MaxPowerCycling

It was a “rolling start” for one mile and as everyone started off it sounded like popcorn from the 200+(?) riders that were there clipping-in. Around mile 2 I started to work my way up to thefront because the guy I was behind didn’t look like he knew how to ride in a straight line. I managed to get up front with Andy Ross and I managed to stay up there until the first climb. They had primes for the hills and I had the race Topo map taped to my handlebars. I thought there was going to be a prime for the first hill, Ben asked me where the primes were so I said mile 8 and I looked down and it was mile 7.5ish. Ben took off and he had a decent lead up the hill. I was behind Andy Ross because he is a great climber and I thought that I would pace myself off of him. It worked and we caught Ben. I found out there was no prime at this hill when Ben asked Glen Swan when the primes were. Glen told him on the other side of the lake. I thought Ben probably thought I lied to him and with past experience with Milosz and his antics, I would not be in good standing with him and he would try (harder) to loose me. Anyway we were going down this highway part and it was downhill. Jason Delillo took off. I was thinking this could stick until the hill because riding with him at the OCC Time trials I knew he had the power too keep it. I was just about to go chase him, then I pulled off the wheel of the guy I was on and got hammered by a head wind. I decided not to bridge because he was going to burn out in this head wind. Just as I thought we caught him as he slowed down. I stayed behind this one guy on an old cannondale until the hill started. Andy Ross came up beside me and once again I followed him up the hill. After we crested I looked back and we still had a good 40 or so riders in the lead group. There was a downhill section and I stayed behind this guy on a Cervelo with Zipp 808 wheels.They were clanking every time he hit a bump and I was thinking “Gee this guys wheel is gunna fail and I’m right behind him”. Nevertheless he looked pretty strong and pulled most of the way until we hit the 2nd hill. During this time Jeff Hoover caught me and said “It took me 20 miles to make it up to the front.” I’m glad I positioned myself well during the start of the race. Also Andy Melnychenko caught me and said “Hey I’m glad you made it” then went on talking about how he was going bass fishing after the race, as I was struggling to keep up with the guy in front of me. Haha Andy you have like the greatest personality =P. On the second hill, Andy Ross again was next to me and I used him to pace up the hill. Some guy took off to chase a group that was about 5 seconds ahead and not 2 seconds after sprinting by me sat up and rejoined the group. Andy R and I were perplexed as to why he would do this. We eventually caught the group that was ahead and we had a group of about 20 or so riders that stayed together on the few rollers after the main hill. After one of the hills I was descending faster than everyone else and moved off to the side and accelerated around the corner. I had one guy pass me and with about 7 or 8 miles to go and he said “Lets go”. Jeff Hoover was right behind him and I thought “Awesome this might actually work!”. I looked back and we had a comfy 10-15 second lead. I’m not sure how far off we were after the 2nd roller but when we went into the little town and crossed the street I looked back and I didn’t see the pack. We were averaging 34-35mph which I thought was a great pace. We hit a roller and were eventually caught by the main group. I think we got away for 5 or 6 miles. I managed to hang on as the group accelerated up the next roller which had a 6 painted in the middle of the road. I could see Ben up near the front and I got on his wheel. There was a few rollers and over the last one I could see the finish line. I could see that at the bottom of the hill Andy Melnychenko took off and everyone grabbed his wheel. Just then off to my right I heard a “WHOA” and all I saw was a bike flipping in the air. I looked at my speed which was 23mph and I thought “that must have hurt.” I got to the hill accelerated and got 18th. I was in the back of the lead pack when I finished, I managed to keep up with Ben and Jake, and I didn’t crash. This was a great race for me.

I rode back to the parking lot and went over to get some free food with Noel. I looked at the results and was pretty satisfied. I then started to talk to Scott and he was ripping on me =P. Haha the ceremony started and I sat next to Ben, and we sat on this bench that was like a trampoline. I’m surprised it didn’t break when Ben was jumping on it to see if anyone would look over. They then started throwing stuff everywhere. I got an Energy bar whipped at me and I wasn’t expecting it. I still managed to catch it due to my my ex-baseball skills lol. The ceremony started. Ben and Jake got a sweet Owasco Flyer blankets. Eli had a jacket on and I said “Eli whats with the jacket? Aren’t you hot?”. It then started to rain a little while after I said that and I’m like “man I can’t believe its raining now!”. Eli said “Hey I’m glad i have this nice rain jacket on” haha

All In all, I accomplished my goals whilst having a great time. Great race. Also I would like to give a special shout out to “Big Daddy” Grimshaw for paying for our entry fees. Without him I would have had to pay $25 and possibly would have had less teammates to race with. Thanks A lot!! Oh and best of luck to Andy Melnychenko in his bass fishing haha.