Mt. Holly-Smithville Invitational was last weekend and I must say that it was an interesting race. The race attracted over 140 riders in the pro1/2 race which made it very interesting right from the gun. I was unfortunate and got to the start line near the back, so right away I knew this was going to hurt. The first few laps were very fast, the fastest I have raced all season. Single file, strung out, gaps everywhere, the name of the game was get to the front and get there fast because when this breaks apart for good anyone positioned near middle and past will have a really hard time. Well, I never took advantage of the few opportunites I had to move up and when it cracked I got caught in it with Steve B. I think the total mileage I raced for the day was 23 miles, so a pretty short and dumb race. The race was blown apart on the next lap, and every lap after that it was getting smaller.

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The final day of Fitchburg is always a fast downtown crit on a technical 1 mile crit course.  The race was pretty fast from the gun and was single file most of the 28 laps.  I rode mid-pack most of the time.  I was having a hard time moving up thru the 100+ racers.  Jacob got away with a bunch of laps to go and the break of 3 or so was putting time on the field.  Straub yelled to me “Jacobs up the road”  so,  I pegged it to to the front as I approached the peleton jammed on the brakes and I got swarmed, this happened for 3 laps until they were caught.  My legs felt good,  but not great.  Just lost  the snap.  Last lap,  was fast and you could sense that a crash was on the horizon.  We hit the last 2 turns and bang,  that was it.  A big pile up in the corner.  I squeeked thru without going down,  but Jacob was taken down and Rich had to stop.  Jacob broke his caad 9 frame and little road rash.  Looks like he will be ok.

After 4 days of racing,  Jacob rocked out a 15th overall place, I sucked at 43rd.

I love this race,  it is fun and very hard.  I will be back next year.

50 miles, 16 laps with a hell of a climb at the end of the lap, 16 times up a leg burner. This race is hard, I think it might be the hardest day, at least for me. It is flat out most of the time and then you have to climb 1k up a steep hill. The race was ripping fast, nothing really to dramatic, just some serious power put down to get over that hill every lap and man, it hurt! Then it would go single file for probably 1 mile of more. I was looking to survive and help Jacob make up some time on the GC. He got in a nice late race move that ALMOST stuck. Straub and I did some peleton maintaince while Jacob was up the road. The name of the game in this race is to arrive at the last corner before the hill in top 15, makes life a heck of a lot easier, I was able to do that a few time and it helped me to keep my legs for getting up the climb. Last lap was fast and we hit the finishing climb and it went fast. I finished with same time at and lost nothing which is cool, I remained in the same position on GC and Jacob moved up a spot or 2 and now sits top 15. Basically, FLSR is almost in the books. Not what I had hoped from me, but I learned a lot about my fitness and myself which is cool and we raced good as a team. Would be awesome to roll to one of these stage races with some heads.

The Cat 4’s are doing some serious damage with Chris DeCarlo claiming the mountain top finish yesterday and today staying out of trouble in the circuit race,  Seam M is holding on to 5th overall just a few seconds down from 4th,  there will be a BATTLE tomorrow on the crit course,  look for Sean and the boys take a podium spot!  Ryan Smolko and Erik Mitchell are representing hard in the 3’s,  while Kristine, Sara and Bianca are holding it up in the circuit,  Bianca had one hell of a ride in the Women’s pro/1/2 race and finished with a very select front group.  Mad props!

Peace.