TCB rider Mark McCormack has been pretty active the past couple weeks. Somehow his ol’ legs just keep on kicking—or pedaling, in this case. Nice riding out there on the other coast Mark. Way to fly the TCB colors!
Here’s Mark’s race report:



 

I raced these past two weekends. Flying the red jersey out here and really enjoying it.

Last weekend I raced at the Cyclonauts Road Race (quite a name) in Monson, MA. It was a 56-mile road race with a few small climbs and a 1-mile finish climb. I missed the major break of the day after making a very uncomfortable bridge to the first break attempt and nearly leaving myself empty. It took me about 5 miles to recover from that effort (not as fit as I used to be).

Anyhow, my brother Frank, myself and two other guys put together a nice 10-mile chase to bring back the 5-man break that was 2:45 up with 15 miles to go in the race. When we were getting close, I took a back seat in the chase to conserve a little for the finish. I was close to feeling like a real bike racer and managed a 6th place. I was happy with that result given that I haven’t raced in a few months.

This weekend I raced three times. On Saturday I raced in the Masters 35+ and the 1,2,3 races of the NBX Criterium in Charlestown, RI. Dead flat, 7 corners, and wind that was left over from Paris-Roubaix. I haven’t raced on this course since 1986 so it was fun to come back and show the old guys how to ride in the wind. I won the 35+ and then opted for a laid-back approach to the 1,2,3 event in order to conserve for the Sunday event.

On Sunday I raced at the COX Charities Criterium in down city Providence in the Pro 1, 2 race (I won this event in 2006) along with 149 other riders. 6 corners, short steep hill, and a little wind made this 50-lap/50-mile slugfest a race. I took a conservative approach hoping that with so many riders in the race that there would always be someone willing to chase.

I was WRONG! A 10-12 rider group formed early and looked like they would lap the field. The prime bell started ringing for the field though and for 7 or 8laps in a row we were going super fast chasing after the $$ primes. The gap was coming down and the break started to attack each other and all but two riders were caught.

I felt strong and tried several times to form a chase group midway through the race but nothing developed. It was a blast battling for position the final few laps and in the end I finished 8th. I was pretty happy to be throwing elbows with so many pros, knowing that I had just completed a 50-hour work week and ridden my bike 4 ½ hours that week. Good thing I have 23 years of riding stored up in my legs.

I also signed up for the Fitchburg Stage Race and will race in the Pro/Cat 1 event. 4 days of racing starting up this Thursday. Should be fun, and hard.

Hope you are all doing well.

-Mark


-----