Giro Del Cielo - CAT 4/5 (7/13/08)

I drove up to NJ this past weekend to spend some time with my sister, brother in law, and nephews. It turned out to be the perfect weekend, except for the massive amounts of driving both days.

My friend Tim Magee (ex Temple U cyclist) and I decided to do this race months ago together. We get to the race and Tim introduces me to 5 other ex Temple cyclists of which 4 are in the same club now. This race was stage 3 of the Giro and two of the Temple guys were in 2nd and 3rd in the overall classification. We decided to offer assistance where possible but I think both parties understood that the sprint was every man for themselves (unless we were in a break and it would give them the overall classification).

The race course was very rolling with most of the hills on the back half of the 5.5 mile lap. We had to complete 5 laps of the course and we were informed there was a preem after lap 1 but you would only get overall classification points.

The race started and it went out pretty hard. I'd say I stuck around the middle of the pack feeling out some of the riders and the course and realizing that I wouldn't be sprinting for the preem on lap 1. Most of the entire lap was fast. After the first lap, during the regroup 3 riders went off the front. The pack let them go and I was in no position to hop on. Over the course of the next 2 the break was kept at about 15 seconds up the road with various people trying to bridge unsucessfully. The pace altered back and forth between an almost outright sprint to an easy training ride. At one point two of the guys from Temple tried to go up the road with a 3rd guy behind them. Once they realized they would be caught by the peleton (the guy in 1st overall had a workhorse who chased this break down) the guy in 3rd took off and noone seemed to care.
I made my way to the front of the peleton just before the end of the 3rd lap and climbed a hill at a moderate pace sitting behind some guy who I could tell wasn't that strong. The peleton slowly let us go about 5-10 seconds up the road but I wasn't about to start working for this kid who was already dead tired. I just took my time and let the pack catch me over the next 400 meters. I was kinda hoping one or two of the Temple guys would sprint up to me and we could take off but it didn't happen. No worries.

The 4th lap was slower than any of the others. Noone wanted to work. It wasn't incredibly slow but it was pretty easy and everyone was bunched up the entire time almost. We come around for the final lap and the gap had grown to 45 seconds for the 4 riders up the road. Things picked up and I moved from near the back of the peleton to the top ten within the last two miles before the final 1/2 mile. The last 1/2 mile was a right turn followed by a fast dip down and a hill up with a false flat up the finish line. I was boxed in going down the hill and as we went back up it slowly opened. I couldn't grab any wheel because I was to the left and all were taken. I just started sprinting and finished 6th in the field sprint. Only one guy passed me once I started sprinting (the overall race leader). I should have sat on him, bah! 10th overall. Not too bad I suppose for a 4/5 race. Although, I don't think NJ 4/5's are as hard as VA/MD ones. Maybe I'm just getting stronger =)