Giro Di Jersey Circuit Race

After a great nights sleep in a real bed (not a plastic inflatable mattress) we loaded the car up around 7:30 am. Our next step was to find a suitable breakfast spot, so we could fill our bellies before the race. We have to give props to Cleve Blackwell for teaching us how to dine on a budget, something he showed us last year during the USA Crits. It didn't take long to find a hot breakfast buffet down the street; Thomas put it this way, "if you sleep in a hotel you should eat in a hotel". If you still don't know what I'm talking about read between the lines. I think we had to roll ourselves out of the hotel because we ate so much. Next stop, stage 3 of the Giro in Princeton.

The race was on a small 2.2 mile circuit which saw the pro/1/2 field complete 12 laps. It seems like there is always one spot on the course that hurts much more than it should. On the backside of the course there was a small but noticeable hill that seemed to split the peloton apart as the leaders pushed the pace. There was a sprint on lap 4 for time bonuses, shortly after the sprint a small group of riders went up the after the sprint. It was pretty predictable, Rite Aid kept the pace high on the previous lap to lead their riders out for the time bonuses, so when the pace fell after the line some of their riders kept going. Since the peloton's pace slowed, the group ahead had a big gap which Jafer sensed might stay till the end. He tried to jump across with a few other riders and quickly rode away from the pack. For the second day in a row he was in the break trying to reel in the leaders. He didn't realize that another group of about 5 riders were slowly bridging up to him, as he had pulled for nearly an entire lap. When the riders caught up to him, their pace was too high for him on the back side of the course, as he was gassed from his long pull. As they came around he couldn't hold their wheels as he and another rider got gapped off. Once again he was desperately chasing but the other rider was blown and didn't offer much help. A lap or so later, Jafer floated back to the pack. Now it was up to Oscar, Joey, and Thomas to lead the team. On the final lap Joey worked hard on the front to keep the pace steady, so the pack couldn't swarm around. Oscar also rode smart by conserving his energy and glided up the climb to keep near Joey. Jafer helped Thomas by taking him to the front on the back side of the course where Thomas jumped around him with two turns to go. Oscar did his best to fend of the field, taking 5th in the sprint, which meant 15th in the race, as there were 10 riders in the break. Oscar and Joey brought home the big bucks placing 24th and 20th overall, enough to buy some groceries this week.