Turtle Pond Circuit Race; race report 4/21/07

Jon Bruno, Greg Montello, Dave Berryman, Stan Jurga, Steve Weller, Brian Hayes, and me, Adam Branfman took to the start line for the Turtle Pond Circuit race today in Loudon, NH. The race would be 70 miles ridden on 6 laps of a 12 mile circuit with one significant climb of about 1.5k. It was odd to be wearing only a jersey and shorts, without the typical leg and arm warmers, base layers, hats, gloves, etc. It turned out to be a pretty tough day for the FAST/IF powered we Lionette's boys today on the road. The plan was to mark and be in the first early break of the day. Lap one was screaming fast, with the start of the race at the base of the climb. Warm legs were a must for this race. We decided that Dave and I would be in the early break, and should it stick, the team would be in great shape with two very good looking guys like ourselves in the break, and a solid team in the peloton. Steve, Dave and I made it into the first early move, but soon realized that we were only 7 miles into the race and already in the hurt zone. The break got caught about halfway through the first lap and the racing began with a huge collection of attacks throughout the race. It took quite a while for us to recover, but recover we did and continued to chase down what we could. The main group kept diminishing in size as people fell off of the back as the race picked up, and as we raced up the climb each lap. Brian Hayes had an unfortunate flat on the second lap. We did the best we could to chase down the breaks and to control the front of the race as much as we could. We all did a great job at the front marking what we could, although the race was super fast and recovery in between efforts was minimal. The team began to feel the effects of the fast paced race and the heat, and slowly, the guys just couldn't make it up the climb with the main group by the end.

The effort was there the whole race, but the legs just didn't agree with the mind today. At the start of the last lap, Steve and myself were near the front of the race going into the climb, but unfortunately Steve got caught up before the top of the climb and just missed the main group as we crested over the climb. I made it into the lead group of 15 at that point and the pace quickened as we descended and rolled through the rest of the course. Fiordifrutta took control of the front of the race and caught a 10 or so man break a few miles from the finishing climb. We took the final turn and the front of the race exploded as Fiordi flew up the climb winning the field sprint behind an escaped their escaped teammate Josh Dillon. I managed a 16th place, struggling up the climb with two very cramped legs. Steve Weller finished 38th place. All in all a very tough day for the FAST/IF powered by Lionette's squad. We got a good dose of perspective, however, as far as our fitness and team racing abilities at this early stage in the season. There is much that we learned and will apply to our races from this point on about how to race effectively and intelligently as a team.

Thanks as usual for reading.

results can be found here: http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2007/04/21-Turtle-Pond.asp

Adam Branfman
Newton, MA
FAST/IF powered by Lionette's