I will be back in NE to race before the end of the year but still getting ready I had a sense of “this is it” about the whole day. waking at 4:45am in northern Maine so I could be ready in time was no fun but I felt all right. Some coffee, food ect… I dropped of my buddy at the exit off of 95 (his wife came to pick him up) I was already changed but still running late. Get my stuff ready, borrow some sunglasses from Ben (my team mate), decide on the combo of clothes (its 55 degrees and raining) ohh wait sorry pouring!
off we go! I rolled up to the waiting bunch as they tock off, just in time. I sprinted down the road and up to the back of the pack with some pointing and howls from the spectators. A break went away in the first few miles. It was large and we had 3 guys in it. After seeing someone crash them selves in one of the most dramatic crashes I have ever seen I sat at the back. I felt all right but I was starting to get gapped on most of the turns which was getting tiring. Combined with the steady fast tempo being set by the IF team it was no easy task “sitting in”. I was still felling good with 30 miles to go the break had been caught and things were heating up.
On the most difficult/ longest climb I noticed 3 men off the front. One of them was a Kenda/ Raleigh teammate. I thought “It would be great if I were up there too”, but didn’t want to promote the whole pack in attacking up to them. I shot off the front and only one followed. I put in a huge effort and closed the gap quite fast. Further more I seemed to recover fast and fell right into the pace line pulling through every turn. As we settled in Josh Dillon bridged up. A great effort by him. It must have been a long way as the pack was completely out of sight now. I looked around and became pretty happy with my self. Josh Dillon, Joe Moody, Toby Walsh, Barton and Connor form Boston Scientific. I was in good company. These are the strongest armatures in NE right now. I knew how I would play out the finish for Joe but keeping us all together to the finish would be difficult. With about 10 miles to go on the long climb again Dillon accelerated. I felt good at the moment and went straight to the front of our group. I laid down the best pull I had. We held him for a bit. I buried myself. If we could bring him back after an effort like this I was sure Joe could win. And even if he couldn’t I wasn’t gona let someone ride away without putting in 110%. After I through down another big pull we hit the short but 15% climb with the feed zone at its top. One of the Boston scientific drilled it and I was gone. I couldn’t respond, I had worked to hard to bring Josh back and was now paying for it. I got myself going again and actually held them not far ahead of me. I crushed it for 3- 5 minutes but they weren’t slowing down. After a few misjudged turns in the still pouring rain they were gone. The wheel car came by, said the pack was 90 seconds back. I still had 7 miles to go on some very heavy roads. I put my head down, grabbed a cliff shot and went in TT mode. I was really suffering but I was inspired by my solid riding and feeling strong in a group of real players. With 2 miles to go someone caught and passed me. Right on a short hill, I couldn’t grab his wheel. “FU#*!!!! Ok…ok… stay smooth”, almost there, I thought, . With 1 k to go I turned onto the finishing rd. people cheering out of the saddle now and there were 2 more guys playing cat and mouse a few hundred meters behind me. I gave it everything. I really did. At 200m I stood up and gave my best, been in a break-a-way for 30 miles got dropped and have been alone going full tilt for he last 7 miles, sprint. They both shot by me with 20m to go. I was pissed, yeah I was but again a good ride by myself. Joe got 4th or 5th and we had 2 more teammates in the top 15 giving us a big payout for the day. so I can’t be too upset I guess. a solid day and the race played out really well. Very pro. Leaving the strong men at the front to fight it out.
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