Photos by Jonathan S. McElvery





::: cycling in the northeast USA :::






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June 05, 2008 - Heartbreak Hill: Registration opens tomorrow!
Just a few miles west of downtown Boston, this exciting new circuit race will start and finish in Newton Centre, climbing up the legendary Heartbreak Hill once per lap (5.1 mile loop.) Bring your friends and family to this race, it's going to be a giant block party with 5K and 10K running races followed by a full afternoon of pro-am bicycle racing. Proceeds from the event help the Lance Armstrong Foundation in their battle against cancer. For more information about the race, please visit http://www.bolocorace.com

Acquia presents New England Race Week, 6/28-7/6
The Boloco Heartbreak Hill Grand Prix will be the 2nd event in New England Race Week, offering eight days of racing across four states with over $75,000 in prize money! For more information about NERW, please visit http://www.newenglandraceweek.com

It pays to tell your friends & family!
You can win great prizes for referring runners to the Boloco Heartbreak Hill Grand Prix 5K & 10K races. Just tell them to list your name for the "How did you hear about the race?" question on registration. We'll tally up the referrals on race day and award $100, $50 and $25 gift cards from Boloco to the top three referrers, respectively. The winner (or their guest) will also get to ride in the pace car during the bicycle race, (and more prizes coming soon!)

Volunteers race for free!
We are seeking volunteers to help with several aspects of the event prior to race day, including registration, course sweeping and the (always popular) stuffing of race-bags. We also need course marshals to help keep everyone safe during the full afternoon of bike races. There will be two marshal crews; crew 1 will be on course from 1-4pm while crew 2 will be on course from 4-6:30pm. If interested in helping, please register online for your race and then email me for more information. All volunteers will receive a refund of their race entry fee at the event as well as free entry into next year's race.

Host housing needed!
Many of the pro cyclists are inquiring about host housing for New England Race Week. If you live within ~20 miles of Boston and have space for a few cyclists and their gear, please consider helping these guys out with free accommodations. Please email me for more information.

THANK YOU!
-Alain
May 27, 2008 - Tour of Somerville - maybe next year.
Yesterday was my first crack at racing the pro-1 category at the Tour of Somerville. I haven't raced this classic (America's oldest bike race) since 1999 so I was excited to return. The smaller crowds were a bit disappointing, but I guess that's what 10 years of doping scandals will do to a sport. Still, there were plenty of people out there cheering for us, including my good friend Steve and his darling bride-to-be Holly. (Congrats!)

Surprisingly, I had good legs yesterday and was able to stay at the front for most of the race. I snuck off the front occasionally with small groups that accelerated, but never anything on the home-straight where a plug from Rich Fries might actually make it worth anything. There were a fair number of mishaps and unfortunately one of them came at the worst time and place, just a few riders in front of me as we approached one lap to go. Miraculously, I made it around the rider in front of me who launched over his bars, but I rode over some dude's leg and then my shoulder clipped the guy that had been in front of me as he was suddenly next to me in the air. He spun like a helicopter as I skidded to a halt, straddling the top tube with both cleats digging into the road. I still can't believe nobody plowed into me, seeing as I was in the top 30 (of a huge field) at this point and at least 3 more guys plowed into the dude whose leg I ran over.

And that's how it ended... from the front to the back in a matter of seconds.
April 22, 2008 - Boston Marathon: a pleasant surprise.
Every year I run the Boston Marathon, I swear that next year I will train harder so it doesn't hurt so much. Last year, torn hip cartilage and no running in the 5 weeks before the marathon translated into a slow, painful run in that nasty storm. This year, January's hip surgery, followed by 6 weeks off and a mere 8-mile long run translated into very low expectations. And while yesterday's heat was brutal, the hip surgery was clearly a success b/c I ran pain-free the whole 26.2 miles.

I was shooting for a 3:15 but truly felt like anything sub 3:30 would be awesome. Well, I ran 3:13! And were it not for my running partner Barry dropping me (gravity note: he's easily 40 lbs lighter!) on Heartbreak Hill, I'd probably be doing cart-wheels today. Well, considering I'm sore enough to be walking down stairs backwards, cart-wheels might be a stretch... but I am pretty damn stoked.

And next year, I really will train because I intend to run sub 3:00 once and for all.
April 09, 2008 - blimps and bike racing
it's official... MetLife announced their sponsorship of our team today; the news was published on a lot of high-profile websites.

with over 60,000 employees, we've suddenly got a few new fans. and i gotta' say, it's pretty damn cool getting emails from people across the country saying they checked out our team calendar and will be at some race cheering for us.

wow.
February 19, 2008 - coming soon...

February 13, 2008 - Leaky calcium channels & thigh muscle snips
Scientists claim to have figured out why muscles get tired and developed a drug to eliminate fatigue. Clearly this would be a performance-enhancing drug... so should it be banned? Is this really that much different than ibuprofen?

How the hell did they get anyone to agree to this?

Highly trained bicyclists rode stationary bikes at intense levels of exertion for three hours a day three days in a row. For comparison, other cyclists sat in the room but did not exercise.

Dr. Nieman removed snips of thigh muscle from all the athletes after the third day and sent them to Columbia
January 27, 2008 - NEBRA/promoters meeting
so yesterday was the annual NEBRA meeting, which included the promoters meeting too. my first time attending and it wasn't nearly as painful as expected. actually, it was quite interesting. since there was talk of abolishing the rider ranking system, i voiced my opinion in favor of keeping it and adding a team ranking. i think i also volunteered to help on designing it. gulp.

before the meeting, i met with a few race promoters about some very cool plans for New England RaceWeek. my team is planning a race for Boston on sunday, june 29th and while nothing is finalized yet, it's looking pretty good. and there's talk of a race on monday night too. yeah, it's gonna' pretty damn cool.
January 17, 2008 - more than just cycling
part of our team's growth includes branching out into other sports and expanding our philanthropic initiatives. in 2 weeks, we're accomplishing both of these goals with our first-ever running event.

on sunday feb. 3rd, we're hosting the
Super Sunday 5K/10K race to benefit the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The Jimmy Fund. the race offers runners a spectacular tour of the city's growing Seaport district with amazing waterfront views of downtown Boston. After the race, enjoy Legal Sea Foods' piping hot New England Clam Chowder along with vitaminwater compliments of Glaceau or a cold one compliments of Harpoon.

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- New England Top 10 -
(updated 1-jan-08)



1.   Chris Jones
2.   Jake Keough
3.   Andrew Boone
4.   Jake Hollenbach
5.   Adam Myerson
6.   Josh Dillon
7.   Toby Marzot
8.   Mark McCormack
9.   Skip Foley
10.   Mike Barton

 
local riders only; based on all races (not just nebra)

view nebra rankings...







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