Day 3 Road Race:

we started with rain. And more was on the forecast. The race started with a fast pace. Per- usual. The sprint was hot I was in my biggest gear just in the pack. After that we settled a bit and I moved to the front for the first climb. Bethel Mt. road is a steep one. And at 5 miles it settings a bit. I felt good. and road in the top 10 rides to the top. Grabbed a water bottle at the feed, ditched the rain cap and plunged down the 40+ MPH decent in the rain. I descended quite well. Never really loosing a lot of my position. we dropped about 1/3 of our 125 person field. Quit a lot for only being 35 miles into the 104 mile race. the pace after the decent was high. Our team laid down some hard tempo to set up our man for the KOM jersey. After hurting everyone he escaped into a small break but was pulled back on the next climb before the top. Mean while between the first and second climb. Our GC and most important man, Joe, was having some trouble. After hitting a vertical crack in the road his carbon wheel was ripped up pretty bad. It was rolling but breaking was impossible. A team mate gave him a quick wheel change. And 3 more of us chased him back on. A hard chase but not to long and Joe didn’t have to do any work. After a 5’, breather I went straight to the front again and we hit Middlebury gap. Another big climb. 4 miles of 2-4 percent and the 3 miles of 8-12%. We hit the first 4 miles pretty hard and this was the first sign of heavy legs I had. The climb hurt but I was there in the top 20 or so over the top and the race leader attacked. This was a critical move and I didn’t see it. Not that I was going to go with him and the 4 others but the chase it caused on the 20 mile rolling decent was the hardest most desperate section of the race. I was in a small group just behind the main leading group of maybe 30. So… race situation: leading group of 5 w/ race leader. Main field of 30+. Chase group of 15 maybe. With me. We had Joe in the first “main group” group with a few teammates. But not me. 40 miles to go. last 10 miles of the race, uphill. The chase was hard and I was feeling the pressure. I got down some red bull but its tough to eat descending at 40 MPH. the tail wind on the decent made for a fast one with stretches at well over 50 MPH. And made it very hard to catch the group ahead of us. At the bottom of the decent there is a sharp right/ left had turn. I was gapped just a bit buy my group I was in. the menacing tail wind quickly turned into a head wind. The group I was in now just catching the lead group. And I was 300 meters behind chasing at 28 MPH into a cross/head wind. Not easy. After 10’ or so a came to a down hill and was blasted with a head wind. And that was that. The group drifted away. I road alone for some time then with a group of 3 others for a bit. Then alone again on the climb. Never caught by the bulk of the peloton further behind. I finished 43rd. not bad I guess for being dropped 25 miles from the finish. Joe are main man for the race came in 5th and now lies 5th over all just 1 point out of forth and 9 away from first. a great ride by him today and still more to come!
I love this race.