The Tour of Millersburg was a really cool race. I must admit that it was very well run and the town was really into it and very nice.  The 3 stage, 2 day format is always a killer and proved to really hurt. The TT was tough and our best finish was Chad 26:34 for the 12 miles which netted an 18th overall.  Not a great showing.  He is really struggling with the TT this year and we are hoping that after this rebuild year he will be able to put up the numbers that he used too.  The circuit race was a fast course with a nice little 20 MPH punchy climb in the middle.  It hurt really bad especially after throwing it down a few hours earlier in the TT.  After a race filled with a million of attacks break-out rider Rich Straub sprinted for 3rd which bumped him up into 13th overall on the GC. Chad moved down to 25 on GC with Tim Karabin 26th.  Rich became GC man going into Stage 3,  the 90 mile northen classics style rolling, punishing course.  This race was really good,  again,  this SR was very pro and well run.  The race started out again,  fast and a million of attacks.  Chad covered a few and then lap 2 the the break went away and our GC man,  Rich made it.  So that meant that the team had a long day ahead of them patrolling the race and covering attacks.  There were a million attempts again to get across and Chad and the team did a stellar job of covering every move. The break swelled to 3:30 at one point and a valient effort was put in by Team Nor’easter to bring it back since there GC guy missed the move.  They had one rider who ride the whole day at the front keeping the pace hard.  Hats off to him for a hell of an effort!  In the final descent back into town an LSV/Kelley came across Keith wheel causing a crash at 40+ MPH which took out Brady Gibney from Alliance and Chad (HZ).  Keith went down hard and is ok,  next time we will be far from the Kelly dudes.

Overall Straub took sixth on the stage and 5th overall.  Good weekend for Rich and the team.

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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Good day for racing! Hot and steamy! Greentree is always fun, the course is well known because a lot of us practice there on Thursday nights. We showed up with a good team - Steve B, Rich K, John l, Dave “DD” Lowe, Keith G, and Me. I have been starting to feel pretty good and the fitness is finally coming around but I had a pretty hard Saturday with 2 full TT efforts for a total of 17 miles of time trialing on the local West River Drive TT course (17:50). I put down some good times, almost beating my best. Then a 2.5 hour hill ride to follow, I know some of the jersey boys had a hard 90 mile road race, but it is flat over there in South Jersey-tucky. Heart House Crit started out in usual fashion, rolling around a lap looking at each other. John L threw down first, as usual. He likes to attack from the gun. He gets pulled in and I counter and pull a few heads, we roll around and Rich K comes across. Racing is always a blur, so these details are probably totally wrong but it went something like this. Eventually we got pulled back again, maybe by lap 3 or 4 of 35. I attacked again, this time pulling 3 guys and group trying to get across. We rolled with about 5 racers for a few laps until the everyone gave up as it looked like the field was closing in, I was not done and kept going with a big dude in an orange kit. Eventually a larger group bridged up with all the main players in it. We drive the train and made sure this thing stayed away. A lot of people got free rides for the remaining 25 laps. I put in some solid efforts and it really made for a great training race. In the end Keith sprinted for 2nd place, I took 8th and John finished 11th. John also took the first preme. I think we solidified our position as a team with the ” bad attitude” today. Hahaha, that makes me laugh to hear someone say that… Next up Fitchburg!