Memorial Day Weekend Races

what a long weekend. weddings, wedding showers, and cookouts. oh, and some bike racing too. saturday was the big day for ryan as he and grace finally made it official and tied the knot. it was a great ceremony and reception, and we were very happy for those two great people.

so the plan for the weekend was to get our man two wins on sunday and monday. beside being ryan's wedding weekend, of late he's been riding like his chamois are on fire grabbing big result after big result.

first up was the West Side Ride road race in Bar Harbor, ME. perhaps the most beautiful race in the country, riding along the coast's winding, rolling roads. i had last done this race in '02, and since then they have slightly changed the course, including adding a brutal 1 mile climb to the finish. usually just the local maine riders show up for this race, along with a stringer or two who are in the area on vacation. but this year there was a college outting in the area, so we were inundated with about 30 collegiate riders from about 4 teams. needless to say, we were quite outnumbered. ryan and i attacked early and often, but apparently our reputations preceded us, as no one would let day light open behind our rear wheels. given that fact, i decided to lay low and sit in the pack, but ryan was relentless, staying at the front, attacking, chasing, pulling, and attacking some more. coming into the last 2 miles i moved to the head of affairs to get things set up for ryan. 1 mile to go and we hit the climb. i gave it all i had, climbing at about 20mph, then we took a left up to the last 1/2 mile. we were hit in the face with a vicious wind. i pushed to about 300 meters out and sent ryan on his way. unfortunately, my pull wasn't hard enough to drop 2 of the collegiate riders who just sat on ryans wheel and were able to nip him at the line. so we had to "settle" for 3rd...not bad for a guy the day after his wedding!

today was a bigger race in Kennebunk, ME. the cape able road race has continually grown over the years, from being a "secret" race to locals, now riders from all over new england come to contest this fast, sketchy race. the race started fast with lots of attacks. i took a flyer on the first lap that lasted about 3 miles, but was soon picked up by the field. several more attacks went and were brought back before finally a group of six rolled away, including ryan. he was doing a lot of hard pulls in the break and they were looking good to stay. there were many hard chases to bring the group back, but i did my best to sit on wheels and bring the chases to a quick stop (i didn't make any new friends today). the gap was brought down to about 3 seconds two or three times, but the break never gave up and stayed off. in the sprint, ryan jumped on the wheel of a former national champ and blew by him at the line, but again, unfortunately, formerly #2 ranked jr in the country, and former u.s. national team rider with lots of european experience, Oliver Stiler-Cote, showed up for his first race in 5 years and proved he is still a man to be reckoned with as he beat ryan to the line by less than a tire width. Ryan's 2nd was followed by me coming in 10th. ryan also took two of the four primes, making it a very nice pay day for him.

in CT Shawn entered his first ever crit, finding that he has the legs, but the experience he's gaining in his first season will prove to pay off in the future, and lessons learned from getting dropped today will turn into knowledge to get him wins by the end of the year.

so great job to ryan this weekend on his 2nd and 3rd and his marriage!

adam was in NJ this weekend to race, so i'm waiting to hear how he did.

i'll be doing the tuesday night world championships tomorrow (a large, fast ride leaving from the park across from wells ave (the parking lot beside the charles). hope to see some V jerseys there.

thad