Fast to Not-So Fast

The blogging has been slow recently, but the team has been fast. In the past two weeks, the NorEast elite team has had nearly full rosters at both Sunapee and Hartford. Sunapee was our first team race, so it was interesting to see how our riding styles complimented eachother's. Fortunately, the whole team races aggressively. Before we even left the traffic circle, we were sending guys up the road. Once the dust settled, Isaac and Vinnie were in a break undoubtedly prepared for the one-two finish. Unfortunately, bad luck struck. Vinnie lost is crank (yes, the FSA K-Force crank) and was stranded on the side of the road. Then, late in the last lap, Isaac's legs had their revenge after all the hardwork and decided to shut down before the finish line. Back in the pack, Rossman, Ryan and I were busy covering ill-fated chases and the one CCB clown of the pack. We raced well as a team, but the cards just didn't play out.

The Hartford Crit is a fast, non-technical race with little to no need for braking. Again, we were nearly a full squad with Isaac, Vinnie, Ryan, Duncan and me taking the start. Unfortunately, this race was not a course suited for breakaways. We each tried numerous times to get a move off the front. But, with speeds in the high 20s to low 30s, any rider deciding to skip a pull would also doom the break. We banged our heads against the wall for nearly 60 minutes until a break got a good gap. Josh There Are No Such Things As Dragons Lipka (Frutta) attacked and Isaac grabbed his wheel. Vinnie and I immediately sat on the front hoping to nourish the gap a bit with only three laps left. But, like all the other breaks, two riders from a team in green decided to stop pulling and the pack swallowed the five riders coming into the last lap. The finish, from my perspective, was a bit sketchy. Or, should I say some of the riders were a bit sketchy in the finish. Realizing I was out of contention, I sat up and watched from a safe distance. The boys did some fine sprinting and Isaac bagged 8th. Another successful race for the team. Certainly, we didn't pull in the W, but we proved our ability to race cohesively and aggressively. It won't be long before we start tallying our own wins.

This weekend: Lake Auburn.