A Week Ago Today

One week ago, I was sitting in Maine enjoying my first day of vacay from the bike and work. Fitchburg and New England Race Week was over. Like most other cyclists in the North East, Fitchburg was a major goal for our team. We knew we had the strength to win the overall AND the points competition. We started the race with a strong TT by Rudy and went into the road race with the expectations of working him into the leader's jersey. It was a tough 92 miles. We were great tactically. Dangerous moves were smothered and Rudy, the Hebrew Hammer, was allowed to conserve his energy for a majority of the race. With two laps remaining, a break went up the road and Vinnie and Duncan jumped aboard. From their accounts, the break was rolling along nicely until the finish climb up Mt. Wachusett. They hit the base of the climb 2 minutes ahead of the peloton where the whole NorEast contingent was waiting. Isaac drove the field hard into the first steep pitch of the climb and let Rudy take over. At the same time, I witnessed an incredible explosion of someone's Zipp 404 front wheel as they introduced it to another rider's deraileur. It was an awesome sight. Unfortunately, it helped open a gap I needed to ride through to catch the back of the main field. If this had not been the case, I certainly would have witness the Hebrew Hammer stomping on the field to take third on the day. I also would have seen Rossman, Captain Invisible, charging from the tail gunner slot into 11th on the day (I have no idea where the hell he comes from, but he always seems to appear at the right spot/right time at the finish line). Regardless, Rudy just missed the orange jersey by 14 seconds. We would try to pull back those 14 seconds over the next two days. But, with a quick circuit race and a flat, non-technical crit, it was not to be. Still, I think we are all happy with a 5th place GC ride and a 3rd overall in points.

Since the conclusion of Fitchburg, I have not even looked at my bike until today. I took the week to relax and recuperate from the chest cold pestering me for the past week and a half. Instead of riding, I decided to go backpacking for a few days. However, I soon realized a 26 mile, three day backpacking trip does not necessary last three days if you hike 20 miles the second day. Similarly, I realized 20 miles of hiking in one day, up and down the Sandwich Mountain range, makes your legs feel as if someone took a roofing hammer to them a few hundred times. Even now, three days after my excusion into the woods, my legs are in pain. It's nice my personal soigneur isn't too averse to giving massages.

I heard my teammates were in action of the weekend. Rudy repeated his 4th place from last year's Attleboro crit and Isaac sacked 7th at New Britain. It will be nice to get back into the racing this weekend with Claremont and Yarmouth. From here on out, watch for NorEast throwing down at any race our team enters...we hope.