The Tour of Somerville was an awesome team weekend in Somerville, NJ, and it is now gone as quickly as it came upon us. The team arrived in New Jersey on Saturday morning to race the Tour of Somerset County Road Race. My parents and I made the drive to Somerville, NJ on Sunday morning for the 2PM 40 mile Pro,1,2 Bound Brook Criterium. The following day, on Monday, we raced the Tour of Somerville Cat 2 Crit. Here are the races as I saw them. . .

Bound Brook Criterium; 5/27/07, Bound Brook, NJ
Taking the line at the start of the Bound Brook Crit was Jon Bruno, John Hanson, Greg Montello, Steve Weller, Dave Berryman, Luke Krisch, Stan Jurga, Brian Hayes, and myself Adam Branfman. We lined up against 175 or so other Pro's, Cat 1's and Cat 2's for the 40 mile suburban New Jersey criterium. The race was fast from the gun, and the game plan was to conserve energy and to try to set me up with a leadout at the end for a field sprint, assuming I was feeling good and taking care of my own positioning in the closing laps. The race got going and stayed very fast, care of Caico Pro Cycling from Costa Rica among other teams. Caico was continuously sending riders off the front, trying to keep the pace high and to try to form the right combination of breakaway companions. Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling also kept a very strong presence at the front of the race marking breaks and keeping the pace high. FAST/IF powered by Lionette's made a strong presence at the front as well when the opportunity to move up arose, and John Hanson and John Bruno in particular did a great deal of work at the beginning of the race to keep the peloton together by marking breaks and pulling back dangerous moves. I kept myself very safe, moving no more than 15-20 back from the front. This allowed me to pedal and accelerate through the turns as opposed to the back of the race where a certain accordian effect occurs as folks break through the turns and are then forced to sprint out of them to hang on to the peloton. With 2 laps to go I missed one important acceleration and found myself 30 or so back but soon recovered. Coming into 2/3 of a lap to go I made a strong move to reposition and moved up to 10 or so from the front where the race was strung out in single file at 35 mph. By three turns to go and about 1 km I found myself in great position 5-6 riders from the front and on the wheel of two guys who had latched onto the Kodak Pro Cycling leadout train. Rounding this turn with two more turns after it, two guys in front of me and effectively at the front of the race locked handlebars and went down very hard, taking out 10-12 guys including myself. I was forced into a 12 inch high stone curb and onto the ground very hard. Luckily I was not injured, only dissapointed that I was in such good position and then crashed out of the race. I was only marked by a few small scrapes, two jammed fingers, and a stalk of a flower bush stuck in my left shifter. I suppose this just was not our day. Bad luck took away our chances of a good finish, but such is bike racing. Greg Montello was near the crash but not involved, and after he saw me lying on the ground, he sacrificed his finish to come and make sure I was ok. It was a display of true teamwork and looking out for one another. John Hanson then came and found us on a recon mission and swapped wheels with my flat front tire that blew out in the crash, so that I could ride up to the finish to greet my parents who were visibly worried that I had not finished and had heard that I went down in a crash. The Bound Brook Criterium was a genuine display of "team" at its best. I was incredibly cared for by my teammates who set me up for what would have been a perfect finish in a very fast Pro/elite race. After our final placing was disrupted by bad luck, my teammates used the same amount of energy put into tactics and smart racing toward making sure I was ok after going down. All in all we had a very positive race. Communication, both verbal, and non verbal, was very strong, and we learned a great deal about how to race as a cohesive unit. It is too bad that it turned out to not be our day, but part of why we race bikes is to experience the unexpected and to deal with both lucky and unlucky situations as they present themselves. BIke racing is exciting and dangerous at times, all adding to the fun and excitement of such a fast paced and exhilarating sport.

Tour of Somerville; Cat 2 race, 5/28/07, Somerville, NJ
Jon Bruno, Dave Berryman, Luke Krisch, Brian Hayes, Steve Weller, Greg Montello, Stan Jurga, and myself Adam Branfman lined up at the front for the start of the Cat 2 Tour Of Somerville 20 mile crit. The 8 of us were among 145 eager starters. We executed our team game plan nearly perfectly. We decided that we would try to control the front of the race right from the get go. FAST/IF powered by Lionette's made a very strong presence at the front of the race with everyone taking their turn chasing breaks down and pulling back what needed to be brought back. I was kept very safe for 3/4 of the race by our team director Jon Bruno who took me exactly where I needed to be at all times. Jon Bruno is an amazing bike racer. His experience, constant awareness, and tactical brilliance is a true asset to this team. One cannot help but feel absolutely confident in Jon Bruno's team directing and leadership on and off our bicycles. He kept me clear out of danger and in a very strong position until his job was done, and he floated to the middle of the peloton and let the rest of the team take over at that point. Luke, Steve, Stan, Greg, and Dave emerged at the front of the race with confidence and with two laps to go, we were all on the front driving the pace and keeping the race together and under control. Brian Hayes was caught up in an unfortunate high speed crash about 2/3 of the way through the race when an unexpected bump in the road caused him to lock handlebars with a neighbor. Brian raced a very strong race up until going down. With one lap to go the race was led by a sea of IF green jerseys until a bit of chaos ensued on the back strightaway. I kept my position and going into the final turn I was 5th wheel from the front. Targetraining made a powerful leadout on the right side of the road onto which I planted myself. About 100 meters from the line, someone sprinted into my bike and put his front wheel directly into my front wheel skewer throwing me off a bit. I stayed upright in what was a very sketchy sprint and finished in a strong 9th place. The team had another very positive race, and one could easily observe and feel confidence emanating from the 8 of us. FAST/IF powered by Lionette's had a great weekend at the Tour of Somerville racing series. We continued to learn a great deal about racing and about how to race as a cohesive unit. We applied our learning to Monday's race where we raced as a strong and powerful unified team. We continue to learn from each other about our individual strengths, weaknesses, and racing tendencies. We are successfully using our individual strengths to create a strong team identity and racing personality. Not to mention, we had a blast, ate very good food, and drank lots and lots of coffee.

In other news, IF bikes are by far the best bikes in the world. I received my custom IF team issue bike this past Friday and I was instantly amazed at first by its stunning looks, and then of course by its incredible ride quality. This bike is screaming fast. I was issued the IF Crown Jewel SEC (Special Edition Carbon) road frame. The tubing is a mix of Reynolds, Columbus, and Dedacciai steel; it is complemented by a Reynolds carbon monostay and Reynolds Ouzo Pro carbon fork. FSA provides us with OS-115 stems, carbon seatposts, and aluminum handlebars. We plant our rear ends on TI railed WTB 25th anniversary saddles. The drivetrain is a complete Dura Ace gruppo care of our friends at Shimano, including the 7801 Scandium rimmed tubeless compatible wheels. The rest of the bike wears new PD-6610 Ultegra pedals, Cateye composite bottle cages, Hutchinson Fusion 2 tires, and an Independent Fabrications custom team issue Cateye wireless Strada coded computer. This bike is truly the nicest riding bike I have every pedaled. It corners on a rail, accelerates super quick, and is as stiff as a bike could ever be. Not to mention it is a superlight 18 lb steel bike!. It is an honor and a sincere privelage to have the opportunity to ride and race on this bike, and to race for FAST/IF powered by Lionette's.






One last thing. Michael Pruitt, the president of Axley Sport Optics out of Seattle, WA has been generous enough to give our team, FAST/IF powered by Lionette's, partial sponsorship for the 2007 racing season. Axley Sport Optics are by far the best combination of frames and lenses I have ever worn. I am blown away by the reactive lenses that change from absolute clear on a dark day to crimson brown when the sun is bright. Michael Pruitt is an awesome dude who deserves a huge thanks for making this possible. Check out Axley USA and buy his products. They are ridiculously awesome. www.axleyusa.com


Thanks for reading; and as usual thanks to all of our sponsors for making this team possible. We would be nothing without the incredible support we are given by all of our product and financial sponsors. There will be more to come after this coming weekend. We are headed up to Auburn, ME for the Lake Auburn Road Race on Saturday and the Great Falls Crit on Sunday. Stay tuned. Also, check out our team photo page with fully updated racing photos from the season and this past weekend at www.flickr.com/photos/ifracing. Check back soon.

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