Change in plans....

So we didn't end up racing this weekend in the New England area, instead we hit a local race yesterday, about 45 mins away in Brownstown, PA. For those of you not familiar with the area, it was basically farmland surrounded by farmland but that didn't deter the fans. The local Amish farmers came out and supported the race near the start/finish, as well as a few other families watching along the course. We even passed a few horse and buggies during the race. The race was 50 miles, which saw us complete 10 laps on a rolling circuit with a couple of hard rollers. As everyone prepared for the start of the race the sky opened up and rained for a few minutes as the wind picked up but then died down with the rain.

As we took the line for the pro/1/2/3 race sometime after 12pm, we realized that the field had not grown since pre-registration had closed Friday afternoon. With an astonishing 17 rider field, we made up nearly one fourth of the peleton. After the race started we initiated a series of attacks that split the pack on the second lap. Joey and Oscar were in the front group with about 6 other riders as Jafer and Thomas blocked the riders behind. After the gap grew to about 25 seconds, Jafer and Thomas began their plan to bridge across to the front group without taking the remaining riders with them. Thomas initiated a series of attacks while Jafer blocked. Finally Thomas gained a big enough gap on a roller that allowed Jafer to jump hard enough, to bridge across with only one other rider. For the next three laps, Thomas and Jafer worked overtime to close the gap down and finally rejoined the front group only to watch the race split again. Moments before they made contact two riders attacked and gained a substantial gap as nobody chased. Thomas and Jafer tried to help but after their chase were not able to offer much support. Now we had four riders in the front group with about four other riders and there was no cooperation to chase. Finally, Jafer told Joey and Oscar that they better do something about the break before it gained too much time. It still took a few minutes before the chase begin in earnest, a lesson to the younger riders on the team. Never let the pace ease if there is a break, especially if you can barely see it!

Shortly after Joey attacked riding up the road solo, trying to reel in the break with 4 laps to go. Now the field had grown even smaller with just Oscar, Mike (he is staying at our house) and one other rider as everyone else succumbed to the pace. Jafer dangled behind Oscar's group, finally catching them after 3 miles, only to see Oscar attack and ride away solo. So now there were two riders way up the road, Joey, Oscar, then Jafer and two other riders. With 3 laps to go it narrowed again as one rider was dropped from Jafer's group, after he and Mike attacked him. Unfortunately, this meant that Jafer was now trailing Mike in sixth place and was not able to bridge back up to him, since he was still trying to keep the other rider at bay.

Just when you think things couldn't get any worse, bam, the rain came in so fast that it looked like a hurricane, as the wind blew from every direction. The road turned into a river as all the dirt from the fields now ran down the street creating a nice brown smelly grime. I think it even started to hail at one point, either that or the rain was blowing so hard that it pelted your skin. Rain, like most things is both good and bad at the same time even though it can suck, the drop in temperature was welcomed as the temperature was around the 90s. It even has a weird therapeutic quality that makes you feel like people must have felt centuries ago in a summer downpour.

Even though we didn't get the results we wanted (Joey 3rd, Oscar 4th, Jafer 6th) we still got a great workout that will hopefully prepare us for the upcoming Fitchburg Longsjo Classic Stage Race.