Giro Di Jersey road race repot

After only about 4 hours of sleep we awoke at 5:45 am to prepare for today's race. Joey and Jafer were in charge of breakfast, as they were the first to arise. Homemade pancakes were on the menu again this morning, for at least the fifth day in a row. Not just wholegrain pancakes but banana chocolate chip power pancakes! After breakfast everyone scrambled around trying to get the car packed in time as we had almost a 2 hour drive to the race. We tried to stop for coffee but the local coffee shop didn't open till 8, so we hit the road dreary eyed. We finally arrived with about 40 minutes to spare before the start. Prerace time seems to speed up as there is much to do before starting the race; changing wheels, pinning numbers, putting on sunscreen, finding the bathroom, pumping up tires, and whatever else we forgot to do the day before, becomes the only thing we care about as we switch into race mode.

Today's race was 7 laps on a ten and half mile circuit, for a total of 73.5 miles. The first twenty minutes of the race was neutral as the officals drove in front of the peleton taking pictures and explaining the course. Everyone was anxious to race as we had to ride the brakes to keep from passing the lead car. As soon as the race "began" the pace picked up as the first few attacks began. The only serious part of the course was the 1 mile climb which for the first third was big chain ring then the middle third kicked enough to split up the field and cause you to drop to the little ring, but you could power over the last third in your big chain ring. Once over the hill the road turned down for a couple of miles, as the peleton reaced nearly 50 mph through the start/finish. On lap 3, about 6 riders went clear of the field a few miles before the climb, as the larger teams had someone in the move. For the next couple of laps the pace was easy as Rite Aid sat on the front trying to control the peleton. Oscar and Joey were both active at the front trying to form a break or help pull, but Jafer was able to go clear with 2 laps to go. Two riders came with him (from Van Dessel and Rite Aid) as they worked to gain time on the field and catch the earlier break. Shortly after another Rite Aid rider bridged with a rider from CRCA/Empire; the break started gaining serious time on the field as they took turns pulling. Starting the last lap the break had 2 minutes on the field but things started to go south, as the other riders quit cooperating. One of the Rite Aid riders attacked so the other Rite Aid, wouldn't pull through and the Empire rider was cramping, which left only Jafer and the Van Dessel rider pulling. The paced suddenly droped from 28 mph down to 20 mph while the time gap was diminishing. Jafer tried to make a few attacks but the break chased him down and he couldn't go clear by himself. The final time up the climb the break was caught with three miles to go, as the two Rite Aid riders tried a last effort attack, but were reeled in by a charing field thanks to Joey. Joey set tempo up the first part of the climb causing the field to splinter but was unable to make it into the first group as he had worked so hard. A few riders made it clear on the climb as Oscar, Joey, and Thomas tried desperately to stay in a good position. Thomas lead the team in the sprint and finished around 20th place, as he started sprinting to early.

After the race we headed to the Extended Stay America in Princeton, NJ, which Thomas booked on Hotwire.com last night for a great deal! We figured that it would be cheaper than paying for gas and it would save 4.5 hours of driving.