.

I groggily got in my kit, and we did some bike riding to move the legs – after I took three ibuprofen to deal with the previous days efforts, of course.

After getting back to the team tent and wolfing down my stashed volunteer lunch, it was time to race bikes.

At some point I applied a breathe right strip to my nose and HOLY CRAP THOSE THINGS ARE AMAZING. I will be racing with them from now on. I feel like a goober, yes, but they are fantastic.

I lined up, comically got a call-up as a “local hero” (thanks Fleming, or Susanne, or someone in the promotion department) alongside real local heros Dylan McNicholas and Robbie King (who are much better than me at bike racing). Isaac Howe didn’t get a call-up, so I was technically better than him for like eight minutes.

Aaaand then we were racing bikes!

On the first lap, I thought of my good friend Drew Szeliga. Then some dude went off the front, a Hagens-Berman dude went with him, and I thought “what would Drew do?” Drew would cover the first move of the race, so off I went!

And my body was like “oh seriously what is going on I thought we were done with this business dude c’mon what”.

We came back, obviously, and I think I rocketed towards the back. Whoops!

I surfed in the mid to back of the race (also not wise) for most of it. Occasionally I found myself being borderline productive. I did what I could to chase down a move, I dragged Peter Bell up the group with 10 to go, and I chatted with Isaac about fish stock and really wished I had a time machine to the point that ticks evolved from some other insect so I could crush their ancestor.

After my efforts with 10 to go, I was pretty spent, and used what little energy I had left to move up to aid Landen, Luciano and Andrew in their efforts to give Peter a good launching pad for the finish. The three of them did a great job, and Hagens-Berman took over the efforts for the last lap with Peter surfing somewhere in the front of the field.

Coming into the finish, there was some business that ended with Aaron on the ground (but okay) and angry. Peter ended up fifth behind, with Isaac winning for the second year in a row, and some guys who aren’t from New England (so they don’t matter) in between them.

At some point, Amanda was kidnapped into haybale cleanup duty – which involves loading haybales into the truck AND unloading haybales at a Portsmouth municipal facility. As a result, after changing into non-bike racing clothes, I awkwardly walked around Portsmouth with her purse looking for her (for about an hour) before giving up and heading to the volunteer party at the Brewery.

She eventually showed up, sweaty, and requiring beer. Which was good, because we were at a brewery.

I am always amazed at this race. I’ve done it every year since 2005. And every year it is amazing. If every race as 10% as well run as this race, bike racing would be much more fantastic.

Racers are readying for the Labor Day Weekend and the last New England stage race of the year, Vermont’s Green Mountain Stage Race.

More soon…

And don’t forget. Beverly Wednesday.

We pulled up late to the Oxford Criterium with a road weary crew after the seven hour drive from the Boston area to the sleepy Pennsylvania town. The air was humid and cooling slowly for the twilight start and our crew pulled bikes, kits and numbers together in an unfamiliar parking lot.

Oxford was a preview of the five days MetLife-NorEast would race in West Chester County. The course was highly technical, the field split early and the efforts were long and sharp. After an initial sorting out, the field whittled down to roughly twenty racers including MetLife’s Ryan Flemming, Peter Bell, Landen Acebo and newcomer to the team, Luciano Paven.

Taking turns chasing and rechasing break after break, the field lapped and relapped itself with lapped riders remaining in the fray and organizers clueless about who was in contention and who wasn’t. Though results were occluded by the lapped riders, one thing is certain, the MetLife-NorEast crew rode well and landed two racers, Peter Bell & Luciano in the money, a harbinger of things to come throughout the week.

With a full days rest and a stronger field  amassing in the CGP’s second stop, the Malvern Criterium followed a similar formula to Oxford, albeit on a course with more relief, tighter corners and a fast descent. The initial sorting out didn’t go as smoothly for MetLife-NorEast with every rider caught in an early crash, and in the case of Ryan and Peter, two crashes. It was here that Ryan suffered the worst effects of the crash after jumping a curb and narrowly avoiding some young spectators before a chance encounter with a nearby tree. (A trip to the ER and x-rays later revealed a broken wrist. We wish Ryan the best for a speedy recovery.)

Peter, Landen and Luciano soldiered on through the selections until the field became the familiar twenty riders. With twenty laps remaining on the sixty-five lap race, four of the week’s strongest riders had pulled in front of the field, including London Olympian and local favorite Bobby Lea and Quebec strongman, Bruno Langlois, as well as a collection of German riders, imported by the race organizers to keep the quality of the field high. In a bold effort, Landen attacked the remaining group, pressing into the distance between the field and the professionals off the front. His effort lasted twenty laps, a strong solo ride caught just before the finish. Peter and Luciano placed in the top twenty, good for more prize money and a consolation prize in the wake of Landen’s effort.

The third day of racing at CHESCO brought the MetLife-NorEast team to Phoenixville and the most dynamic course of the weekend. A barbell shaped, hilly effort with high speeds and tight corners pressed the field into a thin line early and took its toll on the race numbers. One-by-one riders were popped off the end of the pack until the typical twenty riders remained, including Peter, Landen and Luciano. After a couple of sharp attacks and counter moves, Peter and Landen lost their grip of the remaining fifteen riders but Luciano held strong for an impressive top-fifteen finish. “I gave everything I had,” Luciano explained, soaked through from the effort chasing repeated attacks from the German contingent.

The final race for MetLife-NorEast was a less technically demanding crit, the Coatesville Classic. The race unfolded similarly to the previous three efforts with one clear difference, a firetruck arriving mid-race, mid course.

Once the alarm of the fire had been determined to be false, the race was restarted in the place it was interrupted: the usual crowd of professionals in a break with a one minute lead. Peter Bell made a valiant effort to bridge but was denied before the finish. Again, strong results from Landen, Peter and Luciano carried the day and the long drive back to New England.

Racing for MetLife-NorEast resumes next week at the Beverly Grand Prix in Beverly, MA.