Crazy Weekend/Rainy Tuesday

Tuesday is here and that means its time to update the blog.  As I type this, rain is falling in heavy amounts.  I guess we'll be on the trainer later today.  Maybe it'll clear up.  Let's be positive.

This past Saturday and Sunday was a solid weekend of racing.  All things considered, I was happy with it, although, I/we have a lot of room for improvement.  I often times am rather hard on myself and yet I need to remember that this was my first bout of racing since last August when I was injured.  My top end form is not quite there yet.  It'll come. 

Saturday 4/9-  Fulton Road Race in Peach Bottom, PA.  This was a 60 mile road race that ended up being an extremely competitive field.  The Harley's showed up and that always means we are going to have our hands full.  There was also a few random strong last minute entries including Stephan Kincaid and Clayton Barrows.  Always got to give a loud shout out for Stephan!!  Anyway, from the gun, there was an attack and soon we had 1 Harley and 1 Kelly (teammate Todd Hesel) up the road.  Fast forward 15 miles and I attacked looking to create a little turmoil in the field and see if I could slowly bridge up to Todd.  1 Harley followed with me and soon we caught.  Now, we have 2 Harley's and 2 Kelly's up the road.  A few soft pedal strokes later and Clayton Barrows, another Harley and another Kelly (teammate Blair Berbert) bridged up.  The break was established and everyone was happy with it.  We would roll as a unit until the 45 mile mark when activity would begin.  Unfortunately, things got ugly for us Kelly's as the 3 of us popped on a climb.....not good!  Blair and I bridged back up, but spent a lot of precious energy to get back on.  Less then 10 miles left and soon a Harley and Clayton were off the front.  Blair and I chased with the other 2 Harleys on our wheel.  Not a good ending for us as we ended up 5th, 6th, and 7th.  Again, we were in the break where we wanted to be but now need to work on the finish.  It'll come!

Sunday:  Immediately following the Fulton race, Blair and I consolidated cars and headed north for the crazy Battenkill.  Huge thanks to Greg Horrocks, his family, Pizza Jeff, and Erik Mitchell for the hotel room, feeds and support.  We could not have done battenkill without you.  Boo yah!!!



Only pic I have from the Battenkill... I know it's lame!!



The batttenkill race was held in the Cambridge, NY area.  It is gorgeous up there.  Blair and I drove up late Saturday night to race at 1:45pm Sunday.  The field was stiff with competition and consisted of somewhere between 125-150 riders.  Our plan was to sit quietly since we did not have a full team there and see if we could get in a late break.  This 100 mile race was awesome.  The dirt roads presented a new challenge that I've never raced against and keeping your composure is key.  Screaming down gravel/dirt hills at 40mph will test your mind...good stuff.  Anyway, Blair and I stayed in the top 20 for the majority of the race as attrition wore on.  Coming into the last 5-10k was a nasty

dirt climb in which I slowly came off the field of 30 guys who were all chasing the lead 2 riders.  They stayed away, the field came in a few minutes after, and I came in a minute later followed by 50 some riders that came in 15-30 minutes after us. The field was shredded as the climbs, dirt/gravel and distance took their toll.  Definitely one of the top 10 hardest races I've ever done and again I was happy with my performance, although I need to keeping working on my top end as I'm not happy I came off with 5k to go.  Immediately after the race, some cookies, chocolate milk and good chatter, Blair and I were on the road headed south for a long night in the car.  Legs felt like oak trees, yet we were both smiling.  Life is good!

This weekend brings more racing.  Not exactly sure where, but I'll post soon.